Finally! After years of waiting, and one super-disappointing false start (more on that in a bit), Chicago got its first bike counter yesterday. The device is located at in front of AMLI 808, an apartment building on the northwest corner of Chicago Avenue and Wells Street in River North, and was purchased and installed by the AMLI real estate company.

These devices are great for counting exactly how many people are traveling by bike per day and per year on a given corridor. (This one also shows the date and temperature.) They offer an excellent rebuttal to people who oppose bike infrastructure upgrades with the argument, “Why should we do this? Nobody rides bikes here.”

Wells Street, which currently has non-protected “door zone” bike lanes, is an ideal location because it’s probably the busiest on-street cycling route between the Loop and North Lakefront neighborhoods.