Developing an Active Transportation Plan
If you are reading this, it’s likely you are already passionate about Active Transportation.
You probably use AT yourself regularly and encourage others to do so. Maybe you work for a municipality or a community group and your daily work focuses on health and wellness, advancing physical activity, and promoting AT. If you love AT and you’re looking for an AT “How-to-Guide”, you’ve come to the right place! We aim to inspire the already inspired and offer you a toolkit that will help you bring more of what you already live, and have benefited from, to your broader community.
This guide will help you kick start local AT discussions through:
When your community is ready to write an AT plan, this guide will walk you through:
Most community projects get their start because someone wanted a change.
They want AT to be safer, more accessible, and more prominent in their community and they are willing to champion AT. Interest in the issue may be generated by citizens, municipal staff, business members, or municipal councilors. For example, in the Town of Bridgewater, Eric Shaw, the Director of Planning, and Bill McInnis, a member of Town Council, were pivotal in creating momentum for AT. In Cape Breton Regional Municipality, Velo Cape Breton, the island-wide bicycle association, was a driving force behind CBRM’s AT Plan.
The following are tried and true strategies used throughout Nova Scotia.
Get Ready to Talk AT
Do some research.
In order to be an AT champion, you need first-hand experience using your own energy to get around. Start by walking to work, to a friend’s house, or to the local corner store. Notice what makes you feel comfortable and safe while walking and biking, as well as what makes you feel uncomfortable or unsafe. If possible, borrow a wheelchair or baby stroller and attempt to navigate your community. Notice the barriers to getting around, and how conditions change with the seasons.
In addition to experiencing AT firsthand, draw on available tools and resources to educate yourself. Get informed and inspire yourself with ideas. What are other municipalities across Nova Scotia doing? What is happening in other provinces? What about overseas? This will give you the knowledge and the background needed to educate others and advocate for change.
Build Your Team of Allies
A team of people working to promote AT will achieve more than one individual, no matter how enthusiastic that person is. It’s important to identify and contact potential allies to initiate conversations about AT in your municipality.
Your team of allies can include:
People who walk, bike, or use other forms of AT to get around
Individuals who participate in AT for recreation (e.g., belong to recreational cycling or running clubs)
Members of trail groups or other outdoor clubs
Public health professionals
Municipal physical activity coordinators
Recreation and planning staff
Members of local non-governmental environmental organizations
Enforcement officers
Local business owners who support AT
Need a few more participants? Try asking your colleagues and friends for their help. Most people have a vast network and everyone loves to feel needed. Enlarge your own circle by picking the brains of your contacts. Who do they know that may be interested in growing AT?
Another option is to hold a public meeting or event where you talk about your vision. Ask people who are interested to leave their names and contact information if they would like to help promote AT in your community. Don’t forget about local schools, regional non-governmental organizations, and chambers of commerce or business improvement associations. All would have comprehensive networks to tap into.
Identify your champions.
Among your collection of allies, there will be those who are extra keen. These are your AT champions. They want AT to be safer, more accessible, and more prominent in their community and they are willing to champion AT initiatives. Identify these individuals early on and give them leadership positions where they can show their natural initiative.
Start a Committee
Creating an AT Committee is key to generating enthusiasm and commitment, and is often a precursor to developing a municipal AT Plan. It is important to include a range of stakeholders on the committee:
Municipal councilors
Municipal staff, including physical activity coordinators and recreation, traffic, and planning staff
Public health professionals
Police officers
Representatives of walking, biking, running, skateboarding, and trail groups
Members of not-for-profit environmental organizations
Local business owners
Members of the local chamber of commerce
Regional economic development representatives
Local tourism office staff
Parents of children and youth attending local schools
Youth, seniors, and persons with disabilities
Tips when forming an AT Committee:
Consider what already exists
Does your municipality already have a committee to promote physical activity? If so, it could become the AT Committee.
For example: in Guysborough and Antigonish, the AT Committee is a subgroup of the larger Guysborough/ Antigonish Active Living Network.
Be inclusive in the recruitment process
As you recruit members, ensure that your AT Committee represents diverse ages, abilities, backgrounds, and income levels in your community. It is important that youth, seniors, and persons with physical disabilities are represented, as well as the different geographic areas of your municipality. A Committee that represents a cross-section of society will help ensure that AT planning is inclusive and will assist you in establishing strategic partnerships and getting buy-in from decision-makers in your municipality.
