Guelph sets sights on 21st century

Guelph (#11) is taking the bold steps needed to de-throne Burlington as Canada's best medium sized city to live in.

This article in the Toronto Star caught my eye.

Guelph - more than 100 km. of bike lanes in existence with another 110 km. in varying stages of approval!!

By contrast, Burlington's 2009 Cycling Master Plan called for 40 km of bike lanes & 9 km of new paved shoulders in total by 2015.  We're going into the 6 year mark.  In that time Guelph added more than 100 km of bike lanes.  Burlington will be hard pressed to add 40 km.

Proposed additions to cycling infrastructure in Burlington - CMP.

Studies continue to show that younger generations aren't driving and won't buy cars in the same amounts their parents did.

Which forward looking city do you think the younger generation would choose to live and raise their families in?

How's a "B" working for yah?

An April 23rd. report to council detailed the city's progress in meeting the targets in the CMP.  It details both the good and bad but hesitates to give an overall grade, letting the reader draw his/her own conclusions.
Below is the report listing proposed cycling infrastructure by type of project in each of the 3 phases.

     

Our cycling master plan has 3 phases with projected completion rates for each.  As with countless things governmental, the most distant target (phase III) is the largest component, i.e it's back-end loaded and may never be completed.

Focusing only on the period 2009 - 2015 yields better results for the city - as high as 74%.  According to the grading system used in Ontario schools, it's a B grade - provided we do the projects planned for  2011 - 2115.

Where are the blowing trumpets, ringing church bells?  According to our CMP, phase I, as of 2010, we are ahead of the game.  We've got the lead!  In 2010 we blew past our targets with a completion rate of 166%.

Inexplicably, in 2011 & 2012 Burlington is planning for the lead to evaporate, slip between the spokes, by adding only 1km of new bike lanes each year!  Why????  If you're ahead at half time, you never plan on giving up going into the second half.
NOT, if you're the 3rd best city in Canada to live in &and getting more to cycle is the best way to move up or stay on top.

Cam's Kobayashi Maru and Canada's 3rd best place to live!

Why live anywhere else? 


In 2010, MoneySense magazine ranked Burlington as the 3rd best place to live out of 179 cities in Canada.  We moved up from number 4 in 2009.

Better still, Burlington wasn't even ranked in 2006.  It was lumped in with Hamilton.  According to Mayor Cam Jackson, he called the editors & asked why Burlington didn't have its own rank when several similar sized cities did.  Presto in 2008, Burlington had its own #8 ranking.  Jackson then pulled his "Kobayashi Maru" move straight out of Star Trek and took advantage of how the rankings are developed to plot Burlington's ascent.


With a bit more planning and effort from the new Transportation Service Department in Burlington, we can move up further.  One of the criteria is the number people who walk or bike to work.  Burlington ranks 156.  Lots of opportunity to improve this ranking and catch up to Kingston (12) and Ottawa-Gatineau (54).

You can click on the link and pictures for more details.

The sooner the bike lane network is completed, and overpasses made safer, more people will cycle.  The better our ranking will be in 2012!

Mayor Jackson  & Kobayashi Maru - thinking out of the box.  In the 2006 Sound of Music parade, Cam Jackson chose a bike rather than the ubiquitous parade convertible.