'Aggressive changes' needed to meet London's carbon goals: advisory committee

A group tasked with advising council about issues related to cycling wants to hold city politicians accountable for a climate emergency declaration made earlier this year.

If the city follows its current cycling and transportation master plans, the Cycling Advisory Committee says London will exceed its greenhouse gas emission budget by 45 per cent.

That's one of the key findings of a report going before full council Tuesday, which recommends council build a city-wide bike grid by summer2021, stop road widening projects, and spend $20-million per year on an Active Transportation Strategy.

"Car trips need to be shifted to modes like transit and cycling, that have a significantly lower carbon footprint," explained Chris DeGroot, one of the report's authors.

Electrifying public and passenger vehicles alone won't cut it, the report says. To get more people adopting the environmentally friendly transportation option, the report asks the city to address "interested but concerned cyclists."

This group is made up of people who don't currently ride a bike but would if there was safe infrastructure, said DeGroot. Based on data from major cities around the world, he said it could reflect 50to 60 per cent of Londoners.

"Without addressing this group, [the city] is simply building more infrastructure for existing cyclists that are already comfortable with painted bike lanes. You're not accessing any new cyclists."

The city's Transportation Master Plan wants to see cyclists making up five per cent of the mode share by 2030, but the cycling advisory committee wants that number to be higher.

It wants cyclists to make up 25 per cent of the mode share, and people who are walking to make up 10 per cent.

"Only aggressive changes in mode split from automobile to zero carbon transportation can achieve climate emergency goals," the report reads.

Cycling isn't the only solution says citycouncillor

One city councillor is accusing the cycling advisory committee of not following the democratic process.

"We didn't ask them to go and apply the climate change lens to the cycling master plan, and they did not ask us," said Ward 2 Coun. Shawn Lewis.

"Our advisory committees do require resources that are provided by the taxpayers of London, and they're not a licence to just come and do whatever you want."

The advisory committee's role, Lewis said, is to take direction from council and to provide some input to council on what they think that direction should be.

He also argues that cycling isn't the city's only solution for climate change.

"Transitioning our vehicle modes are part of it, but it's not all of it. Anything that's setting out the climate change file as only getting rid of cars is the only way to do this is in my mind, doomed to failure," he said.

"It's Canada. We have winter. We have a broad geography. We have much more suburban sprawl. There's lots of things we have to do."