Active commuters reduce environmental footprint, save money, and improve fitness.

When Gordon Jaremko started cycling to work in 1982, he was part of a tiny minority. He describes his decision to make a bike his main personal vehicle "as a case of making a virtue out of necessity."

"When spouse Beverley and I started having our eventual four children in April of 1975, she made a decision to set aside her career as a school teacher and raise them at home," says Jaremko who currently works as the editor of Alberta Oil. "We had a single household income, one car, and no way to buy another one. I started walking. That evolved naturally into bicycle commuting."

Did his colleagues find it odd? "Most people were just indifferent," he says. But those who were part of that tiny minority, such as the now-retired National Energy Board chairman Roland Priddle, were passionate about their active commute.

Jaremko describes some of the merits: "It's just a fun, addictive way to get around that makes you know your community better, from its topography to its weather, wildlife, sights, sounds, and smells," he explains. "A one- to two-hour bicycle commute is the complete opposite of spending time in a car. In a car it's expensive, dead, boring, and frustrating time."

"A one- to two-hour bicycle commute is the complete opposite of spending time in a car."

Today an increasing number of Canadians are discovering the joys of leaving the car in the garage. As with Jaremko, most recent active-commuter converts started out making a virtue out of necessity.

One of the commonly cited reasons for exploring alternative transportation is to save money. Scot Garrett, co-owner and service manager at South Surrey Cycles in White Rock, British Columbia, has noticed that as the price of gas has increased, so have sales.

Those people soon become hooked and often return to purchase accessories such as racks and panniers (side bags). "White Rock is pretty small, and more people are realizing that rather than start the car up to go to the store or grab a coffee, they can just get on their bikes," Garrett says. "Quite a few customers have opted to bike commuting as well. One hard-core customer goes fifty kilometres each way."

As an owner of a bike shop, Garrett thought he ought to know how it feels to rely on a bike as his primary mode of transportation, so he made a pact with himself to cycle from home to work, twelve kilometres each way, for one hundred days in a row.

"I just wanted to set a goal and do it, even though some days were rainy and downright miserable," he explains, "but I felt great about the accomplishment." The payoff? He felt more mentally alert and very physically fit.

Goal-setting or accepting a challenge appears to be an excellent way for regular folk to explore modes of transportation other than the car. For example, the annual Commuter Challenge is a national competition between workplaces that challenges workers to walk, cycle, take transit, carpool, or telework instead of driving solo.

The 2008 results pleased Kathryn Winkler, the coordinator of the national Commuter Challenger and the founder and director of the Sustainable Alberta Association. With a record number of 41,000 registered commuters, more than 1,700 workplaces in more than twenty-five Canadian cities participated.

In the final results, Calgary and Winnipeg emerged as the number-one cities in their size categories. In terms of sheer numbers, Vancouver came out on top with a whooping 7,442 participants. And the Vancity Group took the number-one spot in the "Workplace over 1,000 employees" with a participation rate of 91.3 per cent.

Jane Heron, an associate in community leadership with the sustainability group at Vancity, attributes the high participation rate to the fact that management not only supports alternative transportation but also has policies and resources in place to make it viable for employees.

"We have showers and provide secure lock-ups to make it easier for employees," says Heron. "You need the senior management team to have policies in place to make it possible."

For instance, if an employee who regularly walks or cycles to work has an emergency and has to leave work, the company will pay for the cab ride. Vancity also selects locations that are along the SkyTrain route.

The "virtue out of necessity" is certainly applicable at Vancity because not participating goes against the grain of corporate culture. Over the years, Kathryn Winkler has learned a thing or two about social marketing for behavioural change, and she notes nothing works better than making an integral part of the way a company conducts itself.

"One of the greatest ways for people to change their behaviour is to hear a message at their workplace," Winkler explains. "If their employer is introducing something that aligns with corporate culture, people will often just do it."

At Vancity, almost everyone jumps on the alternative-commuting bandwagon during the Commuter Challenge, but a remarkably high number of employees stick to that alternative mode of transportation year-round.

Heron reports on a daily basis fifty-three per cent of Vancity Group employees use alternative transportation. For head office, that number is seventy-five per cent because the building has a SkyTrain station stop on its second level. Heron adds the percentage for other local businesses sits at about thirty-three per cent.

Heron literally walks the walk. After breaking her ankle last October, she no longer took her personal mobility for granted. She went through extensive physiotherapy, but her physiotherapist told her the very best way "to get strong and walk again is to walk again."

"When I was first back on my feet, I would walk a block," she recalls. "Slowly, as time passed, I could walk further and further." She made a commitment to walk to and from work at least three times a week and she reports "rehab has been fantastic."

The walks have also been good for her mind. Her route takes her through several neighbourhoods, and she now sees a number of familiar faces on her sojourns. "People have habits like walking dogs. It's nice to [take in the scenery] and get junk out of my head." By the time she arrives at home, she feels refreshed and clear-headed.

She's so committed to walking and using alterative transportation, she sold her car last June. "I live near a SkyTrain and I live in a walkable city, so why do I need a car?"

In Nigel Fitzpatrick's essay, "Clean-Energy Transportation for Eco-Cities" published in The IES Journal Part A: Civil & Structural Engineering, he cites a comparative study that argues "Vancouver has benefited from a Canadian planning tradition which has been influenced by European thinking" and "the planning system in Vancouver is firmly geared towards the creation of compact residential, mixed use, low auto use environments."

Fitzpatrick claims other Canadian cities have good commuting characteristics, including Montreal, Toronto, Calgary, and Edmonton. He argues with a combination of urban planning savings there could be a forty per cent drop in cars in cities. He concludes: "There is, therefore, some cause for optimism with regard to transportation in our future cities."

While both Calgary and Edmonton show promise, of the cities Fitzpatrick identifies, they rank at the bottom when it comes to walking, and highest when it comes to driving.

That should come as no surprise to anyone who has tried to get around Calgary by foot. Dr. Gavin McCormack, a post-doctoral research fellow with the University of Calgary's Population Health Intervention Research Centre, concedes that Calgary "is a very car-orientated city."

"I think the city is perfectly built for motor vehicles and not very well built for pedestrians," he says. "The downtown core is not too badly built for pedestrians; however, in the suburbs it gets worse and worse, particularly in the new developments."

McCormack is currently working on a project called EcoEUFORIA that seeks to answer two major questions: what is the effect of the built environment on physical activity? And is improving the walkability of neighbourhoods a cost-effective means of increasing physical activity? When the results come out, Calgary may have to make a virtue out of necessity to stay in the green scene and keep its citizens fit.

About the Author

Originally from Winnipeg, Candice Ball is a Calgary-based freelance writer who has written extensively about oil and gas, and the arts.