Spring updates from Stuckless Consulting Inc.

you might find this interesting!

Below are a few items that I think that you might find interesting:

The funding announcements for the National Active Transportation Fund continue to roll out, and I am continuing to track them! As I write this, we've seen almost $60 million in funding announced. Recent announcements include $50,000 for a Green Communities Canada project to gather information on the different modes of transportation Ontario residents use to get to school, $895,923 for trails and multi-use path projects in New Brunswick, and $8.9 million for upgrades and the expansion of active transportation infrastructure in Edmonton. Check out my tracking spreadsheet for a summary of announcements and regular updates.

Throughout the Spring, communities across Canada are celebrating Bike Month. We do not not have a federally declared Bike Month in Canada, so various provinces, regions, and municipalities celebrate at different times, and in their own way. I was asked recently by a client what was happening in Canada for Bike Month, and I couldn't help but put together a map of what I found. Some celebrations are in May, some are in June. Some are a month, some are a week, and they go by a variety of different names. This got me wondering … is there a need for a more coordinated approach to Bike Month?

Charles T. Brown and the team at Equitable Cities have released a new report Arrested Mobility: Barriers to Walking, Biking, and E-Scooter Use in Black Communities in the United States. The report includes a comprehensive analysis of the rules of the road in all 50 states and how they limit mobility, opportunity, and access for Black Americans and other people of color. Report authors discuss laws with an absence of evidence, laws that are highly subjective, confusing, and that are almost impossible to enforce equitably, and make six recommendations. The report is a must read for advocates, researchers, and policy makers in Canada too.

A motion by Toronto City Councillor Dianne Saxe directs staff to look at the possibility of requiring couriers riding e-bikes to have license plates in an effort to deter sidewalk riding. This is absolutely the wrong approach. Asking people to choose between cycling on a busy street alongside cars travelling 50km/h+ or on the sidewalk, and then penalizing them when they choose the seemingly safer sidewalk doesn't make sense. License plates and more enforcement aren't going to reduce sidewalk cycling, but more and better cycling infrastructure can. When it comes to riding e-mobility devices, we know from multiple studies that people prefer to ride in separated bike lanes and often end up on the sidewalk when no safe cycling infrastructure is available. This motion is not based on evidence (and notably, includes no data). As argued by Cycle Toronto, it also unfairly targets people working in low-wage gig economy jobs instead of the companies that profit off of their work and incentivize rapid deliveries. A report back from staff is expected on June 5th, 2023.

Capital Bike is working hard to keep cycling at the forefront for busy decision makers in the 13 municipalities in the Greater Victoria region, and their new Roadmap to Cycling Success is a key part of their efforts. The Roadmap boils down what needs to be done to make each municipality bikeable for people of all ages with a series of simple, practical, and tangible recommendations. Capital Bike has shared the Roadmap to Councils through presentations and meetings and received a very positive reception.

A bill in Oregon known as the “bike bus bill” is designed to give districts more flexibility on how they use their funding. The objective is to be able to fund initiatives such as bike buses (a group of people who cycle together on a set route following a set timetable). This would be a change from the current law that only funds bus services. I think efforts like this are of relevance here in Ontario too, where student transportation funding is focused on providing school buses, but not supports like bike racks, safety information, or crossing guards for families who walk and wheel to school.

Ecology Action Centre's Pop Up Bike Hub (PUBH) has restored more than 1,200 bikes to road-worthy condition across the Nova Scotia since 2019. The PUBH's goal is to improve access to cycling in under-served rural communities by offering free basic bike repairs in communities that would otherwise need to drive long distances to the nearest bike mechanic. Using a mobile trailer, the PUBH team provides 20 minute bike assessments, safe cycling education, and safe cycling accessories and resources.