According to an article on RI NPR, Providence is planning to use a smartphone app to help planners determine the best routes for the new bicycle master plan. The article references the CycleTrack App, which I can only presume is the same one used by the San Francisco County Transportation Authority (SFCTA) to develop their bicycle plans. Reading between the lines, it looks like the suggestion is being driven by our friend Bill DeSantis over at VHB, the design company that has the contract with Providence to develop the next bicycle master plan. If you don’t mind big brother watching over your shoulder a little, I think this is a great way to get actual data for city planners.
Perhaps other municipalities can jump on board at the same time and at least encourage cyclist to collect the data for them while the system is live, even if they don’t have the time right now to analyze the data.
This is the first I’ve heard of these plans from Providence, hopefully some of our friends who sit on the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee know more about these plans and can provide some first hand comments?