CambridgeToday received the following letter to the editor from Brian Maloney and Tom Strickland, board members with CycleWR, on the Region's plan for cycle tracks on Ainslie Street.
Ainslie Street is badly congested with cars at peak times today. What will happen if cars remain the only safe option to get downtown, and the city population grows by 40-50%, as is projected by 2051 in the Regional Plan?
There is no way to increase car capacity on Ainslie Street. There is a way to increase travel capacity – by adding cycle tracks. Every person who chooses to cycle or “roll” downtown rather than drive means one less car clogging up the street. Cycle tracks are good for drivers.
Fewer cars downtown means less noise and less pollution – a more attractive area for walking, shopping and living. The cycle tracks will also be a buffer between pedestrians and cars. Cycle tracks are good for pedestrians.
The cycle tracks will give safe access into and out of Downtown, and eventually safe access through the Downtown to Preston and the Paris Rail Trail. Cycle tracks are good for cyclists, wheelchair users and other “rollers”.
How many people want to cycle? Two major studies have shown that 6% of the general population is comfortable cycling on a busy street like Ainslie today. In contrast, 66% of the general population will consider cycling if they have a separated facility like the proposed cycle tracks.
There is one significant downside to adding cycle tracks. You won’t be able to park on Ainslie Street next to your destination.
How often do people do that today? We observed customers entering a popular store over a three hour period on a recent weekday. The store had 70 adult customers, of which 16 (23%) parked on that block of Ainslie Street. The rest walked at least 100 metres to get to the store, and likely much farther than that.
We also observed the overall parking availability in the downtown core over three weekdays. On those days, the City Hall parking lot (170 metres from the store’s front door) had no less than 22 parking spots available.
Similarly, for every block on Ainslie, there are parking areas with plenty of consistently available spaces within easy walking distance – just not right next to the store. This is the one compromise that is needed to allow all travel modes to safely use Ainslie Street.
Deliveries are a problem on Ainslie Street today, since most parking spots in the central blocks are filled with cars most of the day. The City can and should address this problem by identifying some “delivery only” spots on side streets or in nearby parking lots. This is not a reason to reject cycle tracks.
The City and Region have targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80% by 2050. A key goal to achieve that is to reduce car trips less than 5 kilometres by 80%. That is a tough goal – but impossible if we only support car travel to our key destinations.
We ask you to support the cycle track option on Ainslie Street by answering the Region’s survey here by June 30.
Brian Maloney and Tom Strickland
Board members, CycleWR
