The destination for most of the trips that Canadians make in their cars are within 8 to 11 km of their homes. The drive time may take less than six minutes. Cars are generally less fuel efficient on short trips than long ones because they have not fully warmed up. Such distances are within easy reach of someone on a bicycle, especially when
they involve minimum carting (going to the post office or bank or picking up a loaf of bread) or when the objective is simply to get out of the house.
It all adds up. If Canadian motorists eliminate one of these short hops (a six-minute drive per day) we could save at an absolute minimum 2.8 million tonnes of emissions per year or about 1.2 billion litres of fuel used.
Each time you go for a ride during Bicycle Month, enter your distances in our Community Challenge chart (click here). We’ll add it all up and convert to co2 saved.
check kilometres per day here
check totals here
