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The D.C. Department of Transportation reports today that over the last eight years peak-hour cycling has increased by 175 percent, while the extent of the city’s network of bike lanes has expanded by 300 percent:

Each May-June DDOT counts bicycles at approximately 40 locations throughout the city, 8 hours at each location, 4 hours in the morning (6 to 10am), and 4 in the evening (3 to 7pm). We have consistent counts at 19 of the locations dating back to 2004, which we use calculate the average peak hour growth in cycling. This is performed by taking the peak hour count at each location, adding all the locations and dividing it by the total number of locations (in this case 19).The chart below shows the growth in the average peak hour count, as well as the growth in the city’s bicycle lane network. In 2004, the average peak hour was 35 cyclists and there were 14 miles of bike lanes. By 2012 these numbers rose to 95 cyclists per hour and 57 miles of bike lanes, a 175% increase in the cycling rate and over 300% increase in the bike lane network.

DDOT also reports that most cyclists are primarily still male—77 percent in 2012—and that 75 percent of cyclists wear helmets. (Helmet use by Capital Bikeshare users stands are around 30 percent, though.)

Generally speaking, the agency finds, sidewalk riding has also declined, though the existing rate of just under 60 percent is skewed because it includes those cyclists that ride sidewalks across bridges. Riding on the sidewalk is only illegal in the central business district.