BC Alliance for Healthy Living (BCAHL) has created the Communities Going Active Toolkit to address individual barriers that prevent people who live in British Columbia from using active transportation infrastructure.
Active transportation is human-powered transportation that connects you to your destination. Walking to the grocery store, cycling to work, skateboarding to school, and kayaking to see your friends are all examples of active transportation activities.
Removing barriers to active transportation aims to help individuals increase physical activity and benefits BC’s communities through reducing traffic congestion and lowering greenhouse gas emissions.
BCAHL explains that “individual barriers to active transportation can be categorized as relating to competence (e.g., cycling skills), motivation, confidence (e.g., belief in abilities and/or perceived safety), and knowledge and awareness of the infrastructure or benefits. Other common barriers relate to access and affordability (such as having the right equipment/gear or enough space to store it).”
Take a peek into the toolkit:
We are fortunate to live in a beautiful province with many natural trails and built environments that foster active transportation in our communities. However, many people who live in British Columbia experience real and perceived barriers that prevent them from using active transportation infrastructure; one of the challenges in promoting active transportation is to help people overcome those barriers.
This toolkit was informed by research on some of the most effective ways to address the barriers preventing many people from using active transportation. This includes interventions that aim to improve confidence, competence, motivation, knowledge, and awareness in a community. It presents examples of real projects and programs used in communities to motivate and support people to be active.
Through examples, BCAHL hopes this toolkit will inspire new ways to improve access to active transportation across the province and support more British Columbians in being active.
Grants to Support Active Transportation in BC
In BC, the Community Active Transportation Engagement (CATE) Grant Program provides funding to local and Indigenous communities to promote the use of recently built active transportation infrastructure.
BCAHL recently highlighted the Town of Sidney’s active transportation engagement initiative that was funded through the CATE grant program. Check out the impact the program is making in the stories below:
- Check out Sidney’s new bike repair kit—a first for BC
- Sidney boosts cycling safety with repair station, loaner tools
- Take-home bike repair kits available at Sidney VIRL branch
- Sidney residents can now borrow take-home bike repair kits from library
For more information, explore the Government of British Columbia’s resources and tools on active transportation.
About the Author
The BC Alliance for Healthy Living (BCAHL) is a group of organizations that came together with a mission to improve the health of British Columbians. Our members include health-oriented non-profits, local municipalities, and health authorities. We promote healthy living to prevent chronic disease by mobilizing leading health organizations to collaborate on health policy and programs throughout the province. To learn more about our programs and initiatives, visit our website.
RELATED: Ensuring Recreation Includes Everyone – Resources to improve Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
