Sunday, December 6, 2009

Cars a hard habit to break: City's active transport efforts are too little for some

[Edmonton AB] Vue Weekly, November 19
Author: David Berry

City Council laid out some ambitious plans for turning drivers into walkers and cyclists in its recent Transportation Master Plan, but the recommendations of the Active Transportation Funding Strategy has some questioning just how serious the city is about breaking Edmonton's car habits.

Currently, active transport—cycling, walking and other self-propelled modes of transportation—accounts for 11 – 12 percent of travel in the city, and City Council has made it a goal to increase those numbers in the coming years. As it stands, the budget for active transport would make those goals rather difficult: active transport infrastructure funding accounts for just one percent of the transportation budget, compared to 73 percent for cars (though those numbers don't include LRT spending).

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