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Hot summer 2017 weather leads to record bike lane use in Vancouver, city says

The Science World area recorded 227,000 bike trips, an increase of 23,000 trips over last summer's record.

Image: Paul Krueger (via Wikimedia Commons)

On the West Coast, a summer of unusually beautiful, hot weather in Vancouver has led to a spike in the use of the city’s protected bike lanes, with the numbers of riders using five of those ten lanes described in reports as “record.”

The information comes from the City of Vancouver itself, which recently issued a statement declaring that the summer of 2017 has been a great one for local cyclists.

Of note, the city said, was the area around Science World, which recorded 227,000 bike trips in July, up 23,000 from July 2016. “Science World regularly has some of the highest bike volumes in Vancouver due to its connection to four other bike routes,” the city’s statement reads, “location at the eastern edge of the public bike-share zone, proximity to the Main Street Science World SkyTrain station and its secure bike lock-up facilities, and the access to bike-friendly ferry service to other locations around False Creek.”

Science World, though, wasn’t the only Vancouver locale whose bike lane use was as hot as the weather.

Hawks Avenue in Strathcona clocked 120,000 bike trips in July, up 5,000 from June, 2015. On Robson Street in the city’s downtown core, the Hornby bikeway recorded 80,000 trips, again up 5,000 over the previous record set in August of 2016. The Lion’s Gate Bridge saw an increase of 1,000 rides over a record set in June 2015, tallying 71,000 trips, while 29,000 trips were counted over the Canada Line Bridge bike path—another spike of 1,000 trips over a June, 2015 record.

A full list of this summer’s bike lane stats, courtesy of the City of Vancouver, can be viewed below:

Record cycling volumes by location in comparison to previous record years

Bike route Previous record (years vary) Current year (2017)
Record breaking in 2017
Science World 204,000 in August 2016 227,000 in July *
Adanac Bikeway (at Hawks) 115,000 in June 2015 120,000 in July
Hornby Bikeway (at Robson) 75,000 in August 2016 80,000 in July
Lions Gate Bridge 70,000 in June 2015 71,000 in July
Canada Line Pedestrian and Bike Bridge 28,000 in June 2015 29,000 in July
Other major routes and highest volume month in 2017
Burrard and Cornwall 195,000 in July 2014 190,000 in August
Dunsmuir Street (Union and Main) 69,000 in August 2016 66,000 in August
Dunsmuir Viaduct 76,000 in June 2015 73,000 in July
10th Ave and Clark 82,000 in June 2015 70,000 in July
Point Grey Road at Volunteer Park 102,000 in July 2015 99,000 in July

* Data is not available for August 2017 due to technical difficulties with counter equipment.