Ride with Candidates: Everton Dixon – Kitchener Ward 10

For the 2026 municipal elections, CycleWR volunteers have been taking municipal electoral candidates on bike rides to show off the best and worst of the cycling infrastructure in their ward/city/region.

Below is a summary written by CycleWR volunteer Dirk Friesen on their ride with municipal candidate for Kitchener Ward 10, Everton Dixon.

Disclaimer: CycleWR is a non-partisan organization that does not endorse a party or candidate. Summaries are written by volunteers or candidates and may not reflect the mandate or views of CycleWR. For more information, contact us at hello@cyclewr.ca.

Dirk Friesen (left) and Everton Dixon

Here’s a summary of my ride with Everton this evening:

We started our ride at the central branch of the Kitchener library. Everton was planning to rent a Neuron/Lime bike but there were only scooters available. He was able to get one of the scooters unlocked and working but there were many issues with the geofencing and where the scooter would allow him to ride. The cost is also an issue as it is often the same as it would be to get a taxi or carshare ride. After struggling with the scooter for some time I went home and picked up another bike so we could finish our tour of Ward 10.

Here are some of the key points along our tour:

  • Margaret Ave from Queen St to Wilhelm St – A microcosm of cycling lane designs which are quite good from Queen St until Wellington where the separated bike lane abruptly ends.
  • Spurline Trail – One of KW’s gems! Everton is advocating for more rapid snow removal and the Spurline trail is an example of how timely snow removal makes commuting by bike (and other forms of active transportation) in winter far less daunting.
  • Central Station – This is a major opportunity for Kitchener and the Region. We need to make sure that there are excellent connections to it (like the Cherry Park Trail) and that there is safe, secure, and easy to use bike parking built in.
  • Kitchener’s downtown cycling grid – The city has made major improvements in connecting protected bike lanes so that you can get to all kinds of destinations without having to compete with cars for space (Duke/Joseph/Cedar/Water/Ontario)
  • Chapel Ave and Simeon St Intersection – the bicycle pass-through at this intersection is a great example of traffic calming, reducing the number of cars and their speeds on those streets so it feels safe to use the streets as someone not in a car.
  • East Ave – A newly rebuilt street that shows how space can be made for three speeds of mobility, sidewalks for walking pace, grade separated bike lanes for faster and heavier modes of transport, and car lanes for the fastest and heaviest. It also shows the city’s work to get Route 2 (https://www.engagewr.ca/wayfinding) completed.

Everton is interested in pragmatic and cost effective ways that he can make the city easier to get around. One thing that Everton noted about Kitchener is how we could go for bike ride around downtown Kitchener shortly after rush hour (we started our ride at 5:30) and be able to have a conversation while getting around.

Here is a map of the route we took: