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This article was published 8/1/2016 (1714 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

An annual study of bicycle traffic in Winnipeg shows growth in commuter cycling has stagnated in the past couple of years, and growth in cycle traffic is closely related to infrastructure upgrades.

The bicycle traffic count is conducted by Bike Winnipeg volunteers in May and June. For 2015, volunteers conducted 86 counts at 25 locations in the city to get a picture of where commuter cycling is headed.

Between 2007, the first year the count was conducted, and 2015, bicycle commuter traffic increased by 20 per cent, the report estimates. However, most of this increase was during a period of federal infrastructure funding from 2009-11, which saw many new bike lane facilities being built.

"From the broader cycling community, there seems to be a general belief that cycling is increasing," said Jeremy Hull, who prepared the Bike Winnipeg report. "It’s everyone’s perception that there’s more cyclists out there and I believe that’s true.

"We’re only capturing commuter cycling, which isn’t certainly all the cycling that goes on, and we’re only going to certain locations where there’s likely to be a lot of cyclists."

There are about 7,100 daily bicycle commuters on a typical weekday in May or June in downtown Winnipeg, according to the count. The report says downtown cyclists are about 48 per cent of the total bicycle commuter traffic in the city, so it estimates about 14,780 daily bicycle commuters in Winnipeg during a typical weekday in May or June.

The latest count also highlights how closely related bicycle traffic and infrastructure upgrades are. From 2007-15, bicycle counts at locations where bike lanes or paths were completed increased by 115 per cent. The report said there was no change in the count at locations without those facilities, while four locations saw a decrease in counts related to cyclists being diverted to new facilities.

"I think that’s what keeps people from cycling around town to work or wherever, is just that they don’t want to deal with traffic and are afraid of it," Hull said.

WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Anders Swanson, coordinator of the Winnipeg Trails Association.

"So sometimes they go on the sidewalk and we know that’s not such a good thing either. So the best thing is when there’s a separated bike lane, like on Sherbrooke or along Assiniboine Avenue, where there’s some kind of divider between the cyclist and the traffic."

The volunteer-driven bicycle count provides provides one of the few sources of good data on cycling traffic in Winnipeg, and is useful for other advocates to push for infrastructure funding and education - like Anders Swanson, coordinator of the Winnipeg Trails Association,

"I think the report is a clear demonstration that investment from both the provincial and federal government levels is very important. It’s very clear they both benefit, especially from the preventive health care benefits and helping to meet their climate change agreements," Swanson said.

"There’s a whole list of things that makes this relevant to the federal and provincial governments. I hope they see this report and I hope they realize how important their role is."

The main barrier for people trying to bicycle in Winnipeg is the lack of a comprehensive network of facilties, according to Hull. Bike lanes that don’t connect with the rest of the network discourage people from using cycling as a way to commute.

"So people are not going to go very far because they don’t have these connected routes," Hull said. "But as you build these connected routes, as you start filing in the gaps, all of a sudden the whole network is much more useful and valuable for people. So it will build up over time."

Building this network means more investment, money that Swanson says would be well spent.

"It’s about living in a city that they love, I think that’s the main thing. People consistently rate pathway connectivity very high in terms of what they think is important," Swanson said.

"The number of people who are already (cycling) is way below the number of people who want to really badly."