Youth involvement is essential
In the words of Enrique Penalosa, former mayor of Bogota, Colombia, renowned for his work in transforming Bogota from a car-oriented to a pedestrian-oriented city:
“Children are a kind of indicator species. If we can build a successful city for children, we will have a successful city for all people.”
Children and youth must be part of the AT planning processes as walking, cycling, skateboarding, and scooting are their primary modes of independent transportation. Research suggests that youth who have opportunities for meaningful participation in their communities are less likely to engage in risky behaviour. They tend to have higher self-esteem, be more physically active, show a greater commitment to friends, families, and communities, and are more likely to achieve healthy development.
Expertise is also essential
A variety of skills are needed to bring AT to your community, including but not limited to:
Engineering expertise for infrastructure
Planning skills for design
Recreation experience for programming and education
Ensure your committee members have a broad range of the skills you need, or access to these skills when needed.
Get the word out!
The more people who know that you are assembling a group to make your community more AT friendly, the better. Advertise your events thoroughly and make sure they are all open to the public. Public service announcements in the local newspaper, and radio spots designed to announce community events are two examples of ways traditional media can be utilized. Establishing a Facebook page, a Twitter account, online videos, and a blog are more modern methods of networking and relaying information.
Terms of Reference
If you don’t know what this heading means, here’s a nutshell version. Terms of Reference describe the purpose and structure of a project, committee, or group of people who have agreed to work together to accomplish a shared goal. Simply put, you should develop a Terms of Reference that covers the purpose, composition, and structure of the committee, the location and frequency of your meetings, and your decision-making protocol.
The following questions can be used as a guide to develop your terms of reference:
What is your purpose?
What goals do you want to achieve?
Who needs to be there to achieve these goals?
How will you achieve these goals?
How will your committee be organized? Will you have a chair, co-chair, secretary, and treasurer?
How will your committee make decisions? Will you work by consensus or through votes?
How often will you meet and where?
Who will organize the meetings and take notes?
Check out example terms of reference documents from around the province.
Know Your Community
In order to be able to participate in long-term visioning within your community, you need to first understand the current context. Throughout Nova Scotia, there are urban, suburban, rural, and remote communities. AT will look slightly different in each of these places and so will the process of developing it.
Two important aspects of knowing your community are: asset mapping and needs assessments. Essentially they describe what the community already has in place in terms of AT and what it needs. Identify what works and what is missing when deciding on the appropriate infrastructure priorities, policy changes, promotional activities, and education programs for your municipality. The better you know your community, the better you will be able to implement solutions that work for your local context.
Set Goals and Priorities
Once you have completed an AT needs assessment, you can use that information to set clear priorities, goals, and objectives that will enable your AT committee to work constructively. These initial goals and objectives should lead you toward the creation of an AT Plan and should be reviewed annually and adjusted. The committee can set short-term and long-term goals for improving AT in their community.
Some examples of short-term goals may be:
Collecting information from residents and businesses to get a feel for their knowledge and attitudes towards AT.
Completing an initial community walkability or bikeability assessment.
Setting up booths at local events and in key community locations to generate support for AT.
Identifying some quick and easy wins like:
Some examples of long-term goals may be:
Identifying sources of research that could be used to strengthen your funding and project proposals.
Talking to your surrounding municipalities to see what projects they are working on (this is key when approaching funding sources).
Preparing for and making presentations to agencies, such as local school boards, regional development authorities, and community health boards.
Once you feel your group is ready, attempt to get municipal buy-in for your initial ideas. It’s advisable to use only one person, who can present information in a clear and succinct manner, as your representative.
Build Awareness and Support
In order to create an AT culture in your community, you first have to let people know what is going on, so they can express interest and buy into the concept. This means visibility and positive associations! Brainstorm with your AT committee to come up with a list of your own ideas, but here are a few tips to get you started:
Show a family-friendly, AT-focused film at a local school or library (Street Films features many short films on AT).
Co-host an autumn trail hike with a local business and offer complimentary beverages or snacks. Make sure to choose an accessible trail.
Organize a short, monthly bike ride at a regular time departing from a regular place.
Celebrate international, national, and provincial AT events.
