*FREEDOM FIGHTER *
*Leigh Anne Parry is on a two-wheeled mission to empower and improve the
lives of women by giving them the skills to safely, independently and
confidently join Winnipeg’s male-dominated bicycle-riding community*
https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/life/cover-pedal-pushers-in…
I’M coasting down the bike lane on Sherbrook Street on a plain, black Dutch
bike, carrying Plain Bicycle Project co-manager Leigh Anne Parry on my rear
panier rack.
She guides me through traffic and along the sidewalks as we make our way to
Gordon Bell High School for a bike lesson, the same kind she gives to
dozens of women in their 20s and older who are interested in learning to
ride.
Normally the lessons, currently on pause thanks to COVID-19, would take
place in the schoolyard at Ecole Victoria-Albert. On this fall morning,
however, we coast languidly along the path looping Gordon Bell’s soccer
field.
“These bicycle lessons have been in the back of my head for a while now,”
Parry explains.
Inspired by a woman in the Netherlands for whom bike lessons and Dutch
bikes are a lifetime project, Parry — whose work with the Plain Bicycle
project stretches 3 ½ years — decided earlier this summer to begin running
sessions to make cycling more accessible to the Dutch bike’s key customers:
adult women.
“It’s something that can be freeing for the whole family,” she says.
“Empowering women empowers the whole family’s ability to take different
modes of transportation.”
First things first: balance. We start sitting on the bike seats, feet flat
on the ground, and begin to walk. The trick is to get comfortable balancing
by gaining momentum and lifting the feet, practising little coasts down the
path.
For me, most confident on a hard-tailed mountain bike, the gentle ride and
upright stance is a comfortable change of pace. It’s part of the reason
why, Parry says, the bikes appeal to new riders.
Parry, 33, got invested in biking in university, she says. She grew up
outside the city, but moved into Winnipeg for school and was gifted a bike
to ride around. After using it as her main mode of transportation for some
time she got a fast-paced job as a bike courier.
“I started to ride with a particular kind of work purpose, I got to explore
the city a lot, I got more comfortable and confident riding a bicycle,
especially in traffic,” she says.
“Then I was working as an urban farmer and had a big trike that I would
deliver vegetables on; I’ve always integrated bicycles into my work life
because I find it very useful and I think it’s a good idea.”
Using the bike as a tool for her everyday activities, Parry became familiar
with the city’s strengths and weaknesses in bike infrastructure, and began
to notice the biking community was dominated by men who felt comfortable
enough to weave with traffic on the city’s busy streets.
“Women are sort of an indicator species for how good your infrastructure is
in a city,” Parry says.
“Women statistically take less risks because they’re usually depended on a
lot more and their stakes are higher, and they feel less confident being an
aggressive rider in among the traffic.”
In the Netherlands, she explains, 60 per cent of bike-riders (she prefers
to avoid “cyclist” as a term) are women. In Winnipeg, by contrast, women
make up closer to 30 per cent of the cycling crowd.
That number is something Parry is slowly setting out to change. Biking is
more convenient for women, she says. It’s a quick way to “trip-chain,” or
make multiple stops close together: dropping the kids off at school,
visiting the grocery store and getting to work, for example.
“It’s also something that can be really empowering and freeing for women to
have that sense of independence and to be able to do all of those errands
and runs on their own, on their own transportation, quickly and easily,”
Parry says.
Lately she’s seen an “inspiring” uptick in older women — those over 50 —
learning to ride, especially with the comfort and ease of the “omafiet” or
“grandma bike.”
“Our intention is to integrate this kind of bike into the market,” Parry
says.
“That message, I think, landed with older women who had been thinking and
considering their abilities and maybe a shift in their life a little bit...
it creates this other sense of independence.”
After we practise our balance, including getting our feet on the bottom and
top pedals while we coast and pedalling backwards to brake, Parry explains
the mounting and taking- off process. With one foot on the top pedal, we
slip up onto the seats and press down, pushing us through another curve in
the path.
Parry explains that in her class sessions, usually attended by 15 to 20
people each, the women she teaches often begin to help each other; once
they’ve mastered a stage they support one another, building confidence and
camaraderie among the avid learners. Most learn to ride in one or two
sessions, she says.
