Cycling in the City of Toronto...

I came across a really interesting study today on cycling in the City of Toronto. The study was undertaken by Ipsos Reid Public Affairs, a survey-based marketing research firm. The study has some pretty fascinating findings many of which are promising for the future of cycling in Toronto, although the City still has a lot of work to do for improving its cycling overall. The sampling size of the survey (a random and representative sample) is (n=1000) pulling an even 250 residents from the four districts of the City including Central Toronto, Etobicoke, North York and Scarborough. The study is quite comprehensive so I will only share the major findings and allow readers to access more of the report if interested.

1) There has been an increase in cycling over the past ten years. The number of cyclists in Toronto has increased 6% between 1999 and 2009 (from 48% to 54%).

2) The increase can be attributed to more people cycling for "practical day-to-day" purposes. The number of cyclists that can be classified as "utilitarian" meaning they commute to work or school by bike or they bike for the majority of their errands or visits to friends increased 9% between 1999 and 2009 (from 20% to 29%).

3) The increase in utilitarian cycling occurred mainly outside of the downtown core, however, the downtown core still houses (unsurprisingly) the highest numbers of utilitarian cyclists at 36%.

4) According to the study, 25% of Toronto's residents classify themselves as recreation cyclists meaning they cycle strictly for leisure or fitness. This number has dropped from 28% (in 1999) because more cyclists have expanded their cycling to include utilitarian cycling.

5) Safety on roads remains the public's principal concern about cycling. While significantly more cyclists are comfortable biking on major roads with and without bike lanes than 10 years ago, still only one-third of cyclists say they are comfortable biking on major roads without bike lanes.

6) One third of cyclists report combining biking and public transportation at some point in time. Secure bike parking at subway stations and bike rental stations close to transit terminals appear to be a means of encouraging this. Bike rentals are also likely to motivate three in ten non-cyclists to cycle somewhat/more often.

The study also found that cyclists are marginally more critical of cycling infrastructure. Cycling infrastructure will have to be significantly ameliorated in Toronto, I am sure many citizens can attest to that.

It's an interesting study and I encourage anyone to read it.

Key message: Good cycling infrastructure is a critical criterion for a vibrant, livable and sustainable city.