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Final Report

Whitehorse Moves

City of Whitehorse, YT

This final results report on the Whitehorse Moves Project summarizes the work completed, the final results and the lessons learned from the implementation of the project, which started June 2004 and finished March 2008. The main sections of this final results report are Project Results, Lessons Learned and Future Enhancements.

Introduction

The City of Whitehorse is a modern, northern community with a population of approximately 21,000 people, and is representative of 295 similar-sized communities in Canada. Ninety percent of the population lives close enough to downtown for commuting seasonally by bicycle. The goal of the Urban Transportation Showcase Program project Whitehorse Moves was to reduce transportation greenhouse gas emissions.

The program focused on commuting adults and strove to remove the barriers to using alternative transportation. The project included: the installation of bike lanes; construction of an off-road bike path; off-road trail improvements; the installation of bus shelters, landscaping, and bike parking; the construction of a roundabout; and the construction of a pedestrian/cyclist bridge. In addition to infrastructure improvements, education and outreach were important components.

The Whitehorse Moves project demonstrates how a municipality can reduce greenhouse gases in the transportation sector as a smaller, full-service urban city that serves an engaged and motivated community of diverse citizens. The transportation showcase project identified measures that reduce green house gases in the transportation sector, changing the way Whitehorse moves by:

• Removing the barriers to active transportation on existing road and trail infrastructure leading to and within the downtown core.
• Educating the public.
• Developing transportation management programs that reduce the level of single occupant driving by promoting cycling, carpooling, public transportation and walking.
• Partnering with groups to identify and help achieve our goals.

Project results

Infrastructure

Although Whitehorse is an active community and residential areas are in close proximity to downtown, there were a number of barriers such as poor bicycle and trail route connectivity that discouraged active transportation. Slowing the speed of traffic, reducing traffic noise, improving lighting, improving cyclist and pedestrian safety, improving traffic flow at intersections and along roadways, and increasing the comfort for walking and transit users were key advancements. New traffic calming features were implemented, including roundabouts at intersections in lieu of traffic signals or stop signs, and implementing road diets that remove excess lanes along roadways, but are able to handle the daily traffic flows. Several infrastructure improvements were made as follows:

• Constructing continuous cycling lanes and multi-use trails to and within the downtown to provide alternatives to using the road network, and introducing a road diet by changing selected arterial roadways from 4 lanes to 3 lanes.
• Improving the alternative transportation environment along one of its main arterial roadways within the downtown core by constructing new bus shelters and signage, installing new bike parking stalls, and planting new trees and shrubs.
• Building a new pedestrian and cycling bridge across the Yukon River as an attractive and additional access to Downtown for pedestrians and cyclists of the City’s Riverdale community.
• Building a new lighted stairway within a ravine directly connecting the downtown core with the upper escarpment area for pedestrians and cyclists.
• Constructing a roundabout at the intersection of two arterial roadways within the downtown core to improve traffic flow from side streets and pedestrian and cyclist safety, as an alternative to signal lights and stop signs.

Public Education

The City took measures to inform the public about the new infrastructure changes and to promote an awareness of the linkage between the transportation sector and green house gas reductions. It produced and distributed brochures on sustainable transportation, advertised in newspapers and on radio, staffed trade shows, and attended public meetings and workshops. The City also frequently participated at showcase meetings and attended other conferences to present and discuss the Whitehorse Moves transportation showcase initiative.

Tire pressure clinics were held in 2005 and 2006 at local gas stations. Participants were provided with information about properly inflated tires, and were given free tire gauges. An anti-idling campaign was orchestrated. City policy restricted the idling of city-owned vehicles and encouraged the reduction in idling of public vehicles through public education.

Information on transit schedules, the new commuter cycling map, a new downtown walking map prepared by Recreation and Parks Association of the Yukon, one of the City’s partners in Whitehorse Moves, were sent to the public. Transit schedules and the commuter map were made available on the City’s website.

