Based on data from the bike counter on the east side of the Spokane Street Bridge, ridership is at an all-time, post-pandemic high exceeding 40,000 bikes in July alone. As of today, over 215,000 riders have been counted with an annual increase of over 30% from 2025 counts.
Such a substantial increase is not arbitrary, but what’s driving it? “Back to work” initiatives at large Seattle employers may be driving some of it but those have been in place for several years now. The new East Marginal Way S bike path came on line in October of 2025. Is it possible that people feeling safer going to work is driving up the ridership? Partly, but some weekend days of the busiest of the week may also be contributing. Possibly the new waterfront trail is feeding people onto the Marginal Way bike path, as well. Maybe a rider sentiment survey could answer these questions for us but good, safe infrastructure has been shown to entice ridership in many cities around the world. Seattle is likely no different.
We can see a marked increase in counts for 2026 reaching almost 200,000 when we compare them to the years going back to 2020 .
Comparing ridership by months over the past seven years, we can see a steady increase in counts for each month with 2026 significantly outpacing previous years.
Overall, ridership has increased by over 30% for most months in 2026 over the previous year. We can also see the large jump in February counts resulting from Alex Pretti Memorial Ride held in February.
It will be interesting to watch to see if these number are sustained or increase into the cold, wet months. And if the East Marginal Way bike path is driving these numbers – if better, safer bike routes are drawing out riders – we should strongly advocate for better bike infrastructure within West Seattle to enable people to feel safe getting to East Marginal Way.
