Measuring Walking and Cycling Using the PABS (Pedestrian and Bicycling Survey) Approach: A Low-Cost Survey Method for Local Communities

Local governments face hard choices about which programs to fund and decision makers, planners, and residents seek to understand if proposed policies to increase bicycling and walking actually work. This project developed a low-budget survey method and related sampling strategy for communities to easily, affordably, and reliably document the amount of local walking and cycling happening among their residents. The Pedestrian and Bicycling Survey (PABS) approach allows communities to answer such questions as: How much walking and cycling is occurring in my community? What is the purpose of walking and cycling trips? Who is completing the bulk of the walking and cycling trips? How often are people walking and cycling? The PABS instrument achieved adequate to excellent reliability for most questions, creating a useful instrument and a baseline for future comparison with other instruments.

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