Travel habits of Calgarians on the rebound in most areas

In March, when the first cases of coronavirus were reported in Calgary and the city declared a local state of emergency, movement around the city was at a virtual standstill.

As people began going out more, city-wide usage of bikes, cars and buses all saw a shift. So, the city has started to produce regular reports about how changes have played out on streets and paths.

The reports monitor traffic on roads, pathway use, transit ridership and even information on crashes and parking stalls while comparing them to previous so-called "normal" years.

"We do really feel that this pandemic has got Calgarians to rethink their travel behaviour," said transportation planning director Ryan Vanderputten.

At the beginning of the pandemic, the theory was that pathways became hotspots. More than ever before, people were choosing to bike and walk in their own neighbourhoods either for fresh air or to get around.

But it didn't quite play out that way.

Pathway use

Vanderputten said while bikes were selling out in stores, pathways didn't see a flood of two-wheeled riders.

Statistically, the numbers in areas like the Bow River pathway, downtown cycle track and other recreational hotspots stayed pretty consistent with last year's statistics.

"The Eco-Counter data that we have, well, it didn't break any records. It was definitely showing that there was still a constant demand," Vanderputten said. "I wouldn't say that statistically we saw a higher use … our pathways are used by commuters and those commuters weren't coming downtown.

"But even though those commuters were coming downtown, people were still using the network … I think we swapped one kind of use for another."

Of course, over the years the city has invested in automatic counters in many popular areas, so Vanderputten said this is just an anecdotal theory, as the city doesn't sit in neighbourhoods to count activity.

And while these spots weren't wildly popular compared to an average year, there was a concern about people being able to use this infrastructure and properly physically distance.

Adaptive roadways

To give more space to users over the course of the pandemic, Vanderputten said they installed 18 different adaptive roadways — lanes designated for active users instead of cars.

"I think it also has identified, like this wasn't just a summer need for Calgarians," Vanderputten said. "We are also looking at how we could bring that back in a safe capacity for Calgarians next year as well."

One of the more popular adaptive roads was along Memorial Drive, where on its busiest day, April 19, the city recorded 40,000 users in a 10-hour window.

The Memorial Drive lane closures are continuing on weekends until the snow falls. 

Once school started up again, traffic in the city returned to near-normal levels — but in his report, Vanderputten said morning commuter traffic is still down.

Commuter traffic

Calgary Transit is trailing behind when it comes to recovery, at 50 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.

"We also are likely going to expect to see some of the transit riders shifting to the auto [mode of transportation] for the time being," Vanderputten said. "Maybe they don't feel safe on transit or maybe flexibility is required."

Willem Klumpenhouwer is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Toronto Transportation Research Institute. One of the things he said is more apparent now, especially for transit networks, is the need to adjust service and give riders a clear message.

"There's been a lot of studies and people talking about how the public transit isn't as dangerous, as scary as we sort of thought at first with the coronavirus," Klumpenhouwer said.

"It'll be interesting to see how people respond to all that information, whether systems will change a little bit and if people get more comfortable."

The City of Calgary is re-launching an old survey, called My Travel Log. 

Vanderputten said asking citizens about how they are moving around now will give the city more solid insights about the data they are analyzing, and can help with future planning in the case of recovery or a second wave of COVID-19.

Klumpenhouwer said with the city's data, numbers don't tell the whole story — people's motivations are crucial as the pandemic plays out.

"What's really useful is to get a sense of where people are going and why," he said.