“It’s very beautiful — people are helping each other out, they’re teaching
one another how to ride. They were coming in there saying they weren’t
feeling confident and they were scared, and then they leave feeling really
excited that they were successful at the stage where they’re at,” Parry
says with a smile.
“People are very courageous and ready to go.”
>From there, riders move on to Phase 2, which consists of turning, lifting
hands off the handlebars to signal and shoulder checks. Normally Parry
would teach this on an obstacle course until riders can confidently do all
three at once.
They’re key steps for city riding, where bikers need to navigate traffic,
bike lanes and more to stay safe on the roads. Parry wants to instil
confidence, so the women she teaches can start integrating cycling into
their day-today lives.
“The next steps are going to be really exciting because when they start to
be able to use it for their transportation, when I see them riding around
downtown with their kids on their back, that’s not only going to be great
for them but also for Winnipeg,” she says.
“If you see more people on a bicycle — and not just white men in Speedos
and helmets — you can start to see yourself riding a bike, so it changes
other people’s lives, too.”
The more people, and particularly adult women, who become empowered to
ride, the safer the streets will become, Parry explains.
“I think when you’re learning to ride a bike, especially in a place that is
not bike-friendly, you might end up thinking that you can’t do it and
you’re the issue,” she says.
“But you should be allowed to get to your grocery store easily and safely,
even if you’re not a confident rider; you should be able to do it beside
somebody that you’re teaching how to ride a bike, or your kids or your
partners, these are sort of normal and common practices in a place where
you see most people riding a bike. So keep your imagination open, and your
ability to see the possibility of change within your city and ask for it
and demand it.”
Part of Parry’s cycling classes have involved working with central Winnipeg
groups such as the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization of
Manitoba, teaching cycling skills to moms, newcomers, youths and those
typically not visible in the cycling world.
Abiba Salamu attended three of Parry’s sessions through IRCOM this summer.
Never having biked before, she can now ride around a little on her own, and
is able to help others start pedaling, too. She’s still a beginner, but one
day she’d like to be able to go for rides to the store or around her
neighbourhood for fresh air.
For Salamu, the community was the best part of the classes. Even as she
waits anxiously for the classes to start again, she’s staying in touch with
friends she made in the field.
“I was so happy…through that I found my friend that I’m still talking to
now, on the phone, greeting each other, all that.”
At the end of the day, for Parry, the classes are about instilling hope —
something she possesses in spades.
The future of the project is wide open; she crosses her fingers excitedly
describing a major grant that could be on the way, bringing hundreds of new
bikes into the shop.
“It could get really big and I want it to get really big,” Parry says with
a smile. “I had the opportunity to prove to myself that I could do it, so
now I think anything is possible.”
julia-simone.rutgers(a)freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @jsrutgers
*A trip to Europe opened Dutch bike enthusiast Erin Riediger’s eyes to the
simple pleasures of a civilized, active and healthy daily commute to her
Exchange District workplace*
*RIDING IN STYLE, PLAIN AND SIMPLE*
https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/life/cover-pedal-pushers-in…
IT’S a warm and windy day in early September and urban cycling advocate,
Erin Riediger, has agreed to spend her lunch hour touring me through a
section of her daily commute.
We meet on the sidewalk in front of her east Exchange District office and
chat about the route while she unlocks her bike — a simple black cruiser
with a touch of superficial rust (or “character,” as she likes to call it).
Riediger, 32, is wearing chic ankle boots and a dusty pink jacket that
matches the hue of her bike bag and front tire. She doesn’t look like a
cyclist. And that’s the point.
“The Dutch mentality is that you should dress for the destination, not the
journey,” she says.
Wearing the trendy office attire of an architect while riding her bike to
and from work at Number Ten Architectural Group is a form of everyday
advocacy for Riediger, who believes wider representation is necessary for
cycling to become a mainstream mode of transportation, rather than a
subculture.
>From her vantage, the majority of regular cyclists in Winnipeg fall into
two main camps: enthusiasts who ride because they like bikes and
recreational cyclists who ride for exercise and entertainment.