Participate in walk to school and walk to work events.
Create an online AT survey and use social networking to get people to fill it out. Offering an AT-friendly prize from a random draw of completed surveys may help.
Set up a Facebook page and use other forms of social media. This will allow you to pass on information about events, generate buzz, and create a huge network.
Organize a trail walk or ride in your region. Hike Nova Scotia, Trails Nova Scotia and the Nova Scotia Trails Federation are great resources for information on the trail systems throughout the province.
Celebrate and promote small infrastructure wins (e.g., bike racks at local businesses or a new section of trail built).
Always let local media know about every AT meeting or event. The more engaging and unique the event, the more likely it is to make it into the newspaper or receive coverage on the radio or television. Keep it positive and keep it up!
We can’t emphasize powerfully enough the importance of using social media to spread the AT word. Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and websites are essential, and good photos and videos seal the deal! If you don’t feel comfortable in this realm, make sure you have someone on your team who is, and put that person in charge of online messaging and promotion. Social media is a powerful tool in promoting AT and can reach many more people than was once possible.
Quick Wins
You can raise public awareness and build momentum for AT by generating some local success stories, or “quick wins.” These are highly visible and low-cost investment infrastructure projects that do not take much time or energy to complete. Examples could include building benches next to popular walking routes, painting lines for crosswalks*, erecting share-the-road signs*, or installing bike racks in popular and visible locations. These projects need to be well advertised and highly visible to the community in order to build awareness.
If possible, partner with community and business groups to help carry out these projects. This will open up funding opportunities and help you access volunteer time and donations.
Small projects may be eligible for funding from:
* May require approval from TIR.
Establish Strategic Partnerships
Making connections with potential partners should be an early priority. An AT culture will grow more quickly with the energy, knowledge, insights, and skills of carefully chosen partners. It can take time and perseverance to establish and build strategic partnerships. Before meeting with potential partners, make sure you understand their perspectives and concerns and then frame your discussions about AT to address them. For instance, when approaching businesses, present research and examples that prove increasing AT will bring more people to their shops and services. Be prepared for tough questions and have your answers ready.
Potential Local Partners:
Chamber of Commerce - Business Community
Regional Development Associations &Tourism Organizations
Health Authority - Public Health Services - Community Health Boards
Unions
Youth Organizations
Churches and Religious Groups
Libraries
Environmental Organizations
Secure Municipal Buy-In
In the early stages of bringing AT to your municipality, you may achieve success without the support of municipal council and senior staff. However, it is advisable early on to get their support in order to build the AT movement in your municipality more easily.
What is the role of municipalities in advancing active transportation?
“BE IT RESOLVED that the Union of Nova Scotia Municipalities make active transportation a priority through partnering to promote active transportation strategies among the membership and with other government agencies and to advocate for improved roads and other infrastructure to develop and encourage safe walking, cycling and other active transportation opportunities for both Nova Scotians and visitors.”
Municipalities play a key role in advancing AT in Nova Scotia. The players required to make improvements to infrastructure and policy can be found at the local level — land use planners, sustainability coordinators, transportation engineers, police officers, recreation and park staff, and public health staff. To that end, the adoption of the Union of Nova Scotia Municipalities Resolution 20A in 2008 set the stage for municipal leadership on AT.
Having municipal council acknowledge AT-specific goals, policies, and actions is a step in getting municipal departments and staff thinking about AT.
The role of municipal staff and council could include:
Building AT into daily decision making regarding planning, engineering, road maintenance, parks, recreation, health, and policing
Amending and creating bylaws that support AT
Ensuring new developments incorporate AT (e.g., residential developments built to include walking and cycling routes)
Ensuring that municipal buildings are inviting to AT users, including on-site walking routes, pedestrian lighting, secure bicycle racks, and other features that announce the value of AT
Leading by example — walking or cycling to and from work and other destinations
Councillors
Councillors (including mayors and wardens) are the decision-makers in your municipality. Whether or not your municipality develops an AT Plan, council support is key if you wish to complete any major AT initiatives, especially those that require municipal funds.
Tips for getting council support:
First and foremost, get to know your particular council.
Look to other municipalities that have attained council buy-in and ask for tips and advice.
Focus on what AT would look like in your municipality and come up with concrete examples of how AT would help its citizens.
