Walking & biking are quite readily possible here in Ft. Simpson & any of the smaller communities in the Summer, with a few hardy folks getting out with their knobby-tired bikes in the Winter, & one senior who rides his 3-wheeled bike anytime of the year!
Out of 33 communities in the NWT, only Yellowknife has transit service, a few communities have cab service. Sadly, I see too many bikes left out in weird places or dumped near the river after perhaps being stolen. School kids and young professionals are the more abundant cyclists around town but not nearly as many of them cycle as is possible, given that the main townsite is only about 2km in length!
The bigger problem, that relates to the Land Use Planning from question #1, is that the newer housing that has been established here, is “up the hill” & from 3-7 km out of the main townsite. There are folks who bike & walk but not as many as there might be, given the distance & the fairly big hill to negotiate when biking home. On the plus side, people are fairly generous in stopping & offering rides to those who are walking on the road out of town.
I wonder if there was a regular FREE shuttle every hour(?) “up the hill” & down to the far end of Ft. Simpson Island (main townsite), if that would encourage folks to walk more around town during the day at least? Especially if this shuttle could be run with really efficient vehicle/van … perhaps an Electric Vehicle of some sort that has a dedicated Solar PV charging station. Maybe this shuttle could be supported through a small tax added to the municipal tax structure?
