Turns out, downtown Denver workers increasingly love pedal power.

While most Denver commuters take mass transit or drive alone to get to work most days of the week, bicycling and walking are gaining in popularity, according to data from the annual Downtown Denver Partnership commuter survey.

“We believe that the investments we are making into the bicycle infrastructure are paying off,” said Aylene McCallum, DDP research and transportation manager. “We’ve seen a lot of anecdotal evidence, but seeing the numbers in the report confirms our suspicion.”

Those who said they biked to work on the particular day they answered the survey revealed an enormous jump in the popularity of bicycling — 43 percent year-over-year since 2013.

But most days of the week? About 7 percent of the survey’s near-5,000 respondents bike to work — a 26 percent increase since 2013 — and about 4.5 percent of them walk — an increase of 15 percent since 2013.

The tendency to bike or walk is markedly higher among Millennials: 16 percent of males and 9 percent of females under 30 bike to work most days of the week, with an average commute of about 9 miles. Millennials are defined in the partnership’ s survey as under age 30.

This trend among Millennials makes sense, McCallum said, correlating with skyrocketing rents in Denver and the fact that Millennials tend to want to live closer to the city’s core.

“Biking and walking are inexpensive forms of transportation to get to work,” she said. “This eliminates a large part of owning a car — gas, maintenance expense — and gives Millennials more housing options since they’re less reliant on a personal vehicle for their commute.”

RTD light rail or bus transit remain the most common forms of daily commuting, despite a slight decrease in popularity since 2013.

However, RTD ridership systemwide is at an all-time high, hitting a peak of 104 million passenger trips during the 12 months that ended in September, agency spokesman Scott Reed said.

“Approximately 60 percent of our frequent riders are from a market segment most likely to contain Millennial riders,” he said. “This segments’ transportation decisions are driven by efficiency, safety and cost — and they are choosing RTD.”

This correlates to the partnership survey results that list transit passes at the top the list of the most-valued employer-provided benefits — higher than flexible work hours, telecommuting options and parking.

About 56 percent of respondents said they receive a transit pass from their employer.

Measuring commuter habits serves several purposes, McCallum said. In addition to assisting the city with future planning, the partnership specifically does outreach with several employers in the region to help them better understand their employees’ habits.

This is especially helpful when a company is undergoing benefit restructuring or even seeking to expand or relocate.

“One of the key objectives of the 2007 Downtown Area Plan is to expand and improve Downtown Denver’s transportation amenities,” partnership president and CEO Tami Door said. “Access to a variety of transportation options is central to maintaining Denver’s status as one of the most desired cities for Millennials.”

The number of those who drive into downtown daily has remained steady. However, carpooling has decreased by about 13 percent.

This is the first year respondents were asked about car-share programs such as Car2Go and eGo. About 66 percent of respondents do not use car sharing, and 22 percent of those surveyed were not even aware of the service. And of the about 12 percent who use car-sharing, 45 percent never use it for commuting.

Downtown Denver commuters are also about 11 times more likely to bike to work than other U.S. commuters, according to the partnership.

Full survey results and data are available on the Downtown Denver Partnership‘s website.

Laura Keeney: 303-954-1337, lkeeney@denverpost.com or twitter.com/LauraKeeney