Ride with Candidates: Servesh Pratap Singh, – Waterloo Regional Council

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 Amber Szuche on their ride with municipal candidate for Waterloo Regional Council, Servesh Pratap Singh.

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.

Sarvesh is running for Regional Councillor in Waterloo and joined me for a walking tour. Since traffic signals are a matter of regional concern, we visited all corners of the notorious Albert & Hazel/Bearinger intersection. This intersection has multiple issues that cause headaches for pedestrians and cyclists. 

First, the East-West traffic signal will only change to green if it detects the presence of a car. If you are on a bicycle on Hazel or Bearinger, the light will never change to let you through. As a pedestrian, you must push a button to trigger the pedestrian signal in the East-West direction. If the traffic light turns green after detecting a car, the pedestrian signal nevertheless remains a red hand. Personally, almost daily I encounter pedestrians waiting to cross and missing a traffic cycle because they didn’t realize they had to push the button. 

Finally, the button that pedestrians must push on the south-west (Albert & Bearinger) corner of the intersection is way out of the way of the crosswalk, so it is very unintuitive. Going out of your way to push this button then puts you directly in the path of cars turning right, who are not expecting you to cross from such a strange location. 

This intersection bridges two shopping plazas and medium density housing, and is on the way for many pedestrians using the R&T Park LRT stop. Sarvesh noted that this intersection is heavily used, so it is disappointing that pedestrians are so deprioritized. I think it’s a great exercise for any candidate who usually gets around by car to take some time to experience their neighbourhood as a pedestrian. Walking/rolling allows you to really feel the impact of all the small details of infrastructure, both in terms of appreciating the improvements that have been made in Waterloo to encourage active transit and to notice shortcomings to inspire further progress.