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Entries tagged: Benchmarking Active Transportation In Canadian Cities

When we released our 2010 Benchmarking Report in January, a Streetsblog reporter called the effort a “Bike-Ped State of the Union.” Collecting and analyzing bicycle and pedestrian data from all 50 states and the 50 most-populous cities, our report arms advocates and professionals with quick and easy access to critical information about biking and walking in the U.S.

But what about our neighbors to the north? What’s the state of biking and walking in Canada? A new report released this month — Benchmarking Active Transportation in Canadian Cities — provides key insight.

The 80-page study was released by the Clean Air Partnership, but relied on research and authorship from Nancy Smith Lea, director of the Toronto Coalition for Active Transportation (an Alliance member organization). A comprehensive effort, the report compiles 2007 and 2010 data regarding Infrastructure, Safety, Travel Behavior, Demography and Geography. Frequently citing the Alliance Benchmarking Reports, the study compares the performance of active transportation in Toronto against other cities in Canada, the United States and Europe.

Key findings of the report include:

- Cities with more kilometers of bicycle facilities have a higher active transportation mode share.

- In cities with high mode shares, the percentage of cyclists and pedestrians injured and killed is lower than in cities with low mode shares, thus confirming the “safety in numbers” theory.

- The cities with the lowest active transportation mode shares also have the highest private automobile shares.

- Cities in jurisdictions with low gas taxes tend to have low active transportation levels and higher private automobile mode shares.

Click here to download Benchmarking Active Transportation in Canadian Cities from our Online Resource Library. And, if you don’t already have a hard copy on your desk, download a digital copy of the Alliance 2010 Benchmarking Report, too.