Cycling in Canada

Bicycle commuters in Toronto

Cycling in Canada is perceived and practised in various ways across such a huge, geographically, economically, and socially diverse country. Among the reasons for cycling are for practical reasons such as communing to work or school, for sports such as road racing, BMX, Mountain bike racing, freestyle BMX, as well as for pure recreation. In addition, bicycle infrastructures vary widely across the country.

Sport cycling

Sport cycling is a minority sport in Canada. Various disciplines are practiced across the country to different degrees. In Quebec older, more "European" disciplines like road racing and track cycling are popular (they also have smaller following in English Canada). Newer "extreme" disciplines like bicycle motocross, cross-country cycling, downhill mountain biking and freeride are relatively popular in areas with the appropriate facilities. Many ski hills and resorts in Canada are converted to downhill biking in the summer months. Mountain biking in British Columbia is quite popular, in particular freeride originated on the North Shore near Vancouver.

Canada's only cycling gold medalist in Lori-Ann Muenzer who won the Women's sprint in Athen in 2004. Canada's first winner of one of road racing's three most prestigious Grand Tours was Ryder Hesjedal in 2012.

Pleasure and commuting cycling

The bikeability or bicycle-friendliness of Canadians regions varies considerably. There are thousands of kilometres of bike paths in Canada's major cities. Rural bicycling is quite popular in less-remote using the many low-traffic rural roads and long distance trails available. Most of Canada's northern landmass completely lacks any bicycle infrastructure.

In general, Canadian cars are larger and Canadian speed limits much higher than in Europe. Consequently, many Canadians use a "pedestrian" style of riding (riding on sidewalk or the shoulder), rather than the vehicular style (operating the bicycle as if it was a motor vehicle) favoured in Britain or mainland Europe. Although pedestrian cycling is technically illegal as cycles are vehicles under the laws of all the provinces, it is the most common method in small town and suburban Canada (where pedestrians on sidewalks are rare). Vehicular cycling is limited mostly to the centres of major cities. Canadian cycling advocates typically are in favour of segregated cycle facilities (bike paths and bike lanes) so that cyclists do not have to ride in mixed traffic with motor vehicles. Recognizing that Canadians typically do not use the vehicular style, the province of Nova Scotia passed law requiring all motor vehicles to give cyclist 1 metre (3 ft 3 in) of clearance to protect people riding on the shoulder. The narrow streets of Downtown Halifax (the provincial capital) were originally designed for horse, cart and bicycle and require drivers to share the road with a mix of other users. The city is small and very easy to navigate by bicycle with improved infrastructure every year.

In Toronto, the country's largest city, and the city with the longest average commutes in all of North America, cycle-communing has quickly gained popularity. In 2010, however, Toronto had the highest per capita rate of bike-car collisions of any Canadian city[1] and bike activists have demanded more bike lanes to make cycling safer. This was derided as "the war on the car" by successful mayoral candidate Rob Ford in the 2010 election. He was supported by media personality Don Cherry's rant against "the pinkos out there who ride bicycles" at Ford's inauguration. In July 2011, Toronto City Council voted to remove three of the bike lanes added by the previous council. Toronto is not the only city to grapple with cyclist-motorist conflicts, however.

History

Before the widespread adoption of private automobiles by the middle class in the mid twentieth century, bicycles were relatively popular in Canada, although Canada's snowy winters posed a problem, especially before there were industrial-sized snowploughs in every city. Travel by horse and carriage (or sled) or streetcar were more robust. As Canadian suburbanized cars became the main mode of transportation, and cycling shifted to being something done for fun or sport. The advent of the mountain bike in the later twentieth century made off-road cycling particularly popular.

In the twenty-first century with longer and longer commute times between suburbs and central business districts, many middle-class people have been moving back into the city, in a process of gentrification, this has created a more dense urban environment less like the mid-century New World norm and more like Old World cities where cycling commuting is more popular. This has led to a new era of cycling advocacy and conflicts with motorists over funding and planning decisions, and space on the road.

Cycle commuting facilities

The amount of segregated cycle facilities varies widely across Canada.[2]

For an international comparison, New York has about 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) of total bikes routes.[1]

Long-distance bike travellers can use the 4000 km Route Verte network in Quebec as well as other smaller trails across the country. Most of the Trans-Canada Trail will be multi-use, allowing bicyclists.

