Case study: Ways Ottawa increases cycling with green transit options

A chilly challenge: The City of Ottawa, ON, was faced with the challenge of reducing automobile dependency in a winter city with far-flung suburban areas. Their response was to launch an ambitious transportation plan that combines high-quality transit with safe and accessible year-round cycling infrastructure, aiming for 66 per cent of all trips to the city core to be made via public transit or bike.

Sustainable solution: Ottawa's innovative approach combines city-wide land-use planning that supports transit and cycling with integrated cycling-transit services such as bike racks for buses and a Bike and Ride program. The city has also developed dedicated cycling infrastructure, such as segregated bike lanes, "Complete Streets" and a winter cycling network.

Green benefits: Integrating cycling with transit is effective because it provides options for cyclists during bad weather and increases the accessibility and reach of public transit by encouraging trips that combine both modes. And it's having a big impact: just one initiative — the award-winning Laurier Avenue Segregated Bike Lane Project — succeeded in quadrupling cycling trips on that road, reducing roadway operation and maintenance expenses and almost doubling the cycle mode share in the downtown core.

Success secrets: Some of the reasons for Ottawa's success include promoting integrated options for biking and walking, focusing on key route connectivity and quality rather than total kilometres, and using electronic monitoring data to track and report on success. 

Looking for ways to increase cycling levels in your community?

Learn more about the City of Ottawa's projects with these resources: 

• Laurier Avenue Segregated Bike Lane Project: City of Ottawa, ON, Winner - 2015 FCM Sustainable Communities Awards (case study and video)
• City of Ottawa Transportation Master Plan
• Cycling in the Capital: Laurier Avenue Segregated Bicycle Lane Pilot Project (paper presented to Transportation Association of Canada conference)
• Churchill Avenue Cycle Tracks (project summary, Transportation Association of Canada award nomination)
• Cycling in the City (City of Ottawa e-newsletter, November 2015)
• The Next Great Idea: Ottawa's Light Rail Transit System (A City of Ottawa presentation given at a workshop on promising technologies and solutions)

Discover more sustainability ideas and project examples

Read the other articles in this series for more sustainability ideas and project examples that you can use in your community:

• Cranbrook gains $1.2M in value by using wastewater for irrigation
• How Saint-Hyacinthe turns organic waste into biogas and revenue
• Innovative projects prepare older Brampton suburbs for climate change
• Why net-zero energy buildings reduce emissions and costs for communities
• How low-carbon design helps cut greenhouse gas emissions in half

This series was inspired by "From Crazy to Common Sense: 'Radical' Ideas Whose Time Have Come," a workshop that was held at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities' 2016 Sustainable Communities Conference.

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