OK, so you're not the GVRD. What can BC's smaller urban centres really do about improving the energy efficiency of their transportation systems? The City of Quesnel has made a great start.
| Scale: | Official Community Plan; smaller, established community. |
| Population: | 11,000 (City) |
| Area: | 23.0 km2 (City) |
| Annual Average Temperature Ranges: | Ave. High Temp. Range: -4.7ºC (Jan), 24ºC (July) Ave. Low Temp. Range -13.6ºC (Jan), 9.1ºC (July) |
| Location: | Central interior of British Columbia |
| Focus Areas: | General infrastructure planning, roads and streets, bicycle and pedestrian trails, transit opportunities. |
| Benefits: | Air quality, long term transit viability |
Most people agree that improving the range and quality of available transportation options can make a community more energy efficient and liveable. However, many smaller, established communities in British Columbia do not have the population density to support a public transport system, and many feel powerless against the dominance of the personal automobile.
So what, realistically, can be done by smaller communities in the province to improve their transportation systems? In this case study, we look at some transportation initiatives recently undertaken by the City of Quesnel, a City of 11,000 people in central BC, and explore the conclusions for similar communities.
Like many in the region, Quesnel's economy is driven by the forestry industry, and its two pulp mills and six saw mills employ over 3,000 of its residents. It boasts "the most concentrated wood products manufacturing area in North America" a short distance north of the downtown core. Unfortunately this industrial base, as well as a busy highway that cuts through the area and a bowl-like topography that tends to inhibit air movement, has lead to urban air quality that according to one source is among the poorest 15% in the province.
The city's forestry companies have taken major steps in recent years towards cleaning up their local impact. Many local people believe that the onus of responsibility for further environmental improvements has shifted from these companies to the municipality itself.
In the years leading up to the drafting its new OCP, the City of Quesnel sought to address some of these concerns. It consulted the local population through the extensive use of neighbourhood workshops, focus groups and public meetings. City staff and external consultants were also asked to contribute their ideas towards policy development.
As a result of this consultation process, the City of Quesnel recognized that more proactive management of urban transportation might make a significant contribution towards improving air quality. In its new OCP, therefore, the City introduced initiatives to reduce the air quality impacts of urban transportation. It is clear from the policies and activities cited in the OCP that the City would also enhance the energy efficiency and the liveability of its urban core in doing so.
In contrast to Northeast Coquitlam's OCP, Quesnel's OCP does not try to take on everything at once. Instead, it illustrates how small, smart steps in the right direction can make a real difference to the energy performance and liveability of an established smaller community with a fair growth rate (3.2% between 1991 and 1996, according to Statistics Canada).
Over the past few years, the City has implemented a number of transport-impacting initiatives that can be broadly categorized the following groups:
In this case study we examine each of these aspects of Quesnel's OCP and its recent experiences to see what lessons can be learned for other smaller, established communities in British Columbia.
General Infrastructure Planning
Transport-Specific Policies
Tackling Transit
Conclusions
For smaller, slow growing communities, more energy aware infrastructure planning policies may take many years, sometimes decades, to deliver results. However, perhaps the single most important CEP principle is to develop a long term planning vision to ensure that things will, eventually, get better.
In this first section, therefore, we look at a number of policies adopted by Quesnel's OCP for ensuring long term success.
The OCP contains a number of policies aimed at gradually increasing density and reshaping the urban mix of commercial and residential users. This is done with the expectation that these changes will eventually result in more livable spaces, reduced emissions as a result of shifting away from automobile toward pedestrian, cycling, and transit modes of travel, reduced cost of transit, and improved business viability of the downtown core.
The policies can be regarded as one of two types: direction policies and implementation policies. The former outline what Council wants to achieve; the latter spell out some of the ways it intends to bring these changes about.
First storey commercial mixed-use developments are a great way of providing more opportunities for people to be within walkable distances of the places they need to go, while at the same time creating a dynamic street environment, making the area safer and more attractive to potential residents and visitors.
The OCP also identifies a economic argument for this:
"Strong planning policies for Downtown Quesnel can promote business retention and new development. As the focal point of the community, a healthy and vibrant downtown can boost morale and stimulate investment".