Cycling by city

Calgary

A City of Calgary's report[5] showed that from 1999–2010, there consistently were 9,200 weekday cycling trips entering or leaving the CBD.

In 2010, Calgary had 712 kilometres of multi-use pathways and 355 kilometres of on-street bikeways, 328 kilometres of which were signed bikeways and 27 kilometres of which were bikeways with pavement marking — bike lanes and marked shared lanes.[5]

Montreal

Montreal's began a pilot implementation of Bixi bike sharing in 2008. Users purchase daily or subscription usages for bikes, located in various depots throughout the city. The Coupe du Monde Cycliste Féminine de Montréal female professional racing event has been held in Montreal since 1998. the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal has also been held since 2010.

Ottawa

Many of Ottawa's major urban streets have lanes that are for cyclists only. These lanes are not demarcated by any type of barrier such as those that are increasingly being installed in Vancouver and Montreal. These lanes occur frequently enough so that most cyclist commuters can spend most of their commute relatively free from traffic.

Ottawa also has its portion of the 220 km long Capital Pathway that it shares with the city of Gatineau. This pathway extends to most suburban neighborhoods and into rural areas beyond, so that many long-distance commuters use at least part of it. It is a recreational pathway that is shared with walkers and runners, and not only apart from traffic, but mostly through parks, green spaces and along waterways, so motorized vehicles are not a concern. Ottawa closes over 50 kilometres of Colonel By Drive, Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway, the Rockcliffe Parkway to traffic every Sunday morning May to September, effectively turning the streets into wide recreational lanes.[6] Gatineau Park has a 90 kilometres of trails for mountain biking and for extreme thrill riders near Camp Fortune.[7]

There is a commercial public bike-rental system. Ottawa's city transit have bike racks on all buses that are part of its express routes (transitway routes), but quite infrequently on its buses which do local routes. Bicycles are also easily taken aboard the light rail train.

A City of Ottawa plan intends to increase cycling from 1.7% in 2001 to 3% in 2021, and to increase the number of peak-hour cyclists from 4500 to 12,000.[8]

Toronto

Main article: Cycling in Toronto

Toronto has 117 km of bike-only lanes, 145 km of shared roadways and 168 km of off-road paths. The city plans to implement 500 km of bike lanes, 249 km of off-road paths and 260 km of shared roadways.

In 2011, some bike lanes were removed and the Bixi bike sharing was introduced.

The City of Toronto reported from a downtown study that 46% wore helmets, over 19,000 cyclists enter the downtown core daily, and the 24% of roads with bike lanes carried 45% of the bike traffic.[9]

Vancouver

Vancouver's cycling has increased 180% between 1994 and 2004. The separated bike lanes cause an increase in ridership of four times in that studied area. Over 1 out of 8 of its lanes, bikeways and paths was a separated lane.[10]

Halifax

As of 2013, Halifax Regional Municipality had 226 kilometres (140 mi) of AT facilities including 131 kilometres of multi-use trails (called greenways) and 96 kilometres of bike lanes.[11]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Cycling in the city". CBC News.
  2. ↑ "Cycling infrastructure in Canada's urban centres". CBC News.
  3. ↑ "Trails & Pathways :: City of Edmonton". Edmonton.ca. Retrieved 2013-08-01.
  4. ↑
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1
  6. ↑ "Alcatel-Lucent Sunday Bikedays - National Capital Commission". National Capital Commission. 2011-06-28. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
  7. ↑ "Highlight our capital as a unique cycling destination". Ottawa Citizen. 2011-08-05. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
  8. ↑ Getting Greener: On the Path of Sustainability. City of Ottawa Planning and Environmental Committee. 2007. ISBN 0-472-11503-0.
  9. ↑ http://www.toronto.ca/cycling/reports/pdf/bicycle_count_summary_2010.pdf
  10. ↑ "Home, Property, and Development | City of Vancouver". Vancouver.ca. Retrieved 2013-08-01.
  11. ↑ HRMKey Infrastructure Definitions, Regional AT Plan Review, 2013