Cycling in Vancouver: A portrait of bicycle ridership and safety in Vancouver 2010-2020

This report by the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE) analyzes bicycle ridership and safety in Vancouver from 2010 to 2020. It combines automated counter data and GPS trip data to estimate traffic volumes and identify high-risk intersections, concluding that while overall ridership and safety have improved due to expanded protected infrastructure, significant risks remain on arterial roads lacking such facilities, particularly during late fall and early winter.

• Bicycle participation in Vancouver grew consistently between 2010 and 2020, driven by a 28% expansion of the protected cycling network, which reached approximately 328 kilometers by 2020. Three downtown counting systems showed a 40% increase in bicycle traffic between 2011 and 2019.
• Winter cycling is increasing in popularity, with growth over the last five winters. By the 2020/2021 winter season, cycling on the Burrard Bridge represented 29.6% of the traffic seen during peak summer months, up from 20.8% five years prior.
• The COVID-19 pandemic caused a shift in cycling patterns: overall activity grew by 6% in 2020 compared to 2019, but utilitarian commuting trips to the downtown core declined. Conversely, recreational routes such as the False Creek Seawall and Point Grey saw growth between 30% and 60%.
• Reported bicycle-vehicle collisions decreased by 15% in 2019 and 43% in 2020 relative to the previous four-year average. The report attributes these declines to the expanded protected bike network and a significant reduction in vehicle exposure during the pandemic.
• Bicycle collision risk is highest during the late fall and early winter, specifically from November to January, coinciding with increased precipitation and reduced visibility. The risk in November is twice as high as the risk in July.
• There is a distinction between high-frequency collision locations and high-risk locations. While many high-frequency sites are on existing cycling routes, 15 of the top 19 high-risk locations (based on collisions relative to traffic volume) had no existing bicycle facilities on either intersecting street and were typically located on high-volume arterial roads.

APA

Beitel, D., & Fralich, C. (2021). Cycling in Vancouver: A portrait of bicycle ridership and safety in Vancouver 2010-2020. Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment. https://cape.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Analysis-Vancouver-CAPE-Nov-2021.pdf

Chicago

Beitel, David, and Catherine Fralich. Cycling in Vancouver: A portrait of bicycle ridership and safety in Vancouver 2010-2020. Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, 2021. https://cape.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Analysis-Vancouver-CAPE-Nov-2021.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Beitel |first1=David |last2=Fralich |first2=Catherine |title=Cycling in Vancouver: A portrait of bicycle ridership and safety in Vancouver 2010-2020 |publisher=Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment |date=November 2021 |url=https://cape.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Analysis-Vancouver-CAPE-Nov-2021.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{beitel2021cycling, author = {Beitel, David and Fralich, Catherine}, title = {{Cycling in Vancouver: A portrait of bicycle ridership and safety in Vancouver 2010-2020}}, institution = {Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment}, year = {2021}, month = nov, url = {https://cape.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Analysis-Vancouver-CAPE-Nov-2021.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }