- Join our internship program.
- The City's approach to commuter cycling is neither plan nor strategy but a philosophy. View the video.
- Compare the 2011 "Strategy" with the much more compre-hensive 1996 Cycling Plan.
- Read what the Calgary tour de nuit Society wanted in the Cycling Strategy on behalf of commuter cyclists.
- CtdnS tracks down the leader of the Seventies cycling advocacy group, the Brian Chaplin Committee, and discovers that the City voted almost $5 million for on-street infrastructure in 1972. But it was money never spent by the Transportation Department.
- Read about concerns regarding the financial transparency and accountability in the cycling budget.
Recent news
- President Gary Beaton addresses Council during the annual budget submissions. For the second year in a row CtdnS tells Council cyclists can save taxpayers money if the 'cycling budget' is spent effectively and 'more people cycling more often' will reduce the City infrastructure budget.
- To ensure the TransDep spends it effectively, CtdnS needs to see it!
- Sustainable Transportation funds were accessed by the Transportation Department to pay for the Peace Bridge, which is an example of functional urban art that will cost over $25 million and join two parks.
- The Calgary tour de nuit Society held its second annual meeting on November 3, 2011. Attendance was over double last year's turnout. Vivian Stieda, Dave Ramsey, Elaine Kupser, Jeremy Kosior, Bob Harrod, Mike Brydges, Al Brown and Gary Beaton were elected to the board.
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After mountain biking on water at Victoria's 'Jump Ship Contest' BC cyclists decide nothing is impossible and will host Euorpe's elite commuter cycling conference next year.
Commuter Cycling Group Backs Road Diet:
Downtown Bike Routes Nixed
When the City of Calgary Transportation Department was given the assignment of consulting stakeholders to develop a Cycling Strategy it was told which four groups had to be represented on the citizen committee. Just to ensure that the Committee did not go south and make a series of recommendations that Transportation would not want to implement, it recruited half the members from the ranks of recreational cyclists. It also threw in a goodly number of City of Calgary employees, thinking that they would not be overly critical of the lack of action on the Active Transportation file by their employer. Lack of action has characterized the last forty years. By the time it was done the Transportation Department created a committee that mirrored the City's own Calgary Pathway and Bikeway Advisory Committee (CPAC). It was a redundant exercise. This gerrymandering and the subsequent conduct of City staff violated the City's public engagement policy.
The key objective of the Calgary tour de nuit Society through the whole Cycling Strategy was to remove an old downtown bike route map that prevents common sense route solutions in the downtown core. The Transportation Department would rather have all bike routes leading to the Peace Bridge because it desperately needs to show traffic. The Bridge was built with no consultation of the cycling community with Sustainable Transportation funds that could have been used to effectively promote more people cycling more often.
The Transportation Department was caught off guard on July 5th when Alderman Carra moved the CtdnS proposal. Bureaucrats were unable to do any last minute lobbying of alderman while Council was in session. The Carra motion passed. TransDep was supposed to consult the commuter cycling community, really consult the cycling community.
So another gerrymandered cycling community engagement session started. The gambit failed this time because the commuter cyclists saw the compelling logic of dedicated bicycle infrastructure on 5th and 6th Ave South and this proposal was endorsed by virtually everyone.
Faced with untenable recommendations from an actual user group, the Transportation Department dismissed the group and advised them that it would be business as usual in the bike planning business. This is a violation of both the Council directive and the engage!policy. The next day the City's Bike Rental solution became public. It is a solution with bikes and nowhere safe to ride them that will likely end in the death of a novice rider. Join the Calgary tour de nuit Society and help us put an end to the games.
Second Year Anniversary:
A Downtown Bike Lanes Primer
November marked the second anniversary of the meeting at which the Calgary tour de nuit Society was given the road map for the creation of dedicated on-street bicycle infrastructure by the City of Calgary Transportation Department.
On November 6, 2009, the Director of Transportation Planning, Mr. Don Mulligan, was asked how the Calgary tour de nuit Society, should proceed for approvals of a ‘Road Diet’ on 5th and 6th Ave in Downtown Calgary. This will substantially increase (by several fold) the safety of bicycle commuters who work in the central business district. Mulligan gave CtdnS President, Gary Beaton, a “Mission Impossible” assignment of:
1. Drafting the proposal for this leading edge transportation planning in the form of a ‘Notice of Motion’, which had never before been undertaken in Calgary,
2. Asking Council’s most prominent alderman, affectionately known as “Dr. No” in the media, to bring the Notice of Motion before Council;
3. Ensuring that the motion passes.
The Notice of Motion passed unanimously on its second attempt on March 8, 2010.
The last two years mark the most sustained and professional campaign for active and sustainable transportation that has ever challenged the Transportation Department’s decades-old infrastructure plan that relies on the single occupant vehicle (automobile) to meet the mobility needs of the vast majority of Calgary commuters.
The ‘Road Diet’ approach to dedicated bicycle infrastructure is ideally suited to these large one-way avenues where the separated bike route can be located on the left curb and existing lanes narrowed. There is no loss of traffic capacity of the roadway and no disruption to transit operations. Warning: Drivers may experience a faster commute. Download the posters.
At the July 4, 2011 Council meeting, Council backed a CtdnS proposal to remove an archaic bike route map from the ‘Cycling Strategy’ and Centre City Plan that was preventing the Department from making progress on the ‘Road Diet’. The amendment was moved by Alderman Carra and seconded by Alderman Chabot. The cycling community is very indebted to these two aldermen for their leadership.
