Below are a few items that I think you might find interesting:
Students at McMaster University have voted overwhelmingly in favour of including a steeply discounted bike share pass as part of student fees next year. For $24.50, full-time undergraduate students can receive an annual bike share pass that gives them access to the network of over 800 bikes across 130 stations. The successful campaign was organized by the group Students for Bike Share and saw 94% support in the recent referendum.
Ontario by Bike has released their 12th annual Cycling in Ontario / Le vélo en Ontario guide. The 2024 guide includes ideas, inspirations, and articles to help you plan your summer cycling trips and multi-day getaways.
At the beginning of May, the Canadian Paediatric Society released a position statement on improving cycling safety for children and youth. Amongst their recommendations are the installation of more protected (and ideally, elevated) bike lanes that physically separate cyclists from motorized traffic, the deployment of more speed and red-light cameras in high traffic areas near schools, and the adoption of Vision Zero interventions.
There were a flurry of project announcements from the National Active Transportation Fund on Earth Day (April 22), bringing the total up to just over $156 million in announced funding for 185 projects. My tracking shows that more than half (64%) of announced projects fall into the planning & design stream, with the rest in the capital projects stream. So far, Ontario has seen the highest amount of investment with $56 million in announced projects. BC follows closely at $54 million. Is it just me, or have there been no official announcements about Québec yet?
The North American Bikeshare and Scootershare Association (NABSA) recently published a blog post arguing that shared micromobility is an essential transportation service and needs to be supported with public funding. I happen to agree - strongly! The article includes research and evidence to support this recommendation, and highlights some of the longstanding shared systems that are supported by public funding in Mexico, Canada, and the United States.
A few months ago I shared a news article about the restrictions that had been placed on riding GO Transit with an e-bike and how it was affecting e-delivery riders. Since then, Metrolinx has announced that they will be building eight additional designated bike coaches, which can hold up to 22 bikes each. They will also be requiring that all e-bikes on board have batteries that meet standard UL or CE certification requirements and that they have no physical damage to the battery case or warranty seal.
New research has been published looking at bicycle facilities and women's cycling frequency. The research shows that gender identities intersect with age, employment, and family structure when explaining women's cycling behaviour and that there is no “one women's cycling behaviour”. The full paper authored by Sarah Giacomantonio, Raktim Mitra and Léa Ravensbergen is available to view online.
British Columbia has adopted new e-bike definitions. Starting in April 2024, the province recognizes two classes of e-bikes - standard e-bikes and light e-bikes. While light e-bikes have a maximum motor-assisted speed of 25km/h, maximum power of 250W and no throttle assist, standard e-bikes can go up to 32km/h with assist, have 500W power and be equipped with throttle assist. Light e-bikes can be ridden by people 14 years of age, but riders must be 16 years of age to ride standard e-bikes.
