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Morning rush hour at Franklin Avenue and Forrest Drive - just one of the many intersections the city monitored for its transportation survey. - Lauren McKeon/NNSL photo

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The city of Yellowknife is monitoring how you drive.

And, depending on what it finds, could start some never-before-seen programs in the city - like carpooling.

Last week, the city had both electronic and human counters situated at different intersections throughout Yellowknife. Some recorded traffic movements during peak hours. Others counted the number of vehicles driving through downtown, Old Town, on Old Airport Road and on the highways.

The surveillance is part of Yellowknife's new transportation improvement study, aimed at determining the best future growth plan.

"If people are carpooling or choose to cycle, or walk, or take a taxi, or take a bus, that all fits into a model and will allow us of course to see where people are at," said Jeff Humble, the director of planning and development.

"As we go through consultation stages ... we can of course build infrastructures to accommodate those various modes of transportation. Carpooling is one option, it's one alternative."

The city will be looking at the number of vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists going through various intersections and where they frequently make turns, added Humble.

It's all part of the city's $192,000 transportation study, which is funded in part by the federal government.

Starting this week, the city, along with iTRANS consulting, which has offices spread across Canada, will call several hundred residents at random inquiring about their trip habits.

"Everyone's trip starts from home," said Humble.

Surveyors are interested in what happens after that.

"So, where did you go from home today? ... What mode of transportation did you use? What was your second trip of the day? You may have gone to pick up some lunch, or to the store. You may have walked. What we're looking for is trip patterns that people use throughout the day," Humble explained.

He and the city are hoping that the trip counts and the survey will combine to show "the kind of typical movements of the average citizen in Yellowknife on a daily basis."

From there the city can figure out what planning will look like in the future and the likelihood of implementing programs like carpooling.

Unfortunately, multiple passengers in commuting vehicles is not something Ecology North program director Doug Ritchie has seen much of, he said.

"It's one of the things where the actual commute tends not to be quite long and you'd think the longer the commute the more it pays to carpool," he explained.

But, that doesn't mean there aren't carpoolers - Ritchie himself is one.

"If I need a ride in the morning, I call some of my neighbours and I check to see which one ... is going in at a convenient time for me," said Ritchie, who lives along the Ingraham Trail.

There are other alternatives besides carpooling, like better biking paths and better transit, both of which Ecology North has discussed as part of its transportation issues committee partnership with the city, Ritchie added.

"We've been talking about these things for a while and I think our members would really like to see some tangible outcome soon," he said.

Decisions on what to do as a result of the study won't be made until after a consultation with the public, however.

Humble said he expects the city will hold an open house in early December, at which its transportation consultant, its urban design consultant and its ecological consultant would be present.

"We will be ... getting some more feedback from the public on some alternatives that we might look at over the long term," he said.