MATTAPOISETT — This year the Mattapoisett Bike Path opened the Shining Tides Mile that connects Goodspeed Island Road to Reservation Road and it has been used for bike races, fundraiser bike rides and for recreation by a number of people.

But how many people actually use the bike path every day?

That’s a question that could find an — approximate — answer following the donation of a $600 infrared sensor to the town of Mattapoisett that can count the number of people who cross in front of it.

The sensor could be placed at the bike path’s Depot Street entrance, said Mattapoisett Bike Path Study Committee member Bonne DeSousa.

Already, the Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District set up a similar sensor at the Brandt Island crossing of the bike path “however that sensor doesn’t capture all the walkers who start at Depot Street and go out and come back doing less than a four-mile trip,” said DeSousa.

According to DeSousa, this information will be useful to SRPEDD, MassTrails and “any other grant people because it tells them how the money they are investing here is being utilized.”

She added that SRPEDD would need to work with the town to determine when the organization would collect data from the sensor.

Mattapoisett Select Board member Tyler Macallister questioned how the sensor can differentiate between different people using the path and one person who may cross the sensor’s sightline multiple times. It can’t, answered DeSousa.

“If I met somebody at Depot Street, went out and realized I forgot my gloves, went back and then went out again, [the sensor] would count three [people],” said DeSousa. “It’s not granular, you need real people out there.”

She added that if SRPEDD detected major discrepancies in the data it could compare Mattapoisett’s numbers to similar data collected at other paths.

“If something doesn’t match the normal, they would be looking for explanations perhaps,” said DeSousa.

“This sounds awesome,” said Mattapoisett Select Board Chair Jodi Bauer.