Active Transportation – Who Has Time for That in a Busy World?
Concerns about environmental issues and climate change can sometimes feel overwhelming. Active transportation is one way you can reduce your environmental footprint while also receiving personal health benefits. We can think of it as replacing travel time (in a car), such as for commuting or errands, for example, with physical activity time instead! Sometimes you have to get a bit creative, and it can take a little longer, but the benefits from regular exercise built into your routine are immense.
For example, let’s say you walk or bike half an hour to and from work downtown each day. That’s one hour of regular exercise that you may not feel you have time for otherwise! Once you can build something like that into your routine, you definitely miss it if you have to skip a day. Even when life gets really busy and maybe you feel you don’t have time for other exercise, you know you already have that hour each day to count on. And of course, there’s not just biking or walking, there’s also rollerblading, skateboarding, scootering, running, and other options! For simplicity, I’ll stick to biking and walking, but all self-propelled methods are included.
In June last year, our Green Initiatives Committee held a family-friendly event at Horsey Park for Environment Week. Attendees were able to provide positive examples of active transportation, including ice cream outings, restaurants such as 4th Spot, grocery trips, parks, schools, the 2 Street NW cycling route, and the Mount Pleasant Pool, as well as commuting, family outings, and simply for fun. One of the concerns mentioned was not being able to securely lock up bicycles at some destinations. Please mention this, as feedback to an area school happily resulted in much-needed additional bike racks.
We’ve definitely seen some improvements to make biking safer, including 24 Ave NW west of 14 Street, 2 Street traffic diversion, the downtown separated bike lanes, and the less recent but very useful 10 St bike lane. Based on feedback, some sidewalks have been added where there were gaps, for example between King George and Confederation Park. The new switchbacks at the nearby park entrance have been added to improve safety for all users after the tragic accidents there over the last few years. By the time of printing, we should be able to see Balmoral Circle taking shape with completion planned for the fall.
Perhaps you’ve seen the Mount Pleasant We-Haul bike trailer out in the community. It’s available for community members to borrow through the Mount Pleasant website! Check out our newest video showing one of our committee members safely using the bike trailer for a thoughtful errand! The video, a community map, and other helpful links are found under the Green Initiatives section (see top under “Programs and Initiatives”) on the revamped MPCA website.
We-Haul bike trailer in action. Available to borrow (see MPCA website).
What You Can Do to Help
• Avoid parking vehicles too close to a corner, which makes it difficult to see pedestrians crossing and for non-car users to check both ways before crossing.
• Get creative and increase active transportation in your daily life; encourage your friends and family to join you.
• Please watch out for pedestrians and other street and sidewalk users, especially for neighbourhood kids. It is wonderful to see kids out biking around the neighbourhood – the freedom to explore with friends or family… just make sure they wear a helmet! It’s the law in Alberta for children under 18, including for kids in bike trailers.
• Maintain a safe speed at all times and slow down when you can’t see the corners, and at our T-intersections where people could be trying to cross.
Active transportation is one of our focus areas for our committee, and we’re happy to discuss ideas. If you want to get involved to help make Mount Pleasant a greener community, please email [email protected] for more information or to join our new mailing list. Please check out the Mount Pleasant Green Initiative group on Facebook, found on the Mount Pleasant Community Association page. The Facebook group is also a great place to share information and see what others are doing.
Have a great month,
The MPCA Green Initiatives Committee
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