Like most people, Riediger learned to ride a bike as a kid, but drifted
away from cycling as an adult because she didn’t identify with the local
scene.
“Some of my friends had faster road bikes and rode with traffic,” she says.
“I felt like that was a little risky for me, and it just wasn’t really my
personality.”
A post-university trip to Europe in her 20s gave her a new perspective.
“As I travelled around, I saw people in everyday clothes biking, and I
thought, ‘That’s kind of cool, I could get into that.’” She returned home
and bought her first “grown-up” bike with the intention of reducing her car
dependency. Riediger became a full-time bike commuter and accidental
cycling advocate when her 1997 Honda CR-V bit the dust four years ago.
“I decided to just not get it fixed,” she says. “Owning a car didn’t really
improve my lifestyle at all, whereas I’ve found that cycling has.”
The decision to spend 30 minutes a day biking to and from work boosted her
mood, cut her transportation costs and allowed her to explore the city from
a different vantage point.
The decision also garnered local media attention and framed Riediger as an
outlier in a city with a deeply ingrained car culture — something she looks
back on with a laugh.
“It’s just kind of hilarious because it’s almost like the price to
participate in society is owning a car,” she says. “And it doesn’t have to
be that way.”
The route Riediger has plotted for our afternoon bike ride takes us from
the Exchange District to The Forks by way of some of the city’s newest
protected bike lanes.
In 2019, the city completed construction of a two-way protected lane down
Garry Street, connecting the grid of bike lanes in the Exchange with the
well-established cycling thoroughfare on Assiniboine Avenue. The Garry
corridor feels like something that’s been air-lifted from a larger city.
It’s a modern, well-planned route that provides safe separation from cars
and pedestrians; but it’s fleeting.
Our journey from Point A to Point B takes about 15 minutes to complete.
It’s a short trip that offers a glimpse of Winnipeg’s potential as a
cycling city and a stark reminder of the infrastructure and political will
needed to get there.
“A lot of times for people in those decision-making seats it’s easy to take
that path of least resistance,” Riediger says.
While cycling infrastructure is still lacking in most parts of Winnipeg,
she’s seen a gradual shift in the right direction from city hall.
“Now, people are realizing that if you really want to see more people using
(bikes) as a tool of transportation you need that protected bike lane and
you need the proper infrastructure… and it needs to go places people want
to go.”
Beyond protected lanes, Riediger believes Winnipeg’s cycling culture would
benefit from a wider variety of bikes on the road.
“If you can’t get a bike that’s really easy to ride that you can wear any
clothes on and that can carry the stuff you need to carry, then you can’t
really replace your car,” she says.
It’s an epiphany Riediger experienced for herself last year when she
purchased a Dutch-style commuter bike from the Plain Bicycle Project — a
local organization that has been bringing shipping containers full of used
bikes from the Netherlands to Winnipeg since 2017.
“When I got my Dutch bike, I started using it even more and just biking for
everything,” she says. “I was an idiot for not getting one in the first
place… this is the type of bike I’ve always wanted and I’ve been trying to
modify other bikes to be more like it.”
Riding side-by-side, there’s a noticeable difference between our bikes. I’m
hunched over the handlebars of my road bike, while Riediger is sitting in a
comfortable upright position atop her “omafiet” or “grandma bike.” The
simple cyclers are designed to be used by anyone (including grandmas) and
come equipped with everything from fenders and a rear rack to a headlight
and a drink holder.
“There’s another plain bicycle,” Riediger says excitedly, referring to a
woman pedalling past on her own omafiet as we cross Main Street.
There are nearly 700 of the Dutch bikes on the road in Winnipeg, but
spotting a fellow rider in the wild is still something of a novelty — one
that’s usually celebrated with a wave and a ding of her bell.
Riediger has turned her newfound omafiet fandom into a podcast called Plain
Bicycle. The six-part series dives into the motivations behind the
grassroots project of the same name and features interviews with Dutch
cycling experts.
WHILE recording a podcast with no prior experience has been challenging,
the project has served as a creative outlet amid the coronavirus pandemic,
while most of her usual hobbies — hot yoga, shopping for new records and
competing in Harry Potter trivia events — have fallen by the wayside.
