In Light of the Climate Crisis, Why Don’t More Canadians Bike?
Steven Hao
Billion Dollar Investments
In a country where environmental sustainability is touted as a paramount priority to both leaders and citizens to tackle climate change, we often hear talk about how we can reduce our transportation emissions. Often, this is about increasing electric vehicle production, such as the recently-announced Volkswagen EV battery plant in St. Thomas, Ontario, or investing billions upon billions in public transit projects, such as the Montreal REM, the Ontario Line Subway, or the Surrey-Langley Skytrain extension in B.C. These are all great developments that do indeed help reduce emissions, as transportation makes up the second largest sector of carbon emissions in Canada to date; however there is one crucial missing piece to the sustainability puzzle that is not brought up enough as a realistic solution: cycling.
The Challenges of Post-WW2 Urban Planning
As of the latest data collected by the Canadian government, the percentage of commuters cycling to work sits at roughly 1.4%, much lower compared to other developed countries, such as 27% in the Netherlands, and nearly 10% in Germany. These numbers can help be explained by the sprawling nature of most Canadian cities, which encourages the majority of trips to be made by car through a variety of factors:
- Exclusionary zoning- since most cities only zone to allow low-density neighbourhoods and businesses exclusive of each other, people are forced to travel further to access the services they need, such as work or school. Naturally, this is an impediment to compact, walkable cities and leads to unnecessarily long commutes. In 2021, the average commute by car in Canada was 22.8 minutes and 42.9 minutes by public transit!
- Minimum parking requirements- usually nestled in municipal land-use ordinances, minimum parking requirements require newly-constructed buildings to provide a minimum number of parking spaces. This not only encourages people to drive to their destinations, but also discourages walking or cycling by spreading out businesses and creating a hostile environment for outside activities.
- Lackluster public transportation- another byproduct of poor land use, many transit agencies simply cannot financially sustain quality public transit to low-density areas due to the low number of potential riders within walking distance to a transit stop. I have personally noticed this myself living in the suburban Town of Oakville, where bus service is relegated to a handful of arterial roads, and for those buses that do come, they come every 30 minutes! Who would want to wait half an hour for a bus in the freezing snow when they can just take the car and get to where they want to go?
- Dangerous active transportation infrastructure- in the suburbs that make up most Canadian cities, walking and cycling seem to be an afterthought. Bike lanes are hard to come by, and for the lanes that do exist, more often than not they are just painted lines on the road offering no protection against vehicles barreling towards you at 60km/h. Sidewalks can be subject to suddenly ending or being covered in snow due to the lack of winter maintenance. At intersections with large arterial roads, pedestrians are expected to cross a large number of traffic lanes, all while having to stay alert for drivers who are allowed to turn right on red and who may not look out for them. If you walk or bike every day, you must worry about not becoming one of the 300 pedestrians or 74 cyclists killed each year on the road in Canada.
Looking to Copenhagen for Inspiration
My brother recently came home from an exchange in Copenhagen, and he told me that he was amazed at how there were always so many people cycling during all hours of the day. This, being during the winter time, was even more impressive as you might think that snow and cold weather might be a huge impediment to cycling! Apparently not, as in 2019, a whopping 44% of all trips to work or school were made by bike in the city! How is this possible? In Copenhagen, bike lanes are usually raised above the surface of the road to create a visual and physical separation between cyclists and high-speed cars. These lanes are ubiquitous and are regularly plowed during the winter in order to ensure a safe and convenient cycling network that will take you to your destination without detours. Once you arrive at your destination, there is always a place to store your bike so you don’t have to worry about spending time to find a space to park.
All these factors create an environment so safe and convenient that even parents are at ease letting their children bike to school without their supervision! Thankfully, city planners are learning and applying these teachings to Canadian cities but they also face some unique challenges.
Progress, But Not Without Challenges
With the research clear on the socioeconomic, environmental, and health benefits of cycling, I am glad to write that large Canadian cities in recent years are finally making some excellent strides to make cycling a viable alternative to driving to reduce congestion and improve climate resilience. In Toronto, the Bloor Street bike lanes. In Montreal, the ambitious REV network. In Edmonton, city council has just passed a budget earmarking $100 million in funding for city-wide bike infrastructure over 4 years to expand the city’s cycling network and improve safety. This, however, drew a lot of criticism from skeptics who claim this money could be better spent on other services. The item they fail to point out, is that cycling infrastructure is much cheaper compared to other transportation infrastructure, especially car infrastructure, with this single highway interchange at the Edmonton airport expecting to cost a cool $112 million over 3 years.
Another common complaint heard about cycling investments includes how cycling infrastructure usually means taking away space from cars on the road. Many residents claim that converting street parking to a bike lane would negatively impact local businesses; however several studies in cities ranging from Portland to New York City, to Dublin, found out that cyclists on average spend a comparable amount of money or even more at street-side businesses compared to drivers, completely nullifying this argument. This seems to make sense, as you can accommodate a lot more bike traffic in a small space than you can cram dormant automobiles.
Reasons to Be Optimistic About the Future
Overall, the progress in Canadian cities is slow, but more and more people are starting to realise that more people cycling means fewer cars and congestion, cleaner air, safer streets, and thriving local businesses. As someone who loves to cycle myself, I rejoice at the thought of how many more places I will be able to go safely without needing to shell out over $10 000 a year on car expenses! What’s important, however, is to keep the momentum going by letting people around you know the benefits of investing in cycling. Small things such as speaking at local council meetings, or simply talking to your friends and family about what could be possible can help make a difference in support for a more sustainable future. To end off and to show what’s possible, here are some amazing photos of Amsterdam transforming itself from a car-oriented city in the 80s to one of the greatest cycling cities in the world today:
Steven Hao is is Graphic Designer for 1UP Youth City Builders.
