Active Transportation Initatives in Haliburton and Minden Ontario

Active Transportation Initatives in Haliburton and Minden Ontario

Kasia Janik

Communities in Action - CIA

2012

TP-647

Haliburton County, Minden Hills

Active transportation (AT) is a mode of transportation that is propelled by human power and does not include motorized vehicles. The leading organization that strives to develop and promote AT initiatives for Haliburton County is called the Communities in Action Committee (CIA). The goal of CIA is to raise physical activity levels through active transportation promotion & planning in rural towns such as Haliburton and Minden Ontario. The CIA Committee has done most of its work in these towns for which employment is highly seasonal. The seasonality of jobs and population size affects residents, some of which may be unable to attain full time employment, improvements to AT would reduce car use and thus the cost of living. Both towns are also located in a rural area, with the nearest metropolis, Toronto, about two and half hours, 200km, away and the nearest City, Peterborough, about 90 minutes away. The small size and rural nature make them perfect for implementing quick progressive changes. The goal of this paper is to examine the concept of AT in rural settings and investigate ways to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of AT initiatives. To do this, the tools and methods that can measure changes in participant use of active transportation will be explored through a literature review. Following this, an analysis of results from a survey developed by the CIA (distributed in October and November 2011) will be conducted with interpretations and compared to the results of a similar survey carried out in 2007. Finally, future improvements to the active transportation environment will be provided based on the findings from the recent survey.