Spend time focusing your message, using phrases that are “bite-size and digestible”.
Clearly articulate the benefits of AT for the wider community.
If you have an AT Committee, request to make regular short reports to council in a formal way, telling councillors about all the work that you are doing and showing them that their voters support AT.
Consider having these regular reports made by one consistent representative of your AT Committee; someone who is an articulate speaker and who can present information in a clear and succinct way.
Get to know all the councillors and find out where they stand on AT. Some may already be on board because they think it’s a healthier choice or will result in cost savings for their municipality. For those who may need some convincing, arrange individual meetings and show them examples of successful AT infrastructure. Explain how AT makes neighbourhoods safer and more accessible to different modes of travel. Don’t forget to use AT supports such as the Outdoor Recreation Consultant at the Department of Health and Wellness and the Ecology Action Centre’s Active Transportation Coordinator. These folks can help you strengthen your presentations.
Important things to remember during individual meetings with councillors:
Remember that councillors are busy — if they give you an hour to talk, be sure to make the most of it.
At the end of your meeting ask the councillor for his or her support in pursuing your AT goals and offer concrete suggestions on how the councillor can help.
Don’t be discouraged if a councillor gives you the cold shoulder or does not seem interested in your AT agenda. Remember that they are trying to meet the needs of all constituents. Your job is to show them that your AT Plan was created with input, support, and understanding from citizens.
If a councillor is unsupportive or non-committal, you may need to continue to build strategic partnerships and public awareness of AT in your community. Councillors do respond to public demands, so your attention may best be focused on using social media to create buzz, get citizens on board, and ensure they are willing to be vocal with councillors.
Senior Staff
Senior staff such as Chief Administrative Officers and managers lead the implementation of plans, decide on budget priorities, and make recommendations to council. Simply put, they are enormously important to you and you need to have them on your side.
One of the best things you can do is invite a supportive senior staff person to sit on your AT Committee. Also, routinely ask them for their ideas and set up meetings where you can update them on the good work you are doing. If you can’t find support, go back to the community to build more support and seek additional partnerships.
Celebrate & Appreciate
Celebrate all of your successes, large and small, and appreciate the individuals and groups who have been integral to making it happen. In addition, make sure to join forces with organizations that already have well-established annual AT activities, like:
Bike Week activities
Developing an Active Transportation Plan
Are You Ready?
You know you are ready for an AT Plan when you have the following elements in place:
AT Committee – active and composed of a variety of diverse stakeholder groups.
Strategic partnerships – providing a strong base of community support.
Asset mapping and needs assessment – complete.
Goals and priorities – identified.
An engaged public – desiring more AT in their community.
Consensus on direction – a collective vision based on community feedback.
Municipal buy-in – supportive councillors and senior staff.
Funding commitment – municipal and provincial funding sources have been identified and initial conversations with funding partners have been established.
A home for the AT Plan – the logical municipal department has been chosen to coordinate the Plan.
A relationship with local Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal (TIR) officials – especially important in rural communities where most roads are owned and maintained by TIR.
Once you have all of the elements on the checklist above, you are ready to prepare a formal AT Plan for your community. Remember to draw on lessons learned in other communities and to get lots of help and input from local AT users, your strategic partners, and the municipality. Your AT Plan should set your vision and state how you are going to get there. The information in this section will help you feel confident in your abilities to both create and bring to life the AT Plan for your community.
Ingredients of an AT Plan
A good AT Plan provides strategic direction to a municipality or community for twenty or more years. It is integrated and cohesive, and should serve to motivate staff, council, and the public in creating the vision laid out in the document. The centrepiece of your plan must be the development of safe, connected, continuous, and accessible routes for AT transportation. Without this, AT infrastructure is likely to be patchy.
A good plan also integrates AT into everyday municipal activities: land use planning and design, transportation engineering, road and trails maintenance, public health, and recreation. The plan should ensure that AT infrastructure is supported by safety enforcement, public education, social marketing, policies, and supportive community planning and design.
Essential elements of a GREAT AT Plan:
Engineering
Identifying the infrastructure needed to create a connected network is key. A connected network, or “connectivity,” essentially means that barriers, such as incomplete sidewalks, non-continuous bike lanes, buses without bike racks, and inadequate end-of-trip facilities are identified and then remedied to make travel convenient for AT users.