Radio, newspaper and theatre advertisements publicizes the Commuter Challenge, carpooling, Whitehorse Moves, and Wheel 2 Work Whitehorse. The latter is an initiative that provided prizes and information to participants who signed up to cycle to work and the kilometres that were accumulated represented a well-known local 238 km road race that passes through check points on its way from Haines Junction, Yukon, to Haines, Alaska. This program was identified as a best practice for active transportation on the Transport Canada website.

Transportation Management Programs

A commuter cycling map was developed that identified cycling routes, traffic safety ideas and rules of the road, with the participation of City departments, the RCMP, the Yukon cycling community and the Yukon Government. Over 5,000 copies of the map were distributed to City offices, businesses and government bureaus for further distribution.

Whitehorse Moves increased transit ridership by forging improved partnerships and establishing transit pass incentives with community groups, Yukon College and downtown employers, improving the comfort for transit passengers at high volume locations, and improving the access and use of scheduling on the city web site. Four new bus shelters were installed in the downtown core and helped to increase the wait comfort for patrons in higher density areas. New, more intuitive bus signs were installed downtown.

As a side benefit of Whitehorse Moves, City Transit purchased low-floor, kneeling buses as part of the Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund, improving the accessibility of transit to those with mobility challenges. This reduced the demand on the Handy Bus and increased independence for those that can use Transit unassisted.

The project implemented carpool.ca, a web-based carpooling software program that commuters used to organize carpooling. The uptake of the carpooling program was not significant, and recommendations have been made to discontinue this service.

Whitehorse Moves purchased and promoted the use of a bicycle fleet for internal use within the downtown core. New locks, helmets and saddlebags and baskets were included to make carrying of papers and other items easier.

An originally proposed trip-planning pilot project for residents was redesigned as a social-based marketing program for alternative transportation. This program attempted to alter commuter’s driving habits at least one day a week. Depending on the modal shift, this could reduce green house gases 20% compared to commuting by car five days a week.

Partnering

Whitehorse Moves was very successful in forging strong partnerships with businesses, government, organizations and the general public who worked together to implement the goals of the Project. City Council and staff were also committed to the Project, committing the funds as required to reconstruct the infrastructure as necessary to eliminate barriers during 2004 to 2006. Thus, $2.7 million was spent on the project. Transport Canada committed $700,000 under the showcase program, with $230,000 in funding and in-kind services coming from City partners. City Council also committed funds in 2007 and 2008 as well as in future years to further improve the infrastructure for active transportation opportunities.

Monitoring and Reporting

One of the goals of the showcase program was to monitor and report on the success of Whitehorse Moves to meet the goals and reduce greenhouse gases within the transportation sector. According to the City’s annual citizen survey, Whitehorse residents reported that trails and paths leading to downtown had improved significantly, from 48% who thought the trails were good or excellent in 2002 and 2004 to 76% in 2006.

For cycling or walking commuters in downtown, 30% of respondents to the 2006 citizen survey thought that cycling was safer. There was a 10% increase in the number of households that had at least one member of the household walk or cycle to downtown in 2006.

Commuters to downtown between April and October have increased their frequency of cycling and walking since the changes were implemented. Individual surveys were completed by 400 trail users. Cycling was estimated by the users to account for 43% of all their work-related trips in the summer. This dropped to 7% in the winter, with commuters using their own vehicles or carpooling with a friend or family member.

The percentage of households that used transit in 2006 decreased compared to previous years. However, those who used transit did so more often, and overall ridership increased about 16% compared to 2004. Improvements in transit frequency were cited as the reason why people use alternatives, since frequencies are every 35 minutes during peak times, and every 70 minutes during non-peak times.

Carpooling continued to be a challenge in Whitehorse. While 85 people enlisted for the program, no sharing of rides occurred. The most common barrier to carpooling was the need to run errands after work, and difficulty in organizing fluctuating needs. Other issues that affected carpooling were the low density of housing, which decreased the probability of finding a match.

