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The counter works just as well when covered with snow, although Rheault said the risk is if a patch of ice or snow builds up on the space over the counter, prompting people to ride around it. The solution to that is for the city to plow the space well.

As far as the number of people on bikes using the bridge, Rheault has been watching the data, just like the rest of us, and he did have some insight gathered from the company’s counters in other cities — Eco-Counter has some 10,000 counters of different types installed in 40 countries, he said.

For one thing, Rheault said it takes some time for new infrastructure to become part of the habit of users. Normally, there’s an initial jump in users when a new piece of infrastructure opens, as existing users adjust their patterns to take in the new route (a new bike lane in Vancouver, for example, found an increase in cyclists of about three per cent right away). But the real jump comes after about two years, when people finally start to adjust their lifestyle in response (similar findings have also been found elsewhere. I wrote about them here).

What does that mean for the Peace Bridge? Considering it opened in 2012, we’ve probably already seen that secondary jump. But we’ll be able to confirm that as more time passes and more data accumulates.

As far as the raw numbers goes, Rheault thinks they are falling in line with what he sees in other cities. He has, however, been surprised by a few things. For one, the peak number of users is pretty high. The highest day of use, in Canada Day, saw 3,465 bicycle trips (remember, “trip” counts are used to count traffic of all types, which doesn’t necessarily correspond to number of people. The same person could be measured entering and leaving downtown. This is generally how counts of cars and pedestrians are also done). That’s a pretty good number, Rheault says. His company has found that the two busiest spots for bikes in North America are usually the Hawthorne Bridge in Portland and Maisonneuve Boulevard in Montreal. Peak days on both streets see 8,000 to 9,000 bicycle trips. So to see Calgary’s peak in that context — consider Portland and Montreal are often called the most bike-friendly cities in North America — is quite strong. “Already having multiple days over 2,000 is pretty good in a Canadian context,” Rheault said.