Rob's Ramblings

Oulu, Finland sounds like an interesting place.  A subarctic climate   but with more than 500 km of bike routes (mostly separated).  Vancouver is at about 400 km, most not separated.  And their modal share for cycling is between 20 and 37 %.  If Vancouver is going to be the world's greenest city we need to catch up with cities like Oulu.  Unfortunately some of those candidates running for mayor want us to fall further behind. [ photo courtesy   City of Oulu , Finland ]

In the ten years leading up to 2009 Copenhagen reduced CO2 emissions by 20% ( 40% since 1990 ).  During that time the cycling modal share increased by over 19% and the amount of "cycle tracks" (segregated bike lanes) increased by over 9%.  Copenhagen found that adding cycle tracks to a road section resulted in a 20% increase in cycling.

With recent announcements of investment in cycling infrastructure some are predicting economic disaster if Vancouver reduces the number of light duty vehicles on the road.  The table below compares transportation modal share in Vancouver with other selected cities. All of these cities have significantly less personal car use than Vancouver.  In many cases it is less than half.  Are these cities suffering economically? city country walking cycling public transport private motor vehicle Vancouver Canada 12% 4% 25% 58% Metro Vancouver Canada 11% 2% 13% 74% New York City US 8% 1% 54% 32% Bern Switzerland 11% 11% 54% 24% Zürich Switzerland 8% 5% 63% 25% Copenhagen Denmark 6% 36% 29% 26% Berlin Germany 30% 13% 26% 31% Stockholm Sweden 15% 7% 43% 33% Dresden Germany 24% 17% 21% 38% Helsinki Finland 12% 6% 40% 41% München Germany 9% 8% 41% 41% Aarhus Denmark 7% 27% 19% 43% Bilbao Spain 23% 0% 34% 43% Frankfurt Germany 11% 7% 39% 43% ...

With the Burrard Bridge bike lanes in the news again recently and today the start of bike month , it might be a good time to review the myths about the Burrard Bridge bike lanes . And I thought I would add another myth..... Myth: Vancouver is too cold / rainy / hilly and we will never have the large percentage of the general population cycling like they do in some European cities. Reality: Tronheim, Norway is one of the top cities in the world for cycling . 18% of the population uses a bike as a daily means of transportation. The city ranges in elevation from sea level to 565 metres (1850 ft). It experiences moderate snowfall from November to March. There are an average of 14 days each winter with at least 25 cm of snow cover on the ground. Other examples of hilly cities with high cycling populations: - hilly Aarhus, Denmark's second city ( 25% modal share ); - Gothenburg - Berne, Switzerland, where 25% of the population ride each day through a Alpen landsca...