Mississauga gets Google shoutout as city sees cycling increase beyond pre-pandemic levels
Published June 2, 2022 at 4:35 pm
Mississauga is one of three cities highlighted in a new Google report which notes that some cities around the world are seeing a major increase in cycling — even beyond pre-pandemic levels.
Google recently added mobility data from 2021 to its Environmental Insights Explorer (EIE), which includes data like building carbon emissions, transportation emissions, and rooftop solar panel potential for over 40,000 cities across the world.
“Local governments can now perform year-over-year analyses of activity changes across four consecutive years — from 2018 to 2021 — to monitor real progress on climate action planning and implementation,” said the report from Christopher Bian, Sr. Software Engineer, and Michael Tavendale, Partner Activation Lead, Environmental Insights Explorer.
The report touches on how the COVID-19 pandemic influenced certain behaviours such as commuter activity. As cities went into quarantine and people began working from home, biking and walking became more popular ways to safely exercise and explore the city.
According to the data, Mississauga saw a considerable boost in cycling in 2020: There was an 18% increase in biking trips being made, resulting in a 62% increase in distance traveled by bike.
Cycling levels continued to increase in 2021, albeit to a lesser degree.
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The report attributes this increase in cycling to the Active Transportation COVID-19 Recovery Framework that Mississauga adopted in 2020. This framework involved the installation of 17.9 km of new separated and on-road bike lanes, and designated some roads as “Quiet Streets” that limited vehicle traffic to provide more space for cyclists and pedestrians.
“During this pandemic, communities like ours have seen cycling increase by as much as 60 per cent,” Mississauga mayor Bonnie Crombie noted back when the new framework was announced.
“This framework responds to those needs and will work to provide our residents with more options to travel around our City comfortably while providing relief for our busy sidewalks, multi-use trails and enhancing access to local amenities.”
Two other cities were mentioned alongside Mississauga for an observed increase in cycling: The county of Fingal in Ireland, and the capital city of Argentina, Buenos Aires.
“These cities have adopted bicycling-forward policies and plans which are enabling higher levels of cycling activity,” says the report. “Moreover, the pandemic has created an increase in cycling interest, providing an additional boost to cycling activity across the world.”
The full report can be read here.
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