Enforcement
Once the infrastructure is in place and more AT users take to the roads, an AT Plan needs to suggest guidelines for the enforcement of safety rules. How will “sharing the road” be enforced in order to ensure the safety of cyclists, pedestrians, and motorists? Local police and RCMP should be involved in this piece to help draft guidelines for enforcement.
Education
The plan must also outline how the municipality will educate and monitor the municipal staff who are designing and implementing the AT solutions. What do engineers, planners, and public works employees need to know and who will inform them? The plan should also outline education strategies for both drivers and AT users on using the new infrastructure. Encouragement In terms of public awareness and engagement, the plan should build on the good work you’ve already been doing. This could include more social marketing and media campaigns, and more AT events, such as participation in Bike Week and International Walk to School Month. Remember to keep track of the number of participants at each event, as this will help in quantifying the success of your projects.
Evaluation
It’s essential to establish a baseline of AT use in your community before implementing your plan. This way you’ll understand transportation patterns unique to your community. From this baseline data, you can assess whether your investments are having the desired effect of shifting transportation options.
This data can be gathered in numerous ways:
Polling of residents who use AT in their daily lives
Bike or walk counts (annually or bi-annually)
School Travel Plan surveys
Numbers of walking or biking groups
Kilometres of sidewalks, bike lanes and routes, and multi-use trails
Amount of traffic congestion
Parking demand and available parking spaces
Number of AT-related events and initiatives
New or renewed policy development
Number of media hits on AT
Number of signs, bike racks, benches, etc.
Number of community presentations on AT
Policy
Your plan should include a comprehensive scan of municipal policies that pose barriers to AT. It should list the existing municipal policies that are supportive of AT and any others that need to be changed. It should also note where new policies could be implemented to encourage and enable AT development.
Planning
Consider AT in all municipal planning projects and outline how AT will be incorporated into all city planning (municipal planning strategies, land-use bylaws, all proposed infrastructure projects, etc.).
School Travel Planning
The “school run” can represent about 20 % of morning rush-hour traffic in urban areas. Since schools are such major destinations in a community, it is important that AT Plans make special accommodation for them. The Ecology Action Centre has been working with school communities throughout Nova Scotia for ten years to increase AT use by children and youth. Staff are available to review and provide input on municipal AT Plans to ensure that AT for children and youth is represented.
The Child and Youth Friendly Land-Use and Transport Planning Guidelines for Nova Scotia may help guide you through the school travel planning portion of your AT Plan. It contains 19 policy recommendations for municipal transport and landuse planners developed as tools for achieving transportation and landuse arrangements that meet the needs of children and youth.
Funding Development of Your AT Plan
It costs money to even write an AT Plan, let alone implement it! And it’s your AT Committee that needs to secure the funding to cover the preparation of the formal AT Plan. Wondering what the ballpark range is? Contact municipalities that have already completed AT Plans or the regional representative for the Nova Scotia Department of Health and Wellness to get an idea. Funding typically comes from municipal and provincial governments, with a listing of other organizations below. The average municipal contribution in Nova Scotia to the development of AT Plans varies from one region to the next. The CBRM and Colchester-Truro financial plans are two examples.
Other sources of funding may include:
Local AT groups
Local businesses
Chambers of commerce
Community health boards
Regional development associations
Nova Scotia Department of Health and Wellness
Nova Scotia Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal
Nova Scotia Department of Seniors
Nova Scotia Department of Energy
Federal Gas Tax Funds
Once funding is secure, you can begin developing your municipal AT Plan. Keep in mind that this funding is only for plan development.
The ongoing implementation of your AT Plan will require separate funding. (see Implementing an Active Transportation Plan).
Identifying roles and responsibilities within the municipality
The municipality must start to take ownership of the planning process. To that end, your AT Committee should include supportive municipal councillors and staff. In addition, the plan must be managed by a specific municipal department.
Several decisions will have to be made:
Will it be planning, public works, recreation?
Will this department provide dedicated, paid staff to work on the planning and implementation of the AT Plan?
How will an interdepartmental approach be assured in order to successfully implement the plan?
Choosing a Model of AT Planning
Basically, you have two choices when it comes to developing an AT Plan. You can do it in-house or hire a consultant. Both models are outlined below. As you decide which one to use, keep the following things in mind. Developing your community’s AT Plan requires a substantial investment of time and resources.
