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The annual bike and pedestrian count is a volunteer data collection effort each fall that helps the City understand where and how many people are biking and walking in Somerville, and how those numbers are changing over time. This program has been taking place each year since 2010. Counts are collected Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday for one hour in the morning and evening using a “screen line” method, whereby cyclists and pedestrians are counted as they pass by an imaginary line across the street and sidewalks. Morning count sessions begin between 7:15 and 7:45 am, and evening count sessions begin between 4:45 and 5:15 pm. Bike counts capture the number of people riding bicycles, so an adult and child riding on the same bike would be counted as two counts even though it is only one bike. Pedestrian counts capture people walking or jogging, people using a wheelchair or assistive device, children in strollers, and people using other micro-mobility devices, such as skateboards, scooters, or roller skates. While the City and its amazing volunteers do their best to collect accurate and complete data each year and the City does quality control to catch clear errors, it is not possible to ensure 100% accuracy of the data and not all locations have been counted every year of the program. There are also several external factors impacting counts that are not consistent year-to-year, such as nearby construction and weather. For these reasons, the counts are intended to be used to observe high-level trends across the city and at count locations, and not to extrapolate that biking and walking in Somerville has changed by a specific percentage or number. Data in this dataset are available at the location count level. To request data at the movement level, please contact transportation@somervillema.gov.

Due to hardware issues, this counter is no longer in service. Counts are conducted using tubes on a quarterly basis. These sensors counts both people riding bikes and pedestrians. Separate volumes are tallied for each travel mode. Wires in a diamond formation in the concrete detect bikes and an infrared sensor mounted on a wooden post detects pedestrians. The counters also capture the direction of travel for both bikes and pedestrians. MTS Trail stands for Mountains to Sound Trail.

Counter is located at the bridge entrance of the Thomas St Overpass. These sensors counts both people riding bikes and pedestrians. Separate volumes are tallied for each travel mode. Wires in a diamond formation in the concrete detect bikes and an infrared sensor mounted on a metal post that detects pedestrians. The counters also capture the direction of travel for both bikes and pedestrians.

The counter consist on Inductive loops on the pathway that count the passing of bicycles with travel direction. They are very accurate and designed to be used on greenways and cycle tracks

This counter is no longer counting continuously and will be counted quarterly. The counters consist of two small tube sensors stretching across the street, which are attached to a small metal counting box made by Eco-Counter. The tubes only count people riding bikes. They are very accurate and designed to be used on greenways.

Counting hardware was replaced summer 2024. These sensors counts both people riding bikes and pedestrians. Separate volumes are tallied for each travel mode. Wires in a diamond formation in the concrete detect bikes and an infrared sensor mounted on a wooden post detects pedestrians. The counters also capture the direction of travel for both bikes and pedestrians. The temporary counter data from 5/10/2013 to 12/11/2013 have been combined to this data set which counted only bikes and not pedestrians.

The counters consist of two small tube sensors stretching across the street, which are attached to a small metal counting box made by Eco-Counter. The tubes only count people riding bikes. They are very accurate and designed to be used on greenways. This sensor is currently out of service, and no longer collecting data.

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