Downtown cycling spikes since track installed | CBCNews

Calgary’s new bicycle report boasts a spike in the number of bike trips into downtown since its cycle track opened.

The Seventh Street S.W. track opened in June of last year.

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Tom Thivener, the city's cycling co-ordinator, says before the track opened, about 250 people per day used that route to get into the core.

Since installing a separated bike lane on Seventh Street S.W., a new city report says ridership along the route has increased by 430 per cent. (City of Calgary )

“Since putting in cycle track — which is a barrier separated bike lane — ridership has gone up to over 1,100 cyclists a day. So it’s about a 430 per cent increase on this one facility alone.”

He says that stat — and another form the report showing the overall number of bike trips went up 26 per cent between 2007 and 2013 — helps support plans to expand the number of cycle tracks around the city.

“We are at that stage where we have a robust planning stage under way, we expect to come back to the committee, before council in April,” said Thivener.

“Hopefully we'll get a direction that we can continue to do a network of these to make cycling a legitimate mode of transportation into downtown Calgary.”

Thivener says there are plans to install a network of tracks so cyclists can get around Calgary easier.

[Keep reading at CNC News]