hkskyline
May 8th, 2005, 07:22 AM
B.C. leads in percentage of those who cycle to work
Vancouver a late starter developing bicycle infrastructure, city says
Jonathan Fowlie
Vancouver Sun
6 May 2005
Though British Columbians lead the country in the percentage of people who commute to work by bicycle, a new report says the province and its cities should be investing more money to encourage people to ride their bikes.
Published in the journal World Transport Policy and Practice, the report points out that cities such as Vancouver and Victoria have not invested nearly as heavily in cycling infrastructure as Ottawa or Montreal, and questions whether such an investment would encourage more people in B.C. to use their bikes to commute.
"One can only imagine how much higher the already impressive levels of cycling in British Columbia would be if both provincial and local governments devoted as many resources to cycling infrastructure as in Quebec," says the report, entitled Cycling trends & policies in Canadian cities.
The report, which cites information from 2001 collected by Statistics Canada, says two per cent of trips to work in British Columbia were by bicycle.
It suggests numerous reasons for this nation-leading number, including favourable weather and a large proportion of active people in both Vancouver and Victoria.
Tied for first place in this category was the Yukon Territory, where cycling also accounted for two per cent of trips to work in 2001.
Both Nunavut and Newfoundland and Labrador were lowest on the scale with only 0.1 per cent of trips to work being done by bicycle. In Ontario, one per cent of trips to work in 2001 were by bicycle.
Reached Thursday, Vancouver city Councillor Peter Ladner said council is working hard to make cycling safer and more accessible in the city, and that the city has already begun spending more money on infrastructure.
"We are spending a lot of money, relative to what we've spent before," Ladner said. "The downtown is about to be made safe for cyclists," he added.
Vancouver is currently building, or planning to build, bike lanes in the downtown core along Burrard and Hornby streets, Richards and Homer streets, Dunsmir and Pender streets, and both ways along Beatty Street.
There is also a plan for a bike path from Science World to New Westminster Quay called the Central Valley Greenway.
Ladner added the city is also working to get better organized on cycling issues, such as making it easier to take bikes on SkyTrain and buses.
When asked why Vancouver has less cycling infrastructure than some other Canadian cities, City of Vancouver engineering technician Peter Stary said the city got off to a slow start, and has been working hard to catch up.
"We've only really been at it [building bike infrastructure] for 12 years, while some of those cities started in the 1970's," Stary said in an interview Thursday.
Stary said he did not know why Vancouver was slow to start, but said the city only built its first local street bikeway in 1993.
Since then, he said, the city has "steadily increased the network," across the city, and filled in the gaps to provide more options for people wanting to ride to and from work.
He said the goal is for cycling to account for 10 per cent of all trips by 2010.
Vancouver a late starter developing bicycle infrastructure, city says
Jonathan Fowlie
Vancouver Sun
6 May 2005
Though British Columbians lead the country in the percentage of people who commute to work by bicycle, a new report says the province and its cities should be investing more money to encourage people to ride their bikes.
Published in the journal World Transport Policy and Practice, the report points out that cities such as Vancouver and Victoria have not invested nearly as heavily in cycling infrastructure as Ottawa or Montreal, and questions whether such an investment would encourage more people in B.C. to use their bikes to commute.
"One can only imagine how much higher the already impressive levels of cycling in British Columbia would be if both provincial and local governments devoted as many resources to cycling infrastructure as in Quebec," says the report, entitled Cycling trends & policies in Canadian cities.
The report, which cites information from 2001 collected by Statistics Canada, says two per cent of trips to work in British Columbia were by bicycle.
It suggests numerous reasons for this nation-leading number, including favourable weather and a large proportion of active people in both Vancouver and Victoria.
Tied for first place in this category was the Yukon Territory, where cycling also accounted for two per cent of trips to work in 2001.
Both Nunavut and Newfoundland and Labrador were lowest on the scale with only 0.1 per cent of trips to work being done by bicycle. In Ontario, one per cent of trips to work in 2001 were by bicycle.
Reached Thursday, Vancouver city Councillor Peter Ladner said council is working hard to make cycling safer and more accessible in the city, and that the city has already begun spending more money on infrastructure.
"We are spending a lot of money, relative to what we've spent before," Ladner said. "The downtown is about to be made safe for cyclists," he added.
Vancouver is currently building, or planning to build, bike lanes in the downtown core along Burrard and Hornby streets, Richards and Homer streets, Dunsmir and Pender streets, and both ways along Beatty Street.
There is also a plan for a bike path from Science World to New Westminster Quay called the Central Valley Greenway.
Ladner added the city is also working to get better organized on cycling issues, such as making it easier to take bikes on SkyTrain and buses.
When asked why Vancouver has less cycling infrastructure than some other Canadian cities, City of Vancouver engineering technician Peter Stary said the city got off to a slow start, and has been working hard to catch up.
"We've only really been at it [building bike infrastructure] for 12 years, while some of those cities started in the 1970's," Stary said in an interview Thursday.
Stary said he did not know why Vancouver was slow to start, but said the city only built its first local street bikeway in 1993.
Since then, he said, the city has "steadily increased the network," across the city, and filled in the gaps to provide more options for people wanting to ride to and from work.
He said the goal is for cycling to account for 10 per cent of all trips by 2010.