LocalMotion Updates
Residents of Parkallen walked and rolled towards sustainable transportation choices with LocalMotion
Residents of Parkallen drove 14,000 fewer kilometres in one month and reduced the amount of car traffic in their own neighbourhood!
LocalMotion, a uniquely Canadian demonstration project to encourage and showcase eco-friendly modes of transportation, took place in the neighbourhood of Parkallen in June 2009. Supported with a three-year grant by Transport Canada, and in partnership with the Global Alliance for Ecomobility and ICLEI, LocalMotion is the first of its kind not only in Edmonton and Canada, but also internationally.
Using a community development approach, the project worked with one neighbourhood to bring a variety of sustainable transportation options together to encourage a more ec
o-mobile approach to local transportation. Local school involvement, resident involvement and special events were all part of this community approach to eco-mobility.
The month of June included workshops and activities in the community, including two neighbourhood special events attended by over 800 people. The LocalMotion Launch included a “Try-It” area where visitors could test out a variety of transportation options: a tandem tricycle, an electric bicycle, assorted bikes and Xooter scooters. There was also street art, an ETS bus with a bike rack and bike loading races, as well as information tables from The Good Food Box, Walkable Edmonton, the Solar Energy Society and local bike shops.
One of the highlights of the project was the LocalMotion Challenge, an initiative to encourage residents to drive less and consider other modes of transportation. The results are coming in and residents of Parkallen took up the challenge to become more eco-mobile! Over 270 residents signed up for the Challenge and tracked their car kilometres during the month of May and then again during the month of June when they committed to try to drive less. Challenge participants drove 13,534 fewer kilometres from May to June, or an average of 400 kilometres less per household for the month of June. This equals approximately 3,979 kg less in CO2 emissions!
The Challenge results are great, but they are just one part of the picture. What about the rest of the neighbourhood? While we have no way of definitively tracking how every resident of one neighbourhood traveled in May and June, the numbers tell the story. Vehicle volumes at 6 intersections in Parkallen decreased between 21% and 34% from April to June. Thirty-two per cent of Parkallen households indicated that they have started to make more eco-friendly transportation choices for local or nearby trips and 42% said that they are planning their trips more efficiently, using methods such as trip-chaining.
Some of the best results are the comments that have come in from the community, such as this one:“We walked more and my husband and children biked more than they generally would have done. It has made us more mindful of how we get around our community and more aware of, and impressed by, the number of others using cleaner modes of transportation, i.e. walking, biking and bussing. It has also made us more aware of what is available right in our own community… and that it isn’t always necessary to jump in our car to ‘get things done.’”
The results are exciting and the City of Edmonton is now looking at ways of expanding parts of the LocalMotion project to other parts of Edmonton. Special events, the LocalMotion Challenge and the Eco-Mobility Try It Library are all being considered for on-going programs.
This cross-departmental initiative was sponsored and funded by the Deputy City Manager’s Office – Environment Branch, and co-sponsored by Community Services. The internal project team and steering committee members included: Dennis Nowicki and Vicki Gudelj of Edmonton Transit; Audra Jones and Claire Ellick with Sustainable Transportation; Elaine Betchinski, Ian Hosler, Karina Ma and Kate Russell from Community Services; and Barry Anderson, Brenda Osborne, Bill MacKinnon, Mary-Ann Thurber and practicum student Shannon Brennan, from Environment.