It’s also become a way to share her passion for transportation and
people-first city building with a wider audience.
“Transportation culture has a lot to do with the way that architecture and
cities are formed,” she says. “When you build around the car, you’ve got
these wide roads, the storefronts aren’t as important because people aren’t
going slowly.
“We just have to stop prioritizing cars, we have to start thinking about
multi-modal (transportation)... cars have a place but they’re not
everything.”
Like many born-and-raised Winnipeggers, Riediger had dreams of leaving home
and moving to a big city. Instead, she’s decided to focus on making
Winnipeg a better place to live, one bike ride at a time.
“I think there’s just... there’s a lot of room for growth, which makes it
interesting as someone who wants to advocate for better things.”
eva.wasney(a)freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @evawasney
*Report advises city to accept gift of school-zone lights *
https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/report-advises-councillors-to-accep…
THE City of Winnipeg could soon accept a gift of flashing amber lights that
better alert drivers to the reduced speed in school zones — but it could
take decades to get the lights in place.
The deal could eventually lead the city to add more lights at its own cost,
according to a new report by the public service.
The report recommends the city accept as many as 480 solar-powered beacons
through a donation from Expert Electric, which would provide two of the
devices per school.
The company’s owner, Chuck Lewis, has been offering to donate the lights to
the city since at least 2017. He says he’s willing to continue that effort
for as long as it takes, since he believes it will make school zones safer.
“If… it saves one life, then that was worth that fight,” said Lewis.
He has described the beacons as more eye-catching than traditional signs,
which should help ensure more drivers slow down to 30 km/h in school zones.
That speed limit is in effect from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday to Friday,
from Sept. 1 to June 30.
Expert Electric would also handle repair and warranty issues for at least
five years.
An outline of the agreement noted most of the installations would depend on
the success of the first set of lights over a three-month trial period,
noting the rest could be cancelled if problems emerged. But the city later
clarified that it expects testing done prior to this agreement will be
sufficient for Winnipeg officials to commit to the full project, if council
approves it.
“Given that testing of the beacons has already occurred, if approved, the
city will likely work with the donor to move directly into implementation,”
wrote city spokesman Ken Allen in an emailed statement.
Meanwhile, the city says some schools will need more than the two donated
beacons to cover adjacent school-zone roads. The city report predicts
Winnipeg would eventually spend about $1.4 million to add 391 units for
those areas, if the deal is approved.
“In order to ensure consistency, (it) is anticipated that the city would
make up any shortfall of beacons,” wrote Allen.
For at least the first five years of installation, however, the city says
only the donated lights would be installed.
The proposed agreement calls for the donor to install the lights “as soon
as is practicably possible,” with a minimum rate of two per month. That
minimum rate would mean the entire installation would take 20 years.
Lewis said that a lengthy timeline may be needed for him to keep the
project affordable, since each set of two lights will cost him about
$7,000. He said the process could be sped up if others also donated to the
effort.
Allen noted the long timeline does mean that “in the future, there may be
reasons for either party to revisit the agreement.”
The property and development committee is set to cast the first vote on the
deal on Sept. 17.
Coun. Cindy Gilroy (Daniel McIntyre), the committee chairwoman, said she
expects to support the proposal.
“We should be looking at how we deal with some of the congestion around our
schools,” said Gilroy.
The councillor said she believes the future cost to the city is worth
consideration.
joyanne.pursaga(a)freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga
Warning period still seen as too short
*Longer times for amber lights disappoint *
https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/winnipeg-extends-amber-light-times-…
AMBER light times are now longer at some Winnipeg intersections — but the
move still falls short, says an advocate who has fought for the change.
Winnipeg’s amber lights previously lasted a uniform four seconds on all
roadways before a traffic signal turned to red, according to a new city
report.
An update completed Sept. 4 changed the duration to 4.3 seconds on 70 km/h
routes and 4.7 seconds on 80 km/h routes for about 110 intersections on
flat-grade roads.