Bulbs and Pedals:
Learning from the Netherlands
Hans Moor, Economic and Commercial Affairs Officer, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands delivered a fascinating presentation showing the 'Dutchification' of numerous municipalities across Canada where he has given cycling speeches. Moor found a comparable streetscape in a Dutch municipality and provided the audience with a rendering -- replacing traffic congestion with people, trees, and bicycles. The talk also discussed the economic effects of cycling on society as a whole. Moor noted that the Dutch are not born on bicycles and that conscious decisions were made to increase the mode share of commuter cycling after the full impact of post-war suburbanization was obvious on the quality of life.
This year Ottawa opened dedicated bicycle lanes on Laurier Avenue. Moor presented the case for the dedicatd bike lanes and showed the dramatic results of automatic bike counters embedded in the pavement. The 'Road Diet' proposed on 5th and 6th Ave SW by the Calgary tour de nuit Society differs from the Laurier project because the multiple lanes on one way avenues permit narrowing traffic lanes without a loss in vehicle capacity a technique unavailable in Ottawa.
The CtdnS speaker series is sponsored by the Calgary Public Library and for the first time, First Calgary Financial.
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The Sun Shines on the 'Ride the Road' tour
The big news on 2011 'Ride the Road' tour was the break in the weather after days of rain and tantalizing forecasts of sun from Environment Canada. In the week before the ride, forecasts were changing on a daily basis. Early morning sun was quickly replaced by a low level cloud that looked threatening but burned off as the volunteer crew commenced building the start tower.
Last minute cancellations with local Calgary Centre MP Lee Richardson flying back to Ottawa; MLAs Kent Hehr and Alison Redford juggling crammed schedules left the stage duties for our Environment Week kick off to MLA Dr. David Swann, leader of the Opposition and Alberta Liberal Party and Laura Lochman, Consul General of the United States for Alberta, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories. In 2009 US infrastructure spending on active transportation doubled to 1.2 billion dollars and the US Embassy has been supporting educational exchanges between Canada and the United States. Brian Keating performed the MC functions for the Calgary Bicycle Festival in Stanley Park where cyclists from north and south Calgary met. Keating, a well-known Calgary Zoo conservation spokesperson and a commuter cyclist, rode the North C3 Spoke Ride, "It was a blast! Having the police escort made it a very special experience. Not a care in the world..."
This year's 'Ride the Road' tour is actually three rides and included multiple start locations: Tuxedo Source for Sports, Calgary Cycle, Pure Cycle, Cyclepath which more accurately reflects the reality of commuter origin/destination models. Jim Gregory is the second of three generations involved with the family retailer, Tuxedo Source for Sports on Centre St and last year piloted the multiple ride model inspired the London Lord Mayor's Sky Ride. Tuxedo was back again this year offering participants a "policeman's breakfast" and providing registration support to CtdnS volunteers. On site at Stanley Park, Gregory stated, "everyone commented on how enjoyable it was to ride with no hassles thanks to the police escort for the group of cyclists." Doan Galarneau of Cyclepath said “Calgary bicycle dealers want to be involved in the community but we are in an awkward spot says when it comes to promoting something besides a bike race. We need infrastructure and marketing to get people out of their cars more often.” Bow Cycle well away from the route of the ‘Ride the Road’ tour was one of many groups promoting the ride that kicked off Environment Week in Calgary.
Gary Beaton, President of Calgary tour de nuit Society, stated that we have a formula for engaging the community of bicycle commuters and a unique public event to promote not only active transportation but also an active lifestyle. “The Calgary tour de nuit Society met all of its goals except one – we wanted more people cycling than Montreal”.
C3, Climate Change Central, sponsored the North C3 Spoke Ride.
About the Calgary tour de nuit Society
The Calgary tour de nuit Society (CtdnS) was formed in early 2009 as a member based Active and Sustainable Transportation Organization (ASTO) with the mandate of encouraging 'more people cycling more often'. Calgary was the only major Canadian city without a representative agency for commuter cyclists. The Society maintains an active government relations program − professionally representing the interests of commuter cyclists at two levels of government, as well as with institutions, stakeholders, communities and the media.
The core of CtdnS' public program is the 'Ride the Road' tour - an on-street, closed-road bicycle tour from distant 'burbs to and through Calgary's central business district because cycling is and should be foremost a fun activity. Despite the fun and family focus it is Calgary's most influential cycling event. Members of the commuter cycling community have a relaxed atmosphere to pass on their passion and love of cycling to decision-makers and the public. The tour permits commuters and the public to experience cycling in the presence of hundreds of other Calgarians on roads not normally accessibe to cyclists. The 'Ride the Road' tour gives inspiration to 'more people cycling more often'.
The name of the society is inspired by the annual evening street ride in the city of Montreal that attracts over 14,000 riders, and borrows from the now common practice throughout North American of commuter organisations using French titles for events. The Calgary tour de nuit Society has the most unique name in North America
CtdnS also hosts, in partnership with the Calgary Public Library, an educational speaker series of Canada's leading experts in the field of bicycle transportation
On August 23 2009, the two largest commuter cycling events held in Calgary were organized by the Calgary tour de nuit Society. Two hundred Calgarians took part in the 'Ride the Road' tour to help advance the interests of commuter cyclists in our city. Upwards of 1000 participants visited the Calgary Bicycle festival (held in conjunction with the 'Ride the Road' tour). Come and join us on June 3rd!
Joining the Calgary tour de nuit Society adds to the voice of commuter cyclists in Calgary and provides us with the financial and volunteer resources to create lasting change. To contact us and get involved, email us at info@morepeoplecycling.ca. To learn more about what we are proposing see our what we want and 'road diet' pages.
