Bike Counts
Traffic and bike counts are integral to transportation planning and infrastructure development in the Capital Regional District. The CRD operates two count programs, Automated and Volunteer that collect bicycle and pedestrian traffic data.
Automated Counts
To track annual and seasonal trends we have deployed several automated bicycle and pedestrian counters throughout the region that use a combination of inductive loops and infrared sensors. Automated counters provide real time data that updates daily. We are working with regional partners and already include data from the City of Victoria, the District of Saanich and the University of Victoria to provide a single point of access to all the automated counts in the region.
Volunteer Counts
Since 2011, CRD Regional and Strategic Planning has been counting bicycle volumes with the aid of volunteers throughout the region using a methodology following the best practices of the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) National Bicycle and Pedestrian Documentation Project.
Screenlines are counted in the morning (7 to 9am) and evening (3 to 6 pm) peak commuting times, Tuesday to Thursday on a single day in May and October. Extreme caution should be observed when comparing year over year changes as these are single day short duration counts and factors such as weather can account for significant volume differences. These differences are reduced when comparing the relative volume at different stations within the same count period.
To learn more about the CRD’s transportation plans and active transportation initiatives, visit Regional Transportation.