Wealthy and white: ActiveTO made some progress in diversifying cycling, but more needs to be done

Yorkregion.com
March 23, 2021

ig number: 65 per cent, the percentage of long-time cyclists riding the ActiveTO routes along Lake Shore Boulevard last September who reported a household income of more than $100,000, significantly higher than the average income.

There are some stubborn old stereotypes about Toronto cyclists. People still think of bike riders as mostly members of some downtrodden working class, struggling to make their way through the city while rich jerks driving SUVs honk at them.

I’m not here to tell you that scenario doesn’t happen. I’ve seen it. I’ve lived it. I’ve flipped the bird at a dude in a Lexus who seemed annoyed I had the gall to bike along Queen Street. But some new survey data is jamming a stick in the wheels of these cycling stereotypes.

During the ActiveTO program on Lake Shore Boulevard East and Lake Shore Boulevard West last summer that closed the streets to cars and opened them to cyclists and pedestrians, the city’s transportation division worked with the Centre for Active Transportation and Park People to conduct a survey of people using the routes.

The results show that the cyclists using the ActiveTO routes come from households making significantly more than Toronto’s median household income. A full 65 per cent of those who called themselves long-time cyclists reported an annual household income of more than $100,000. The city’s median household income, according to the 2016 census, is $65,829.

Just 12 per cent of long-time cyclists reported household incomes of less than $50,000 per year, even though 38 per cent of city residents have income in that range.

The city wasn’t counting a whole lot of diversity on two wheels, either. A whopping 85 per cent of long-time cyclists surveyed were white. Citywide, 49 per cent of Toronto is classified as white, according to census data.

The good news is that the ActiveTO program seemed to be effective at motivating more people who don’t have high incomes and aren’t white to give cycling a try. Those who told surveyors they were new to cycling or riding a bike for the first time in a long time were a slightly more diverse group in terms of both race and income than those who classified themselves as long-time cyclists. Of the new-and-returning group, 24 per cent identified as Black, Indigenous or a Person of Colour, while the number in the $100,000-plus club fell to 58 per cent.

But the results overall still point to a reason to be concerned about city hall’s recent bike efforts. The city has seen significant cycling growth over the last decade with the addition of lots of new lanes in the city core, but the data suggests the bicycle is at risk of becoming a mode of transportation primarily for what some have dubbed the “downtown elite.”

That’d be a real missed opportunity, because cycling can be enormously beneficial to people with lower incomes. The Canadian Automobile Association’s car cost calculator pegs the average annual cost of owning even a used 10-year-old Honda Civic in Ontario at about $8,000. That’s a huge chunk of income for a household making less than $50,000.

Cycling, on the other hand, generally costs a few hundred dollars a year, depending on how hardcore you want to be with your gear. Enabling people to shift some or all of their trips to a bike can save a lot of cash.

As city hall’s infrastructure committee considers the proposed plan this week for the second year of the ActiveTO program, they should be thinking about ways to shift gears on cycling’s demographic mismatch. Since the weekend closures of parts of Lake Shore Boulevard and Bayview Avenue showed some promise at diversifying cycling, they certainly should think hard about whether it really makes sense to scale back the program to accommodate road construction, as is currently proposed. I’m thinking no.

Instead, consider creating new weekend car-free spaces for cycling on streets in lower-income areas. Think about accelerating the expansion of Bike Share in the suburbs, prioritizing Toronto Community Housing buildings. Think about way more bike lane additions outside of the downtown core. Think about supporting programs that can subsidize or provide free bikes for people who might not otherwise afford them.

Breaking down barriers is never easy, but it’ll be worth it. As a cheap and effective kind of transportation, cycling can be a great equalizer -- but access needs to be equal too.