The person or group developing the plan must have the appropriate skill set and experience to achieve all the project deliverables, such as:
Conduct a wide review of the municipality’s operations, policies, and planning strategies
Interview stakeholders
Hold public information sessions
Create projected maps
Develop/use street design guidelines
Bringing all this information together can be a challenge for any municipality or community. Realistically, it could take years to produce, but it’s important not to rush an AT Plan. It’s equally important to keep your momentum while you are developing the plan and figuring out how to implement it. Completing and marketing fun and easy projects is a great way to keep AT in the spotlight, grow awareness, and build support.
Municipalities and communities have two options for preparing an AT Plan.
Internal Process
AT Plans can be produced in-house. Sometimes, there are municipal staff who have the skills, knowledge, and passion to do this work. Another plus is that different municipal departments can collaborate on the AT Plan, bringing different skill sets to the table. However, developing a plan in-house can put a strain on regular duties, or if combined with regular duties, may mean the AT Plan takes longer to complete.
External Process
Many municipalities hire consultants to produce AT Plans. The advantages of consultants are their high level of expertise and the relatively short period of time before delivery of the final product. The drawback is the expense. Here’s what it cost these Nova Scotia communities to have consultants prepare their AT Plans:
• Bridgewater: $47,000
• CBRM: $111,500
• Truro: $28,197 (Bikeways Plan)
A strong candidate will be able to provide numerous services. To hire a consultant, you will need to develop a clear request for proposals (RFP).
It is important to note that if senior staff or council offer their support, but will not embark on the path to a formal AT Plan at this time, ask for AT to play a prominent role in related plans. AT-related goals and objectives are in 27 of the 55 Nova Scotia municipal Integrated Community Sustainability Plans (ICSP). Other planning documents which may include AT-related goals include the Municipal Planning Strategy (MPS) and Municipal Physical Activity Leadership strategy (MPAL). Request that an AT Committee representative be included on the committees developing or overseeing both of these plans. Your AT Committee can then focus on ensuring AT-related goals and objectives in the ICSP or MPAL strategy are achieved.
Implementing an Active Transportation Plan
This is the stage where the rubber meets the road. The AT Plan has been produced and reflects the input of a whole community. Now the plan must be realized.
Adoption by Council
Even with financial and other support from a municipality, council must still formally endorse the completed AT Plan. If you have done your work and if councillors and staff have played a role in developing the AT Plan, you should be assured of their support.
By formally adopting the AT Plan, council is committing to implement and fund the policies, infrastructure, education, and promotion of the plan. Be sure to thank council for all their support of AT in your community.
Celebrate the Plan
Make sure to launch your AT Plan with lots of fanfare! This is an important moment for your community and a chance to garner even more media and public attention. Consider tying the launch of the AT Plan with the opening of a new piece of AT infrastructure or during an event like International Walk to School Month at a local school. Invite the community and the media. Remind those in attendance that the new municipal AT Plan is responsible for the investment they are seeing unveiled.
Long-Term Financial Support
After the AT Plan is complete, more funding will be required to cover infrastructure, policy, promotion, and education programs. The work that was done to build strategic alliances and secure municipal buy-in pays off at this time. Begin lobbying your AT champions who are on council or who are municipal and provincial staff. Start an advocacy campaign with all your strategic partners. The AT Plan identified priorities and the successful implementation of these priorities will be a result of the great groundwork that was completed earlier in the process.
The Ecology Action Centre has a detailed list of potential funding sources.
Here are several categories of possible funding sources.
Strengthening Strategic Partnerships
Establish and maintain close contact with provincial and local transportation representatives so that any projects that might affect your municipality are known and discussed well ahead of formal scoping. Consider AT in existing and future planning documents, such as a Municipal Planning Strategy, or working closely with Nova Scotia Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal (TIR) on provincial road projects. It is more cost-effective to implement an AT infrastructure project at the same time that TIR is repaving or widening a road than to do it afterwards.
By supporting your AT Plan, the town or municipality is expected to contribute financially within their municipal budget. It is extremely important that the AT Committee work with municipal council to develop a multi-year budget allocation for implementation of the identified priorities.