Todd Dube, founder of WiseUp Winnipeg, a driver’s advocacy group that has
for years lobbied the City of Winnipeg for more time in the name of safety
and red-light ticket reductions, called the change a first step “in the
right direction.”
“This is a bare minimum, but it still will be enough time to expose that
all of these years (the city was) unfairly ticketing people that simply
didn’t have enough time to stop at four seconds,” he said Thursday.
Dube argues the new warning period is still too short, since his research
found 80-km/h intersections, such as Bishop Grandin Boulevard and River
Road, should have an amber light time of at least 5.4 seconds.
“(The new measure) is still an unnecessarily… and dangerously short amber
time,” Dube said, adding, however, he expects the number of photo
enforcement tickets doled out at such intersections to drop dramatically.
According to the city report, the new signal timings are based on a
roadway’s speed and slope, as well as driver perception and reaction time.
No change was made to the amber lights on roads with speed limits set at 60
km/h or lower — which will ensure a minimum four-second warning remains in
place at intersections on those routes, the report notes.
Coun. Matt Allard, chairman of council’s public works committee, said he
believes those calculations show the city is evolving its practices to
improve safety. “I think (the times) were set up with the understanding
that they made the roads safer and taking a closer second look we found
that, yes, there was some room for improvement,” said Allard (St. Boniface).
He also refuted the argument photo radar use at high-speed intersections
was unfair in the past, noting he believes the program remains necessary.
“The motivation is public safety, and the (photo radar) fine happens to be
the one enforcement tool we have as a city.”
*The city report states the new extended amber light times should help
increase the separation between vehicles and pedestrians, which some
research indicates will help prevent collisions. Uniform amber light times
were initially meant to provide a predictable warning time for drivers,
while the new system is based on more recent research,** the city says. The
city says it is still reviewing an option to further extend amber light
times for left-turning vehicles.*
joyanne.pursaga(a)freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga
City’s Open Streets initiative coming to a close
https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/citys-open-streets-initiative-comin…
RUNNERS and cyclists, young and old, sped down Vialoux Drive Saturday
morning with little disturbance from motor vehicles.
They will soon have increased traffic to navigate through.
The City of Winnipeg’s Open Streets initiative ends Monday at 8 p.m. The
program, which was announced in April, blocks vehicles from stretches of
residential roads so people can walk, cycle and physically distance.
Ten routes through the city were limited to active transport users and
vehicles of people living on the routes between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. seven
days a week. The measures came to promote social distancing during the
pandemic.
Now, a motion at city hall proposes that Winnipeg keep some of its “Open
Streets” open — but unless council votes for the changes, the city will
return to its usual four routes that are exclusive to cyclists, runners and
walkers on Sundays and holidays.
Robbie Scott, 57, biked down Vialoux Drive for the first time in years on
Saturday. But, Scott is no newbie — he’s been cycling for four decades, and
he bikes a 40 to 45 km route daily in the summer. He said it’s been amazing
seeing more people take up biking.
“It’s families, it’s kids, old folks, all kinds of ages,” Scott said. “In
terms of what (Open Streets) has done for the community, you just, you
haven’t seen that.”
Scott doesn’t spend all his time on blocked off residential streets, but
some — portions of Wellington Crescent and Wolseley Avenue — are part of
his loop. He said he feels safer, and he’s seen others feel it too.
“For cyclists, it’s always, ‘OK, what seems like the least risky (path) at
this time,’” Scott said.
He said he was shocked and disappointed to hear the active transportation
routes were ending, especially in the midst of a pandemic, when many people
use them to get exercise while staying safe.
“People have learned, ‘Hey, I could actually bike to work or bike to school,’”
Scott said.
Anders Swanson, the executive director of Winnipeg Trails Association, said
keeping the streets open would allow kids to bike safely to school instead
of being driven by a parent or taking a bus.
“You have the government telling people to drive their kids... We’re
closing these open streets; it’s sending the message that there’s sort of a
dark and unsustainable future ahead of us,” Swanson said.
The city has a survey online where people can give feedback about Open
Streets, including picking the best time of year to have the program, if at
all. The survey ends Monday.