Accordingly, Quesnel Council will:
"encourage mixed-use residential and commercial development, with residential above first storey commercial uses within the downtown and other specific commercial areas."
As a corollary to this, Council will will also:
"discourage office uses from locating anywhere other than the Downtown area [including government offices]"
Another option along these lines is to:
"in certain areas, allow live-work uses, where people can live in the same building in which they work."
Increasing the intensity and density of residential land use near commercial and employment centres has a direct impact on local transportation options. People who live near their places of work have more realistic opportunities to walk or take a bicycle to work, or to similarly access other services such as restaurants or dry cleaners. Not only does this reduce the number of vehicle trips, but it also helps to stimulate a vibrant urban centre that is more 'liveable' than conventionally-planned neighbourhoods.
Quesnel Council will:
"encourage the intensification of residential land use and density near commercial and employment centres, along major arterials and in areas where existing services can accommodate higher densities".
Densifying along major arterials helps cut down on traffic created by people moving through several suburban streets to access main streets.
Some of the things Council will do to bring these things about include:
Council will:
"encourage infill and redevelopment of existing areas designated as medium density residential before designating new areas as medium density residential."
Densifying existing areas increases the efficiency of many infrastructure services, such as water and wastewater provision, as well as reducing the "embodied energy" of the infrastructure -- since the amount of materials per individual is reduced, energy (and money) is saved on everything from the manufacture of asphalt to traffic signals. Also, of course, the greater the residential density of a location, the more viable public transportation provision becomes.
The Quesnel OCP also spells out specific conditions under which it will offer so-called "density bonuses". Developers are attracted by increased density authorizations because the more units they can construct per unit area, the lower their costs per unit. Municipalities, however, often need to limit the density of certain areas to maintain the character of an area. Local Councils can therefore offer somewhat elevated density "bonuses" as an incentive for developers to incorporate other features the municipality wishes to promote and which may offset any negative effects of increased density.
In Quesnel's case, this is phrased as follows:
"Council may consider applications to rezone new areas to allow densities up to 120 dwelling units per hectare [the regular maximum being 90] if development [within designated areas] meets the following criteria:
The public amenities described are all aimed at improving liveability and providing incentives for people to walk or bicycle around an area rather than exclusively travel by car. In BC's colder climates, this practical design criterion is particularly critical for encouraging pedestrian travel.
One way of ensuring that the downtown area develops a healthy mix of residential and commercial uses is to tie the construction of one to the other. The OCP, for example, says that Council will:
"allow multi-family residential development within the downtown designation only when the ground floor contains commercial uses."
Quesnel will be relatively flexible in the way it interprets the zoning of "medium density residential" areas to ensure a lively mix of appropriate commercial, public and institutional uses. The OCP says that Council will:
"consider other uses in the medium density residential designation, including:
In its section on transportation, the City of Quesnel's OCP states that the City will:
"consider alternative design standards and neo-traditional planning principles (which include the use of a grid street network, lanes, boulevards and narrower streets)".
This statement refers to a more general change in urban planning priorities and so is explored with reference to the City's other policies below.
The term neo-traditional planning, otherwise called 'New Urbanism', is a reform movement that recently emerged in North America to respond to the problems created by urban and suburban sprawl. All the above-mentioned policies of the Quesnel OCP are consistent with this 'new' approach that, as its name suggests, looks backs to less vehicle-dominated times for inspiration.
According to the US Department of Energy's Center of Excellence for Sustainable Development, the primary design characteristics of New Urbanism include the following:
On the previous page, we discussed how mixed land uses can help prevent sprawl and the problems associated with it. On this page, we discuss how roads and trails can be made more pedestrian and bicycle friendly. Transit options are covered on the following page.
Other than considering the general application of neo-traditional design principles, the Quesnel OCP does not cover in detail specific implications of this approach and their potential effect on roads and streets.
However, many people have suggested a list of features associated with neo-traditional road and street design. For example, in his study of sustainable design and planning strategies in North America, Robert Hsin lists the following considerations:
More common in OCPs throughout the province are policies on improving the availability and quality of pedestrian and bicycle trails. For Quesnel, however, the development of certain bicycle routes is specifically part of an overall transport system.
