Lethbridge sees drop in park and pathway use in 2022: city
Global News
The data was gathered through 22 trail counters and three vehicle counters near river valley access roads.
After seeing an exceptional amount of activity over the COVID-19 pandemic, City of Lethbridge data shows a drop in park and pathway usage.
The data, gathered through 22 trail counters and three vehicle counters near river valley access roads, reports an 18 per cent decrease in movement in 2022 over 2021, with around 1.1 million total counts last year.
“So 2020 and 2021 were record highs for us,” explained general manager of parks and cemeteries Blair Richter.
“However, the numbers in 2022 were actually quite similar to our historical averages.”
Richter presumes that as pandemic restrictions lifted and other activities started up again, people may have become less-inclined to visit parks at the same levels.
The city is exploring the possibility of adding more counters and new technology in the future to improve accuracy. The current counters cannot differentiate between types of activity, such as walking, cycling or scooters.
The most popular areas in 2022 continued to be regional parks such as Henderson Lake Park and Nicholas Sheran Park.
But according to Richter, one north Lethbridge area in particular stood out from the rest.