The motion before city council aims to keep active transport routes until
Nov. 1 at the Wolseley Avenue route and at Churchill Drive, from Hay Street
to Jubilee Avenue.
Council may vote on the matter at its Sept. 30 meeting.
Coun. John Orlikow (River Heights-Fort Garry) said he’ll make his decision
after receiving the survey’s results.
“We have time,” Orlikow said, adding if council votes for extended active
transport routes, the changes will probably last from October to November.
Some people felt a bit relieved over the ending of Open Streets, including
Amy Bruno, who lives on Vialoux Drive. She’s been yelled at for driving
down the road in her car, which she needs to do when she leaves her house.
“It’s like, well, how are people supposed to go to work if people read the
signs (on the street) and assume, ‘Oh, you’re not supposed to drive down
here,’” Bruno said.
Most people are understanding once they realize people who live on the road
can still drive on it, Bruno said.
She added she likes the initiative because people have more access to
walking around and social distancing.
Others, like Matt Ullenboom, feel indifferent about the program’s end.
Ullenboom, 33, went for a bike ride with his five-year-old son through
Assiniboine Park and Vialoux Drive Saturday.
“It’s definitely a good thing in the warmer months, when people can be
out,” Ullenboom said. “In the winter and fall, it wouldn’t bother me if
they changed it back to car traffic.”
Beginning Sept. 13, Lyndale Drive, from Cromwell Street to Gauvin Street;
Scotia Street, from Anderson Avenue (at St. Cross Street) to Armstrong
Avenue; Wellington Crescent, from the west end of Academy Road to Guelph
Street; and Wolseley Avenue, from Raglan Road to Maryland Street, will have
limited motor vehicle traffic on Sundays and holidays from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The restrictions end Oct. 12.
gabrielle.piche(a)freepress.mb.ca
Extension of two ‘open streets’ sought
Wolseley Avenue, Churchill Drive named
https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/motion-seeks-extra-time-for-pair-of…
A new motion proposes city hall extend some of Winnipeg’s temporary active
transportation routes, also known as “open streets,” which are set to close
Monday.
The current 10 routes, which include four traditional Sunday/holiday
bicycle routes, limit vehicular traffic to one block from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
daily to provide extra space for pedestrians and cyclists. The new routes
and extended hours were a COVID-19 pandemic response measure, intended to
help Winnipeggers stay active while keeping at least two metres apart.
The six routes added this year are slated to close Monday at 8 p.m., while
the traditional bike routes will reduce the vehicle travel restriction to
Sundays and holidays only, between Sept. 13 and Oct. 12.
The city centre community committee passed a motion Friday that aims to
instead keep the enhanced AT access until Nov. 1 at both the Wolseley
Avenue traditional Sunday/Holiday route and the temporary AT route on
Churchill Drive.
The changes require council’s approval.
While a final vote on the matter could have to wait until the Sept. 30
council meeting, Coun. Sherri Rollins (Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry) said
she’s hopeful the motion could instead inspire a quicker policy change by
the public service.
Rollins said she supports extending the other routes as well.
“I would like more routes added… I think we need a lot more tools in our
toolbelts to get children to and from schools in a safe manner,” Rollins
said Friday.
Coun. John Orlikow (River Heights-Fort Garry), however, said he won’t push
for the Wellington Crescent active transportation route in his ward to be
extended, stressing public feedback on that decision should come first. A
survey on the routes is slated to end Monday.
Orlikow said the city must consider the views of those who support and
oppose the routes, noting he’s heard complaints the one-block vehicle
travel restriction has made it inconvenient for some drivers to reach their
homes.
“We have to be careful about councillors deciding how to use streets
arbitrarily. We’re not traffic engineers, there’s impact city-wide, so we
have to be making sure that we listen to our administration and the
public,” said Orlikow.