Quesnel Council's policies on pedestrian and bicycle routes include the following:
Because of Quesnel's severe winters and steep terrain, it is unlikely that bicycle trails will offer an entirely realistic commuting alternative for most people in the City. However, in addition the benefit offered to those are willing to brave this geography, bicycle trails also enhance the liveability of the City for wider numbers of people who enjoy them for recreational use.
'Walkability', says Richard McLaughlin in one of a series of articles on New Urbanism for Planning Minnesota, is a central feature of the neo-traditional urban design approach. McLaughlin introduces two features crucial to creating walkability: walking distance and pedestrian continuity.
Walking distance, he proposes, is
"a distance comfortable for most people to walk, as an attractive alternative to driving. This distance is best represented as one quarter mile (400 metres), or a five-minute walk. Walking distance is a historic axiom of urban pattern, delimiting the French Quartier and the Neighborhood Unit described in the 1929 New York City Regional Plan. Current adaptations such as Traditional Neighborhood Development (TND) and Transit Oriented Development (TOD) also use a five-minute walking distance as a primary design determinant."
Neo-traditional planners also try to achieve "pedestrian continuity" which McLaughlin describes as,
"an experiential quality created by a safe, comfortable and attractive network of pathways connecting frequently-visited destinations. The essential characteristics of pedestrian continuity are: ·
Mike Doyle's 1999 election campaign coincided with the development of the OCP, and focused on a promise to investigate the introduction of a public transport system and to further develop bicycle trails.
Working as a Job Facilitator, Doyle dealt every day with people who couldn't take advantage of new opportunities because they did not have access to private transport. The community has recently attracted a number of commercial enterprises that are beginning to concentrate some distance away from the lower income residents who would be likely to benefit from entry-level positions created.
Recognizing the potential role a public transport system might have in helping connecting people with work opportunities, councilor Mike Doyle chose to draw attention to what he perceived to be growing latent demand. Without further consultation, he admits, he "just stood up and said it, and then pursued it."
Doyle made his case by arguing that both expanded bicycle trails and a new public transit system would have significant payoffs for the local economy.
As the sidebar on the benefits of public transportation describes, improving public transportation opportunities in a community can significantly increase energy efficiency and liveability. However, this can also be one of the most difficult things for a community to tackle in a proactive way, since most municipalities in BC share responsibility for it with BC Transit.
The BC Transit Municipal Systems Program administers transit planning and funding for all systems outside Victoria and the Lower Mainland. Through this program, BC Transit partners with local communities to provide a level of service that balances the needs of various stakeholders.
Quesnel's experience shows that a community can be very much an active partner in this relationship.
The City of Quesnel is currently served only by a 'para-transport' system that is primarily aimed at people with specific (mostly ambulatory) needs.
However, largely through the enthusiasm and commitment of one member (see sidebar on Political Leadership), Quesnel Council recognized the key role improved transit could play in enhancing air quality and meeting other objectives. The City advised BC Transit of recent changes to its transportation needs, and invited it to assess potential public transportation options. Following a feasibility study by BC Transit, Council and BC Transit agreed to initiate a new, expanded transportation system.
Communities elsewhere in BC can similarly assume responsibility for alerting BC Transit to their changing needs. In this section, we summarize the kind of information BC Transit looks for in assessing the viability of a public transport system in a smaller community, with the intention of empowering local people to monitor these local indicators themselves.
BC Transit works with communities to develop an appropriate level of service. In performing a transit feasibility study, BC transit follows a relatively predetermined procedure of the following logical steps:
Local communities can assume a proactive role in their relationship with BC Transit by using their local knowledge to keep abreast of developments in the first activity (identifying perceived local transport objectives) and the fourth (examining potential transit markets).
BC Transit uses a variety of sources to assess the public transportation needs of the communities in its jurisdiction on an ongoing basis. For example, it uses statistical data generated by BC Stats to estimate the potential demand for each demographic group in each community.
However, as Mike Doyle's experience has shown, local people are best placed to understand the specific situations behind the statistics and so pick up on local needs before an external agency. In this section we draw from the BC Transit study prepared for the City of Quesnel to highlight the issues communities may wish to be alert to.
