| With prices at the pumps hovering around the $1 per litre mark, Calgarians may be inclined to investigate alternate forms of transportation. And while some will opt for a wee SMART car, moped or a seat on public transit, others may be interested in a more adventurous alternative — year-round cycling. Cycling is, arguably, the simplest answer to health, environmental and financial woes brought on by the car.
Sustainable Calgary agrees that more Calgarians could stand to get out of the driver’s seat. According to the group’s State of the City Report, "between 1964 and 2001, the vehicle kilometres travelled on Calgary streets on a typical weekday grew from 12.4 to 44.5 kilometres per person, an increase of more than 340 per cent."
Unfortunately, urban sprawl is a growing problem – and it’s getting in the way of cyclists. Although Calgary matches New York City in land area, Calgary houses just one-tenth of the Big Apple’s population. Even our inner city, with its high-rise apartments doesn’t quite cut it. While the footprint of the inner city of Vancouver and Calgary are about the same, Calgary’s inner city houses less than 20 per cent of the population of Vancouver’s inner city.
Sustainable Calgary’s report notes that compact cities make alternative modes of transportation more viable and car usage less alluring. Additionally, higher density also translates to shorter commute times, which may make cycling a more desirable commuting choice.
Portland, according to Bicycling magazine, has something to teach Calgary about smart growth. While the area is growing, "the land around the city isn't being turned into suburban strip-mall hell by unbridled real estate developers." As a result, cyclists can make their way from city to country within a few kilometres.
Some hard-core cyclists don’t mind the wide expanse of Calgary’s reach and choose to make the full commute in. For the rest, the City of Calgary has made an effort to address some of the obstacles and make cycling in Calgary a more viable option.
A SHORTER RIDE
For those suburbanites who prefer a shorter trek, city planners set up seven "Park N’ Bike" locations, each about five to eight kilometres from downtown. Parking is free and these locations connect up with river pathways for a quick commute.
Alternatively, cyclists can bike to any C-Train station and take the train in. All C-Train stations have bike racks, while Anderson, Brentwood, Chinook and Whitehorn stations have fully enclosed bike lockers. It may not be so easy to take your bike with you, though – bikes are only allowed on C-Trains during specific time periods, the number of bikes allowed per train is limited to four bikes, and they may be prohibited due to crowding or "unsafe conditions."
Combining a bike ride with a bus ride is not very convenient, either. There are only two bus routes in Calgary equipped with bike racks, Route 6 (Killarney) and Route 7 (South Calgary). The buses on these routes can each carry two bikes.
Other cities are showing more of a commitment to merging city transit with cycling. Taking the lead are Nelson, Kelowna, Kitimat and Greater Vancouver, all in B.C., which have their entire fleet of buses equipped with bike racks. In fact, most major cities across Canada are beginning to see the value in making buses bicycle-friendly. Likewise, more than 40 per cent of U.S. buses are presently equipped with bike racks.
Calgary’s city planners do have plans to add more bike racks to buses. The transportation solutions department currently has a bid in to the province for funding earmarked for a number of cycling infrastructure projects, including bike racks.
Evan Kayne, an avid cyclist, has been car-free and cycle-happy for nearly 10 years in Calgary. While he rarely combines transit and biking, Kayne says he’d likely think about it if more buses were equipped. Generally though, Kayne has few complaints about his commuting experiences and feels fortunate to spend most of his commute on Calgary’s many bike pathways.
THE PATH MORE TRAVELLED
Indeed, Calgary boasts more than 500 kilometres in pathways. For all-season enthusiasts, 10 per cent of the pathway system is even cleared during the winter. The city also prints and distributes bicycle and pathway maps, although June’s flooding changed the landscape of the city’s pathway system – many pathways and pedestrian bridges were damaged or destroyed (for pathway closures and detour information, visit www.calgary.ca and www.albertaparks.ca or call the city’s pathway hotline at 268-2300 and enter the four digit code 9815).
Despite its reach, some cyclists find the city’s pathway system lacking. Unlike other cities such as Ottawa, which has more bicycle commuters than any other city in North America, Calgary’s pathways do not have a separate dedicated bike lane to accommodate commuters.
Recently, heated debates about speeding cyclists and who has the right-of-way have raged, inspired by crackdowns on speeding cyclists through Eau Claire. This and three cyclist-pedestrian accidents during the summer drove Bill Bruce, head of the city bylaw department, to organize a public meeting to consider possible solutions, including twinning the pathways, changing and enforcing pathway rules and educating pathway users.
CROWDED ROADWAYS
Still, many cyclists prefer the smog-free, albeit slower, pathway commute to battling it out with drivers on Calgary’s streets. Since bicycles are recognized as vehicles under the Highway Traffic Act, the City of Calgary purports "they should be afforded the same recognition as motor vehicles." And while cyclists are generally allowed on all Calgary roads except Deerfoot Trail, some would argue Calgary roadways aren’t bicycle-friendly.
Currently, only three roadways (2 Street S.W. between 11 and 25 Avenue, 4 Street south of Mission Bridge, and Charleswood Drive N.W. in Varsity) have wider curb lanes designated for cyclists. A one-metre bicycle stencil painted on the roadway helps designate this. Some cities, like Kelowna, B.C., are enthusiastic about bike lanes – the city prides itself on more than 220 kilometres of bike lanes, one of the highest ratios per population in the country. Kelowna has a goal of increasing cycling to 10 per cent of commuter trips.
The city of Calgary plans to add wider curb lanes on new and reconstructed major roadways. This would please Shannon Goodman of SMART Technologies, who rides her bike to work 10 months out of the year and spends most of her commute navigating her way alongside motorists. Like Kayne, Goodman applauds the city for its pathways, but believes the city needs to invest more in making the roadways more bicycle-friendly. Specifically, she would like to see better upkeep, so that cyclists aren’t facing potholes and other hazards, and more space along roadways for cyclists.
"Drivers on the road think you should be on the sidewalk, pedestrians on the sidewalk think you should be on the road, and," Goodman relates, "there’s no middle ground for cyclists."
Overall, both Goodman and Kayne agree, most Calgary drivers are respectful of cyclists, although there are a chosen few who rage against cyclists by honking or yelling obscenities, and Goodman had one frightening experience where an angry driver deliberately spun his wheels, spraying her with gravel.
If Calgary wants to make the cut and become a full-fledged bicycle-friendly city, some Calgary drivers may need a lesson in manners, city planners may be wise to trade in sprawl for smart growth, and buses would be hip to get hooked up with bike racks. Until then, bikers beware: Bronco says SUVs rule the roads here. |
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