The good folks over at Pundits’ Guide have used recently released numbers from Statistics Canada’s 2006 Census to put together a fancy list of the Top 10 Canadian ridings where people cycle or walk to work. I’ve taken a look at the StatsCan data and have put together a list for Alberta’s two largest urban areas (but in a dramatic turn of events, I have included public transit, as well as walking or cycling):
Ridings having the highest percentages of walking, cycling, or using public transit to the person’s usual place of work:
Riding-Number-Percentage
Calgary Centre – 29,305 – 24.4%
Edmonton Centre – 20,490 – 16.5%
Calgary Centre-North – 20,715 – 16.2%
Calgary-Nose Hill – 12,595 – 12.7%
Edmonton-Strathcona – 16,430 – 12.5%
Calgary Northeast – 13,125 – 11.6%
Calgary West – 14,560 – 11.5%
Edmonton East – 12,930 – 11.3%
Calgary Southwest – 14,370 – 11.1%
Calgary East – 12,080 – 10.3%
Calgary Southeast – 11,180 – 9.5%
Edmonton-Sherwood Park – 7,670 – 6.1%
Edmonton-Leduc – 6,550 – 5.9%
Edmonton-Mill Woods-Beaumont – 7,320 – 5.7%
Edmonton-St. Albert – 7,350 – 5.6%
Edmonton-Spruce Grove – 6,365 – 5.3%
It’s no surprise that people living in the urban cores are more likely to walk, cycle, or use public transit to travel to work, but keep in mind that the numbers are probably a little skewed because 1) five of Edmonton ridings include rural and surrounding communities (which suffer from a lack of regional transit service), and 2) Calgary gets points for having an arguably more effective transit and LRT system, but it’s an interesting look none-the-less.
