NS Cycling Summit – Eureka, Pictou
County
April
21, 2007
On the heels of a very successful 2006
Cycle Summit held in Cape Breton 35 cycling enthusiasts met to discuss the use
of bicycles for health, environment and the economy in Nova Scotia. Most parts
of the province were represented, Sydney, Strait, Pictou County, HRM, South
Shore, Yarmouth, Annapolis and Kings County as well as Moncton, NB.
In Brief, the following were the
presenters:
- Mark Panneton, the keynote speaker from Quebec provided an excellent
overview of the “Route Verte” – a series of over 4,300kms of connecting
bike trails and bike lanes in Quebec. Mark is a fulltime employee of the
DOT, Quebec and has 14 other regional representatives focused on AT, and
in particular bike ways. Mark left a package of wonderful resource
material for each attendee, and his power point presentation was very
enlightening. Indeed one third of all people living in Quebec (that’s over
2 million) meet their minimum exercise requirements through cycling. 56% of
the population cycle at least once a year. The DOT took the lead in
developing trails and produced various manuals for developing rural,
village, town and city bike routes. Grants were provided from the
province. The shoulder varies depending on traffic from 1 meter to 1.785
meters. The population of Quebec is 7 million, and since 1995 (start of
the pathways / lanes) civic participation has risen from 21% to 34% in
2005. Accident rates have gone
down even with the increased infrastructure and usage. Participation in
Cycling in Quebec is 1.5 times that of Ontario and BC and 2 times that of
the USA. On Aug 10, 2007 there will be a formal opening of the Route Verte.
A most informative presentation and a terrific source of information for
NS – why reinvent the wheel?
- Dr Richard Sparkman,
School of Business Administration of Acadia University then presented a
business case for promoting cycling and AT. A typical cyclists (tourist)
median income is $75k - $100k, they tend to stay longer in an area and
spend more and have substantially less environmental negative impact. The
average cyclist rides about 55kms per day, hence a 100kms trail would mean
two overnight stays. Dr. Sparkman provided figures from Maine, which were
interesting especially since Maine does not have a strong reputation for
cycling. In general funds spent on AT / cycling infrastructure would
experience a full (tax collection) payback in a very short period, ranging
from 2 ˝ years to 10 years. Aside from the health and other benefits, this
is an excellent investment!
- Laena Garrison, from the Ecology Action Centre gave an overview
on the impact of cycling and in particular cycling policy and progress in
NS. She discussed budgets for roads and maintenance and installations as
well as bus systems throughout the province. She stated the Province has
committed to 500kms for non motorized trails.
- Dr. Chris Milburn spoke on the health benefit of cycling in NS.
He was most informative, providing data (from ADAPT). 60% of the
population of NS is obese and that number is climbing. There are 700
premature deaths each year in NS attributed to inactivity. It is estimated
in NS, using Health Canada data, $354 million is the health costs due to
the results of inactive life styles. For the first time in recorded history,
the today’s parents are expected to live longer then their children. It is
much cheaper to be healthy by cycling, even with the extensive bicycling
infrastructure investment costs.
In the afternoon sessions we received
brief presentations of cycling news around the province.
Bob White of BNS gave a short update on
BNS strategies and recognized the 12 BNS special reps in attendance.
Jacques Cote gave an overview on all the
many positive events and partnerships Velo Cape Breton has experienced over the
past year. Truly amazing!
Pat MacDonnell, of Pictou County Bikeways
described progress of the five town plan for safe bike routes as well as
illustrated the newly made bike racks to be installed throughout the county.
Keith MacCormick of Keiran Pathways
discussed the challenges of theWolfville to Berwick linear pathways as well as
the Greenich to Port Williams pathway.
Michele from Pedicab described the
services her company offers in downtown Halifax.
Dave Major from RECAP, described progress
on AT and the “share the roads” cycling initiatives on the Aspotogan Penn.
We then had a
general discussion and broke out to various groups to discuss items such as a
central vision, etc. Upon rejoining we conducted a further session, sum up on
the days events agreeing that future annual events as such would be beneficial
and the BNS would serve as the central entity for passage of information, etc
as it is province wide and has good representation.
The meeting was
adjourned around 4:45, more than a dozen then went for a great bike ride along
the East River to conclude the Summit.
Bob White
BNS VP – Touring
and Transportation