Hamilton is lagging on bicycling infrastructure

Cities across Canada are seeing the benefits of increased access to safe cycling

Today would have been Bike Day, the annual celebration at Hamilton City Hall to kick off Bike Month.

It’s a day that I always look forward to since I started cycling in Hamilton back in 2016. Hundreds of people gather in front of city hall during the morning commute to show that cycling matters to our community. I was part of the Bike Day planning team in 2018 and 2019 and would have had a similar role this year, but the COVID-19 pandemic has led to the event’s postponement. Although there is no physical gathering today, I want to mark what would have been the celebration by sharing what I’ve learned about cycling in Hamilton through my graduate research at McMaster. My hope is that it may encourage action from city council, or at the very least, increase our community’s understanding of cycling in our city.

Cities across Canada are prioritizing walking and cycling as a way for people to be active and get around while maintaining physical distance, particularly with the reduced vehicular trips and public transit capacity. Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Brampton and Calgary have opened streets and built infrastructure for walking and cycling to promote physical activity and encourage active transport.

My research is unintentionally timely because it explores how the built environment (e.g., neighbourhoods, streets, parks, etc.) in Hamilton influences cycling. There are several take-aways from this research that can inform and provide direction for how the city can ambitiously become more bike-friendly — not only for today, but also for the future. If there’s ever a time to experiment with reallocating road space or to reimagine how public space is used and prioritized, it is now. Based on my findings, here are three opportunities to better use our public space to support more cycling in Hamilton:

Make streets and infrastructure safer and more appealing: Cyclists avoid routes with high volumes of cars that require mixing with traffic. They prefer to use quiet streets and protected infrastructure that separates them from cars.

Opportunities: 1. Widen and/or upgrade existing infrastructure; 2. Close residential streets to local traffic only; and 3. Create temporary bike lanes where such facilities are already planned. For example, Montreal will add over 300 km of bike lanes this summer.

Enhance connections to the trail network: The Waterfront Trail, Hamilton-Brantford Rail Trail, and Escarpment Rail Trail are important links in our transportation system for making essential trips — cyclists incorporate trails in their preferred routes.

Opportunities: 1. Where infrastructure isn’t available, close residential streets to local traffic only or create temporary bike lanes.

Plan for all ages and abilities: Parents who cycle with children report that streets should be safer and infrastructure needs to be more protected. Cycling with children on residential streets and trails is currently considered safer. Hamilton’s growing older adult population also needs supportive, accessible and enabling environments to use active transport.

Opportunities: 1. Adapt streets and infrastructure to be safe and enjoyable for everyone to cycle, particularly our youngest and oldest residents.

Since the end of March, I’ve cycled mainly in my neighbourhood to make essential trips and what I see is more people of all ages cycling than I have before the pandemic. Increased cycling during the pandemic has been observed in other cities like Halifax and Vancouver. Bike sales are also on the rise. With fewer cars on the road, it’s no wonder that Hamiltonians are finding our streets to be more inviting for cycling than ever before. This is the future we want — more trips made by bicycle and a more healthy, sustainable and livable city.

The city has an opportunity to show leadership in responding to a public health issue in ways that can provide benefits to our communities. The notion that opening streets will create destinations for gathering is misguided — people aren’t gathering, they’re making essential trips or being physically active. By 2031, the city aims to achieve its mode share target of 15 per cent walk/cycle trips. We won’t be able to double the current share of active travel trips in the next 11 years by maintaining the status quo of our streets. Cities across Canada are taking advantage of this window of opportunity to rebalance their streets right now. The wonderful, but not surprising, result is that people are using and enjoying more street space. Cycling trips in Vancouver’s Stanley Park have increased by 76 per cent since the roads were opened. Hamilton has yet to start. If not now, when?

Elise Desjardins is a graduate student in the Master of Public Health program at McMaster University. Her thesis research explores how the built environment in Hamilton influences cycling, with a focus on route choice preferences.