On Wednesday, January 30, 2019, Brampton Council carried a motion that considered the following:
- The City is facing an epidemic with elevated rates of diabetes
- Traffic congestion and gridlock negatively impacts health, quality of life and the environment in our city, and there is an immediate need to support alternative means of transportation
- Brampton’s reliance on the automobile is the most expensive choice for commuting due to increasing costs such as auto-insurance and fuel prices
- The current transportation design of the city limits alternative options to commute outside automobile and transit
- Cycling is a sustainable means of transportation which will lead to better health outcomes, reduced healthcare costs, reduced traffic congestion, reduced road infrastructure costs, and helps to improve the environment
- Brampton has a growing cycling community supported by organizations, innovators, and programs such as BikeBrampton, BikeWrx, Pedalwise, and The Bikeport
Council moved that $1.875 Million immediately establish a Project Budget to be utilized to begin implementing an active transportation plan with North-South and East-West cycling routes, with the Council Member appointed to the Cycling Advisory Committee (Councillor Santos), and the Mayor in coordination with city staff, report back to Council by April 1, 2019, on a potential implementation plan.
Over the next 2 months, The Bikeport and BikeBrampton had several meetings with Councillor Santos and Brampton City Staff. We arrived at amiable recommendations and presented them to the Committee of Council on April 3, 2019. Dayle Laing of BikeBrampton gave the delegation.
Kevin Montgomery followed-up with a presentation regarding “The Value of A Dollar”, which presented information from various sources such as CAA and the Region of Peel, in a model similar to one now being used in Copenhagen and the EU to assess the value of bicycle infrastructure.