Initially controversial, roundabouts were installed in 2004. According to the Citizens survey in 2006, 67% thought the roundabouts were effective. For the road diets installed on 4th Avenue and Quartz, 58% of respondents to the Citizen survey thought the changes were good or excellent, and 24% thought the changes were poor.

A greenhouse gas reduction of 78 tonnes of CO² was achieved as a result of car commuters switching to public transit, while an estimated 12 tonnes of greenhouse gases were reduced as a result of the Wheel 2 Work Whitehorse initiative.

Lessons learned

Extensive public consultation in the form of public meetings and workshops is recommended for identifying and designing changes that will effectively eliminate barriers to active transportation initiatives. Such changes should be adopted in the form of new policies, such as a city-wide transportation study. Identifying interest groups and stakeholders to partner on new initiatives is important. Involving these groups and individuals is key to success.

Spreading multiple projects over a couple of years is beneficial for smaller communities with limited contractor capacity. Staging new traffic changes roundabouts and other road alterations over two years also allowed motorists opportunities to become accustomed to the changes before fully implementing the changes on the other streets.

It must be ensured that trails and cycling lanes are continuous and connected before endeavouring to change active commuting habits. Extensive public education via radio, newspapers, public meetings, trades shows, and community newsletters is crucial for success. However, if infrastructure changes are phased over multiple years, education over each year will be necessary to gain acceptance.

Changes in behaviour will be slow given that the commuting public have been preferring travel by personal vehicle for decades. New intersection controls such as roundabouts benefit from having truck and transit drivers, city maintenance crews, bylaw officials and police, and general public become familiar with their operation prior to inauguration.

Alternative transportation has to be an enjoyable experience and rewarding. Programs to encourage cycling like Wheel 2 Work Whitehorse should be inexpensive and have a positive marketing look that attracts people to the program. For monitoring and surveying successes of infrastructure changes, ensure staff is trained, have available and dedicated time to develop and complete effective surveys and that sufficient funding is available.

Future enhancements

Although Transport Canada's UTSP project is now complete, the attitudes and working relations developed continue to result in improvements and land planning that encourage people to consider transportation modes other than the automobile. Infrastructure changes were important for the success of Whitehorse Moves. But the demonstration project also included the building of partnerships and public awareness that will continue to provide benefits into the future. City Council became aware of how small changes can pay big benefits and has committed funds for future years to further improve the infrastructure that will lead to increased active transportation opportunities.

Summary and conclusions

The Urban Transportation Showcase Program (UTSP) enabled the City of Whitehorse to increase active transportation. The program and its funding brought about significant infrastructure and behaviour changes that have encouraged and increased active commuting. The commuter multi-use trail and cycling network has been greatly enhanced, and its use and public awareness has improved, and continues to evolve with the development and implementation of the City’s new Trail Plan. The City’s new Sustainability Plan encourages improved public transit and multi-use trails and cycling lanes. A greenhouse gas reduction of 78 tonnes of CO² was achieved as a result of car commuters switching to public transit or cycling. Whitehorse Moves resulted in a number of side benefits such as a continuing change in public and government attitudes about commuting.

New Programs to encourage active transportation use such as Wheel 2 Work Whitehorse will continue to be developed and implemented. Transit improvements are strongly supported by the Council and the public, and changes to make our system more effective are being piloted. While the UTSP was only a three year program, the effects and momentum of the Whitehorse Moves Project will influence future transportation decisions.

For more information

For more information on the "Whitehorse Moves" project, please visit
www.whitehorse.ca or contact:

Mr. Wayne Tuck, P. Eng.
Manager, Engineering and Environmental Services
City of Whitehorse
Telephone: (867) 668-8306
Fax: (867) 668-8386
Email: wayne.tuck@whitehorse.ca 

Sabine Schweiger
Environmental Coordinator
City of Whitehorse
Telephone: (867) 668-8306
Fax: (867) 668-8312
Email: wayne.tuck@whitehorse.ca 

For posted information about this project, visit the UTSP Website Case Study Library.

Date modified:

2010-02-03

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