Cape Breton Regional Municipality’s AT Plan calls for spending $20 million over 20 years. The municipality will contribute one third of this amount, which means two thirds of the funding must come from other sources.
While finding funding to implement an AT Plan can be a challenge, there are other opportunities beyond municipalities’ budgets.
Federal Funding
The federal Gas Tax Fund provides stable, predictable funding to municipalities in support of environmentally sustainable municipal infrastructure projects such as green energy, public transit, water and waste water infrastructure, and local roads. Many municipalities identified AT as a goal in their Integrated Community Sustainability Plans (ICSP) and have been able to apply the money from the Gas Tax Fund to implement their AT priorities. For instance, in Bridgewater, the town spends almost all its gas tax funding on AT.
In addition, other federal departments such as Transport Canada and Natural Resources Canada may contribute to AT investments. Keep your ears open for funding opportunities. This is where your earlier efforts at networking and identifying key stakeholders come in handy.
The networks you have fostered, whether social, business, or government, will pass on funding ideas and information to your committee. So, keep your networks updated and your partners informed of your needs and priorities.
Federal agencies such as the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and Enterprise Cape Breton Corporation may also provide funding. However, these agencies usually provide funding for large infrastructure projects.
Having AT policy and priorities embedded in municipal and provincial planning strategies allows access to this level of funding.
Provincial Funding
In addition to funding available from the Department of Health and Wellness, the Government of Nova Scotia’s many departments offer funding that can be used to support AT. For instance, the Department of Natural Resources’ Off Highway Vehicle (OHV) Infrastructure Fund can be accessed to support trail development for both motorized and non-motorized uses. The Department of Seniors offers grant programs such as the Age-Friendly Communities Program and the Positive Aging Fund, which can fund AT projects that meet their goals.
The Department of Energy has a new Nova Scotia Moves fund to support sustainable transportation projects.
Active Transportation Committees requesting input from Nova Scotia Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal (TIR) should contact the District Director for the assignment of an appropriate representative. This is most likely to be the Area Manager (AM), as improvements recommended in a Plan will generally be the (financial) responsibility of the municipality, with permits or advice needed from TIR should they need work done within a provincial right-of-way. However in instances where the AT Plan covers a county, it may be more appropriate to have the Construction Manger (CM) involved, as road improvements will undoubtedly require capital funds. The District Director can decide who, or if both parties, should be involved. In some instances, it may be appropriate for the Special Projects Engineer, who is responsible for AT, to be the contact.
Health Funding
Funding is available through some health organizations. The Public Health Agency has a new initiative called Building the Business Case for Active Living, encouraging businesses to invest in physical activity programs for employees. Nova Scotia’s Department of Health and Wellness also has regional funding opportunities available. Community Health Boards also have small grants available for locally designed projects. These organizations encourage active lifestyles and can be a huge resource to you.
Municipal Funding
Being able to get your municipal council to endorse your AT Plan is only part of the process. Now, your committee needs to ensure council includes AT priorities in the annual municipal capital and operating budgets. Including AT infrastructure investments in the annual operating budget places the debate over AT investment in the public realm. Municipalities may not have direct sources of money that people can apply to, but they do have money within the annual budget that can be used at the discretion of council and municipal staff. An example of this would be in Halifax Regional Municipality, where a business can request that a bike rack be placed on municipal property outside their business. If the request meets certain municipal guidelines, then the rack is installed free of charge to the business.
Smaller Granting Schemes
Small granting programs generally have less onerous reporting and evaluation requirements than other funding programs. An example is Heart and Stroke Foundation’s Walkability Grants. Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) offers small grants for recreation-focused projects. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities operates the Municipal Green Fund, supporting projects that contribute to the sustainability of cities. Some municipalities have community foundations that invest in local projects. Even tourism associations who become aware of the tourism benefits of making a region more AT friendly may offer grants.
New Funding
Partner with your local downtown business association or chamber of commerce to improve the end-use facilities in your downtown business district. Bike racks, benches, bus shelters, and street beautification schemes are just a few ideas. These items do not cost a lot of money and are very visible. You could partner with individual businesses or families who want to donate money in the name of a loved one. Or consider developing an ad campaign with a local business to place its logo on a bus shelter or bike rack.
