Calgary bike report finds majority wear helmets, 79% are men

The City of Calgary has some new statistics to track local cycling trends in its first-ever Bicycle Count report.

It found more than 19,000cyclists at 51 different locations during the summer of 2013.

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The data was collected during the morning and afternoon commute.

We can monitor the demographic trends of bicycle riders across thecity.-city bicycleco-ordinatorThomasThivener

The city used several different technologies to gather the data, including amanual count by data technicians, video camera counts, tube countsand automated counters

The data which has been collected is similar to that of theCity of CalgaryBicycle Program Yearbookreleased earlier this year, but provides more comprehensive detail and analysis, saidtransportation data managerEkke Kok in a release.

The busiest spot for bikes was where the Bow River pathway meets Crowchild Trail in the city's southwest.

It saw2,787 cyclists during a six-hour time frame.

The reports says 86 per cent of cyclists arewearing helmets, and 79 per cent of the people on bikes were men.

"By conducting a trend analysis of the number of cyclists in Calgary, broken down by gender, age and helmet use, we can monitor the demographic trends of bicycle riders across thecity,said city bicycleco-ordinatorThomasThivener.