Ride with Candidates: Kevin White – Regional Council – Kitchener
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 municipal candidate for Regional Council – Kitchener, Kevin White, on their ride with CycleWR volunteer Victoria Hand.
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.
Kevin White sent us this summary of his ride with Victoria Hand:
Victoria and I went for a ride on a chilly morning that warmed up into quite a nice day, following a trail that began in front of the KW Art Gallery and ran through areas of municipal, regional, and provincial jurisdiction. We discussed some of the issues related to how the lanes switch from protected to raised to painted to non-existent and back again. Victoria’s dog, comfortably seated in a bucket on the front of her bike and wearing some stylish and protective shades, brought smiles to quite a few passersby. We also talked a bit about the speeds of various e-vehicles and some concerns around the delimiting of speeds on modified vehicles. I especially enjoyed some lovely scenery behind Fairview mall and then across Courtland toward Homer Watson (I really loved that wooden bridge area, though we did talk about lighting concerns). Victoria was quite enthusiastic about some of the planned improvements, including connecting with the Trans Canada Trail, so it sounds like there are some good developments on the way.
Victoria shared some experience of navigating and living in the region without a car and joining a Kitchener city committee for cycling infrastructure planning. We discussed how important being outside (and not in a car) is for developing community connections and social infrastructure (and noted that social infrastructure was the focus of the Waterloo Region Community Foundation’s 2025 Vital Signs Report). We also discussed my reason for running for council, namely that I have an interest in prioritizing value-based decisions extending from the Region’s stated core value of “care for people and the land we share”.
Most of the ride was quite pleasant, though we did get honked at while crossing an intersection at a highway entrance (where else were we supposed to be on a stretch of road with no bike infrastructure?), and I could imagine that on weekdays, and particularly at rush hours, some areas of it would have been more car-traffic-heavy. On a Saturday morning, though, it was quite leisurely. It was great to be introduced to some trails and parts of the city I was less familiar with, and I think my partner and I will be enjoying bike rides across the relatively new pedestrian bridge over the highway when visiting family.
As our ride came to an end in the downtown area on King St., we shared our mutual appreciation of the pedestrianization of Gaukel Street, and Victoria provided some great cafe/bakery recommendations for when taking a break during a more leisurely bike ride across the region. We agreed that it would be delightful, as the region continues to grow, to have some pleasant ground floor cafes and businesses to stop at throughout neighbourhoods as people go out and about when enjoying some time in their own neighbourhoods or beyond.