Gorski Consulting Participates in Velo Cycling Counts

Velo Canada Bikes is a corporation that has initiated a cyclist counting procedure throughout Canada during the week of June 1-6, 2021. During this week volunteers are asked to count the number of cyclists they observe at designated locations in 14 different Canadian cities. For those volunteers not residing in those cities counts can still be performed and accepted.

London Ontario is not one of the 14 designated cities where the counts are requested. Yet, as of yesterday, June 1st, 51 different counts were submitted to the organization from various sites throughout the City. While it was requested that observations be made over a period of two continuous hours many of the reports contain observations for shorter intervals. Yet the fact that persons would volunteer for this project in such numbers is revealing of the interest persons have in cycling in the London area.

Gorski Consulting has decided to volunteer our services as one of the counters. On June 2, 2021 two counts were made, one for 3 hours and another for 2 hours. Results from these sessions will be tabulated shortly. This is done in conjunction with previous observations made by Gorski Consulting for the past 15 years. Some of our data has been reported in articles posted on the Gorski Consulting website. Prior to this new initiative Gorski Consulting has documented cyclist volumes on 25, one-hour sessions throughout the City of London.

We have also been involved in documenting cyclists at specific locations such as along Dundas Street from Highbury to Clark Road. That eight year study demonstrated that a very low volume of females ride in this area and this number is reduced even more during winter months. This data was reported in an earlier article posted on the Gorski Consulting website. If cycling volumes are to increase we need to understand why female cyclists are so reduced in volume and what we can do make that change.