ecoLIVING London

I was invited to attend the London Bicycle Summit on behalf of ecoLIVING London on December 1st. Here is a quick summary of my experience.

Hosted by Share the Road Cycling Coalition, the summit focused on strategies to improve bicycle travel, safety and tourism. There were attendees from all over Ontario and even the United States. Amy Doyle, the keynote speaker, was very passionate and inspiring as she told her story of how Greenville, South Carolina has embraced a cycling culture.

Greenville, like London, is currently a "Bronze" Bicycle Friendly Community, as designated by Share the Road. Amy spoke of the ways in which Greenville is improving it's cycling culture in order to "Go For Silver". Greenville has developed an Bicycle Master Plan that details strategies and goals to improve access and safety for cyclists. Main points included: road dieting - changing the physical design of a street; the need for strong leadership and those who can lead by example (bike to work days at city hall); the importance of monitoring data - "if you want bikes to count, count bikes!"; that you should always bring a friend along to cycling meetings and events - strength in numbers; emotional talks need to give way to policies/laws being passed; and the importance of having secure bicycle parking. After Greenville created a trail through the city along an old railway, there was an economic boom along the trail with companies investing over $150 million for condos and other businesses. Having a strong non-profit organization, Live Well Greenville, to solidify the community and policies greatly improved the success of the Greenville cycling culture.

Louisa Mursell from Transportation Options, a non-profit organization, provided insight on the bicycle tourism industry in Ontario and how it is being improved. Ontario has a lot of catching up to do in the industry compared to Quebec. In 2013, the Lake Erie Waterfront Trail will be launched, which will connect Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence Trail to create a 1400 km cycling trail from Windsor to Quebec. The Lake Erie Waterfront trail will add 27 communities to the Lake Ontario trail opening up the region to a new type of tourist. Mursell provided evidence that, on average, the cycle tourist stays longer and spends more. In order to improve the success of the trail, there needs to be more bike friendly businesses. Workshops for business owners on how to cater to the cyclist are very important for this untapped market. Explore http://welcomecyclists.ca/ to learn more about cycling in Ontario.

A major theme throughout the summit was the 5 "Es" of Bicycle Friendly Community Program: Engineering, Education, Encouragement, Enforcement and Evaluation. We heard from city policy makers, engineers and police officers on how important the different Es are to each other, however, one stood out the most - Education. "Education is key" was repeated many times. A great example of this was provided from a city planner and engineer from the city of Waterloo. A problematic four lane road was reconstructed into a functional, multi-use two lane "complete street" through the concept of road dieting. The street is "complete" because it is designed to safely accommodate cyclists with their own on-road lanes, pedestrians with a landscaped median and raised sidewalks, motorists with better management of speeding traffic. The plan was engineered, funded, implemented and well marketed in order for the public to be aware of the improved status and increase usage. The road was well received and is currently well used.

Last but not least, I was surprised to learn that in London you can be fined $130 for riding your bike on a sidewalk. That's more than if you are caught going through a stop sign in your car. Bottom line, it is critical that cyclists and motorists learn to share the road!

Mallory Bouchard