For years the U.S. Census Bureau has recorded and analyzed the way in which Americans commute to work. The Census Bureau is considering eliminating the biking and walking questions from the survey. Eliminating these questions would be unfortunate on many levels–but severely so to area cyclists.

Portland ranks among the highest in the nation for the percentage of workers who commute to work by bicycle. By percentage, Portland workers bike to work more than ten times more than workers in other parts of the country. Lawmakers here in Portland have used the data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau to petition and support biking infrastructure and biking safety plans. If the Census Bureau were to stop collecting the data, Portland lawmakers will not have the ability to identify areas in need and to seek funding appropriately.

So what?

The Alliance for Biking and Walking, a bike-advocacy group, has created a “Count Us” campaign. The campaign seeks to keep walking and biking data on the US Census. The time for feedback is quickly expiring–today. Click the link, follow the instructions, and do your part to make walking and biking in Portland safer for all of us.