In performing a market analysis, BC Transit typically looks at the transport requirements of the community from the perspective of the following groups (Persons with a disability are also considered a specific target group by BC Transit because of their need for special services. However, these needs cannot be generalized in the same way as the others because they incorporates people of all ages):
Unsurprisingly, each group has distinctive needs and patterns of transit use that are fairly consistent across communities. Significant changes in the local transportation situation of any of the following groups should be raised with BC Transit. By taking note of these local indicators, communities can begin to assume a proactive relationship with their public transport provider.
This group typically has limited transportation options, other than walking or cycling, and so is potentially a captive market for transit. Essentially a commuter market to and from school, other main uses include weekday afternoons and weekends to central areas. Transit's main strategies to maximize ridership in this group are to offer fixed schedule/route services to and from school, and central areas on weekday afternoons and weekends.
Possible indicators of changing transit needs in this group may therefore include the following:
Establishing ridership at this stage will increase likelihood of transit use in later life.
This group is again a potentially relatively captive market for transit, though many typically rely on family and friends for most transportation. This group tends to make multiple trips for a variety of personal errands; evening ridership higher than for youths. College students have commuting needs that may not conform to typical peak periods. Transit's strategies to capture this group therefore include include offering fixed schedule/route services to and from college, possible evening services, and consistent, moderately frequent fixed-route service during weekday business hours.
Possible indicators of changing transit needs in this group may therefore include the following:
Adults are most likely to own a private car. Some do not, however, and typically have same needs as young adults. Some also choose not to use private car, for a variety of reasons. Adults will typically need transport for commuting, as well as during evenings and on weekends to core areas.
Adults might best be attracted to transit by offering fixed-route, fixed-schedule commuter service, consistent, moderately frequent fixed-route service during weekday business hours and possibly an evening service. Transit can also work with employers to create a 'Travel Options' strategy to reduce single occupancy vehicle use and peak time congestion.
Possible indicators of changing transit needs in this group may therefore include the following:
Non-driving seniors are again a relatively captive market for transit, who tend to be midday riders. BC Transit tries to encourage multiple trips in a day, thereby giving passengers more ability to independently arrange their days and trip plans. A fixed-route, fixed-schedule service that offers consistent midday service and 'personal' service will appeal to a broad base of seniors.
Possible indicators of changing transit needs in this group may therefore include the following:
(Source: BC Transit)
Reduced Infrastructure and Congestion Costs
Increasing automobile numbers bring with them a number of direct costs to the community. These include:
If some of the growth in automobile traffic, particularly at peak travel times, can be diverted to transit, significant savings can be realized.
Reduced Environmental Costs
An average transit trip results in significantly less energy use and pollution production per person than the same trip made by private automobile. Transit trips also require less land consumption since the same number of people can be carried on less road space and there are reduced parking requirements.
Community Development
Community transportation systems support and promote numerous aspects of economic and social development, including:
Improved Mobility and Accessibility
Transit provides mobility to many people who do not have access to other modes of travel due to age, disability, or income.
Independent Living Transit provides the elderly and disabled, as well as those unable to drive for other reasons, freedom to travel without relying on others.
In this feature, we have highlighted some of the steps the City of Quesnel has undertaken to improve its citizens' transportation options, primarily to help increase the quality of its urban air.
The main points of its approach have been to:
Quesnel's portfolio of transportation strategies is by no means comprehensive -- further ideas for improving the prospects of public transportation can be found throughout this website. However, this is a good example of an effective portfolio of initiatives for a community of this size and situation. The strategies outlined here include straightforward, common sense ideas that can be undertaken without placing an overly onerous burden on Council, planners, developers or local residents and businesses. They include simple incremental steps toward long-term solutions for transportation and air quality problems.
Clearly, there is no 'magic bullet' for solving transportation problems, nor a template that can be applied in all communities. For Quesnel, long term solutions will come from integrating a diversity of approaches in mini-steps, and responding over time to the emerging benefits of increasing urban density and mixes of use. As Councillor Mike Doyle puts it, "When I was first assigned my responsibilities [environment, transport, trails and employment], they appeared diverse and unrelated. But the more I looked into the environmental, economic and social issues, I could see they were all interlinked".
The ideas presented in this feature are summarized below:
Above all, take responsibility for your own air quality. Even if the major factors affecting local air quality are effectively beyond your influence, taking what steps you can is an important act of leadership, and may have many long term livability benefits.