Maintain Strategic Partnerships
The partnerships you worked so hard to create at the beginning of this process should be maintained to keep up the momentum on AT. Arrange for regular meetings with strategic partners where they update you on what they are working on. In addition, ask them for their input on upcoming projects. In some cases, strategic partners may be able to contribute funding or in-kind contributions for projects.
A crucial partnership that you don’t want to overlook is the one you should have with Nova Scotia Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal (TIR). As they manage all provincial roads, a TIR representative should be on your AT committee. If they are not, make sure that you build a positive relationship with them and ask to be included in their 5-year work plans.
Ongoing Public Outreach
Celebrate the successful completion of every project, small or large. Make sure that citizens, stakeholders, and the municipality see positive results. An annual newsletter or short report to the community can be very helpful. An AT webpage, that lives on the municipality website, could act as a place where these success stories are told. Citizens can visit the website and see what has been completed, what projects are still outstanding, and receive other valuable AT news.
Take Advantage of Every Opportunity to Make Improvements
From the installation of a few kilometres of bike lanes to the placement of a small bench at a trailhead, every AT-related project counts. If there is an opportunity to make an improvement, don’t worry about the size or level of impact. Just get it done. All of this incremental progress is working to make your community more AT-friendly. However, keep connectivity and the big picture in mind.
Evaluation
It’s crucially important to measure your progress and the results that come from the successful implementation of your AT Plan. Here are four important areas of evaluation below.
Choose Key Indicators and Measure Regularly
Remember all that data about your community that you collected through asset mapping and needs assessments? This is where you can use it. You will need to be able to show quantitative improvements to your community and you can use comparative data (before AT interventions and after) as evidence. Routinely measuring key indicators will help build your business case, strengthen presentations to stakeholders, and inform your communications strategy.
Develop Annual Work Plan
Each year, your AT committee, in conjunction with the municipality, should develop a detailed work plan. It should include projects to complete, education and enforcement campaigns, the preparation of new policy documents, public presentations and events, funding applications, etc. For bigger projects or longer campaigns, it may be necessary to start planning years in advance. At the end of each year, review the plan and its successes and address any shortcomings. Make sure that your work plan is realistic; AT investment takes time.
Implement Accountability Strategies
Annual work plans should always be tied back to the original goal and objectives of your AT Plan. This type of evaluation framework (below) can assist you in keeping the end goal in sight, while helping to guide you through the nitty gritty details of implementation.
Document Success and Challenges
It is essential to document your successes and indicate areas for improvement. This can be done through reports to municipal council and funders, or in more creative ways. Community annual reports can be made available to citizens at bike shops or AT events and can highlight successes of the last year and plans for the future. Websites devoted to AT in your municipality are a “green” alternative to printed reports and can incorporate photos, videos, and social media.
Grassroots Activism
All AT champions must remember that politics can have an impact on AT planning. Municipalities with budget constraints have many competing priorities and powerful lobbies can push for the reallocation of funds toward their interests. We’ve all seen road construction and maintenance trump an AT investment or improvements to public transit. In addition, an election may bring a completely different council to power, one with different priorities from its predecessor.
This reality is the reason to keep AT in the news and ensure the public is both informed and invested in AT improvements in your municipality. When citizens are involved, it makes it harder for governments to change course or alter their commitments. This grassroots movement involves participation, not only from your AT Committee members, but from your strategic partners, local cycling or walking groups, seniors clubs, and high school youth. They need to speak up in support of the AT Plan and ensure that the municipality stay the course.
What is your part in all this?
Well, if you are a municipal employee, you know you can’t engage in direct advocacy, but you can (quietly) inform and encourage citizen groups to speak out strongly on AT.
Conclusion
It is our great hope that this guide has helped you take your AT vision and make it a reality in your municipality. All it takes is a keen public, support from partners, networking, a little elbow grease, and patience.
A few key things to remember:
Inspire yourself with examples of vibrant AT-engaged communities around the world.
Expand your network and talk with and listen to many people.
Don’t reinvent the wheel — other municipalities in Nova Scotia have had great success. Feed on their examples.
Use technology and social media to your advantage.
Celebrate and publicize ALL of your successes.
Use AT yourself. A lot. And encourage everyone you know to travel this way as well.
Think creatively and positively! Remember—you can’t generate and implement an AT Plan alone. The plus side is that working with others who share a common dream can be inspiring and uplifting.