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An illustration of what the temporary bike lanes look like. There is one lane of vehicular traffic in each direction and the outside lanes are marked with orange traffic cones to reserve it for bicycles.

URGENT: Tell Regional Council to vote for temporary ‘pandemic’ bike lanes!

Posted on June 20, 2020June 20, 2020 by Laura McDonald
Posted in: Advocacy, Infrastructure

It’s happening—Region of Waterloo staff are recommending 24 kilometres of new, temporary bike lanes to create more space for active transportation and allow more physical distancing for both cyclists and pedestrians.

This is an incredible opportunity but we need your help to make sure regional councillors vote in favour on Wednesday, June 24.

What you can do

  1. Fill out this form to let your regional councillors know you support this proposal. You can use our talking points below, but local politicians have told us that short, personalized messages are much more effective than seeing the same detailed arguments repeatedly. You can include one or two reasons, but the important thing is to be clear that you support this proposal and hope they do too.
  1. Fill out the EngageWR survey about the proposal: Rapid Re-Allocation of Road Space for Active Transportation to Address the COVID-19 Pandemic. We recommend you also email your councillor, as that sends an even stronger message!

Why we like this proposal

This is an opportunity to encourage more people in the Region of Waterloo to choose cycling as a mode of transportation. Below, we outline eight reasons we think this is a slam dunk for the Region. The first four are the arguments we think will be most influential with regional councillors, but you can use whichever ones resonate most for you.

1. There is an immediate need for increased space for active transportation to allow physical distancing during the pandemic.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is encouraging people to get around by cycling and walking “whenever feasible”—and people are! Our urban trails are very busy and this proposal helps keep those trails and sidewalks open and safe for more pedestrians.

2. We can take advantage of this unique opportunity to encourage modal shift, but we need to act now.

By creating more bike lanes before more people return to work and school, we can help people who are avoiding transit shift to bikes instead of to cars—and show the many people taking up cycling right now that it’s a feasible option for their commute.

  • Eight schools would be served by the proposed Westmount bike lanes – imagine that many kids getting to school via active transportation, and the benefits to both mental and physical health!
  • We’re hearing from bike store owners that people are buying and fixing bikes in droves, including people who haven’t cycled before, or haven’t in years—and that they’re doing so because of the pandemic and the advice of the WHO and other public health officials. By adequately supporting people who are newly cycling, we can retain a higher proportion of them after the pandemic subsides. 
  • We need this modal shift in order to achieve Regional climate goals. Enabling new cyclists allows more residents to do their part to mitigate climate change—and to be healthier and save money while doing so!

3. Protected bike lanes calm traffic.

Slower roads improve safety for all road users and reduces noise for neighbours.

4. It’s a very cost-effective method of implementing new bike lanes

Some people claim this project costs a lot of money, but in fact it is only 0.3% of the Region’s Transportation capital budget.

  1. Everyone deserves equal access to outdoor space and active transportation. Bike lanes help provide this access.
  2. Bike lanes are good for business. Just ask the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association.
  3. Semi-protected/protected bike lanes will get bikes off sidewalks, which we’re seeing more of as more new people take up cycling and are nervous about riding on the road without any protection from cars.
  4. These bike lanes will serve as an incredibly cost-effective pilot project and help gather data for future active transportation and road planning (especially given the upcoming work on Westmount Road).
Tell Regional Councillors you support the proposal!

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Are you heading out to the belmontvillagebestival Are you heading out to the belmontvillagebestival this Friday and Saturday? It's the cityofkitchener's last #BikeCheck of the year!
Cycle safely to Belmont Village with the #CyclingGuide App and know your bike is secure while you enjoy the festivities!
Sunday turned out to be great ride day for our soc Sunday turned out to be great ride day for our social and the GroundUpWR Ride!Thanks to everyone who came out to our picnic social and bike ride. Our last event was in March 2020 so it was nice to get back out there! And congrats to the winners of some cool bike accessories courtesy of #BlackArrowCycles!Let's continue to advocate and let the residents and city councillors know that our streets need to be safe for everyone! 😊
Join us on Sunday, August 27th at 12pm by the cloc Join us on Sunday, August 27th at 12pm by the clock tower in Victoria Park for a picnic social and ride! We encourage you to bring a lunch/snack! There will be some prizes  to celebrate the relaunch of CycleWR in-person social events (our last one was in early 2020!). At 2pm we'll head over to Kitchener City Hall for a bike ride with GroundUpWR. We look forward to seeing you!
Have you seen this bicycle infrastructure before? Have you seen this bicycle infrastructure before?
This was newly installed on Water Street in dtkitchener.This is a great convenience for people who use bicycles to get around, while they sit at a red light.PC: pbilk
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