Follow up from Jenn Turcott's talk at the AGM.

Please show  your support for Cycle Tracks!

On April 16^th, the recommended Cycle track network will be coming to the Standing Policy Committee on Transportation and Transit and members of Calgary City Council will be voting on it.

Council passed a motion to ask Administration to provide Calgarians with more transportation choices in Calgary’s busiest area—the Centre City—and to determine an updated East-West-North-South separated Cycle Route Network through the Centre City. Funding for this transportation plan has already been allocated

This is an extremely important vote. If it loses, it will set back safe cycling in Calgary for years.

Unfortunately Council has been hearing a lot of negative and false information from their residents regarding cyclists. They are being told that cyclists do not pay taxes because we do not own vehicles (vehicle registration is collected by the Provincial government and none of that revenue goes to cities); that we live in a car city; that winter last six-months of the year and people shouldn't ride bikes in winter to very hostile comments of people saying that we should be run down.

Council is leaning towards not supporting Cycle Tracks. This is where we NEED your help:

Contact your Member of Council and the Mayor—we need to let our members of council know that cycling is important to Calgary. It will provide safe and alternative modes of transport in the Centre City.

·         Contact your Councillor

·         Contact the Mayor

Tell your friends to write/call too!

Visit the City’s page on the recommended cycle tracks

Join the ‘Calgarians for Cycle Tracks’ Facebook page

Calgary cannot build anymore roads into the Centre City and alternative modes of transportation are desperately needed. The Cycle Route Network will provide 3% of transportation funding to cycling which currently contributes to the 3.5% of people commuting into the Centre City via bicycles.

Providing cycling infrastructure is extremely cost effective and saves on infrastructure repairs and is dramatically cheaper than building a c-train line or a grade separated interchange (approximately $80 million per).

Furthermore, more cyclist will be encouraged to commute into downtown through the separated cycle tracks—cars, bikes and pedestrians all have their place and are separated creating greater safety for all three.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and contact your Member of Council.

Jenn