Open streets were also placed on sections of Lyndale Drive, Scotia Street,
Egerton Road, Kildonan Drive, Kilkenny Drive, Rover Avenue and Vialoux
Drive. The Lyndale, Scotia and Wellington sites are also slated to revert
back to Sunday/holiday bicycle routes.
joyanne.pursaga(a)freepress.mb.ca
Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga
City of Winnipeg to close 6 active transportation routes after Labour Day
weekend
4 remaining pedestrian, bike routes will be closed to vehicle traffic only
on Sundays, holidays after Sept. 8
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/winnipeg-open-streets-closed-labour…
More than half of the active transportation routes throughout Winnipeg will
be closing after the long weekend, the city announced in a news release
Thursday.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the city designated 10 roadways as "open
streets," limiting vehicle traffic to one block from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.,
seven days a week.
The city usually limits vehicle traffic to one block on four of those
streets on Sundays and holidays, from the Victoria Day long weekend until
Thanksgiving, but expanded the closures in an effort to create bike- and
pedestrian-friendly routes during the pandemic.
As of Sept. 8, the program will end for six of the current routes. Vehicle
traffic will be limited on the remaining four only on Sundays and holidays
after the Labour Day weekend, the city said in its release.
Motor vehicle traffic will continue to be limited on these routes from 8
a.m. until 8 p.m. on Sundays and holidays until Oct. 12:
- Lyndale Drive – Cromwell Street to Gauvin Street.
- Scotia Street – Anderson Avenue (at St. Cross Street) to Armstrong
Avenue.
- Wellington Crescent – Academy Road (at Wellington Crescent) to Guelph
Street.
- Wolseley Avenue – Raglan Road to Maryland Street.
Signs informing people they are entering or leaving an active
transportation route will be posted at each end of the route. Barricades
marking the ends of the routes will also be in place during operational
hours, the city said.
Violating the motor vehicle restrictions can result in a fine under
Winnipeg's traffic bylaw, the city added.
The vehicle restrictions will end after Sept. 8 on these routes:
- Churchill Drive — Hay Street to Jubilee Avenue.
- Egerton Road — Bank Avenue to Morier Avenue.
- Kildonan Drive — Helmsdale Avenue to Rossmere Crescent, and Larchdale
Crescent to Irving Place.
- Kilkenny Drive — Burgess Avenue to Patricia Avenue and Kings Drive.
- Rover Avenue — Hallet Street to Stephens Street.
- Vialoux Drive — Alcrest Drive to Wexford Street.
The city launched an online survey
<https://engage.winnipeg.ca/enhanced-active-transportation-routes-open-stree…>
last
month to gauge reaction to the program. Residents can still provide
feedback for future consideration via that survey until Monday, the city's
news release said.
Bike shop pop-up hopes to get city rolling on two wheels
A Bicycle Garden grows on Sherbrook
https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/a-bicycle-garden-grows-on-sherbr…
THIS spring, with some freedoms put on hold, many people in Winnipeg found
— or rediscovered — the freedom of riding a bicycle.
Vendors, manufacturers and mechanics could hardly keep up with the
reinvigorated interest as the global supply chain was interrupted and
demand outpaced supply. “It’s like selling Coca Cola and you’ve run out of
Coke,” Lifesport owner Walter Jozwiak told the Free Press in May.
Under those circumstances, Leigh Anne Parry and Anders Swanson got their
wheels turning on a new idea, a pop-up bike shop called the Bicycle Garden,
where they could peddle Dutch-built pedals to riders young and old. The
shop opened last week on the main floor of the Sherbrook Flats building
(267 Sherbrook St.).
“We’d heard during the pandemic there was a shortage of bikes (particularly
women’s bikes),” said Parry, who along with Swanson is co-founder of the
Plain Bicycle Project. “And we had a source to get them in.”
The project is a social enterprise that brings bicycles from the
Netherlands, where they’re more popular than the Toyota Camry, to Winnipeg.
The bikes are Dutch-style, featuring mudguards, skirt guards, and upright
seating, which makes them practical for daily use regardless of athletic
ability or the clothes you’re wearing.
“It’s like you’re sitting in an armchair, floating in the clouds,” said
Swanson, the director of the Winnipeg Trails Association, whose summer
office is now in the shop.
While the pop-up is selling leftover stock from previous shipments, it also
features six pallets worth of bicycles and accessories — child seats,
bells, lights, bags, baskets — that arrived from the Netherlands earlier
this summer; another order is already being planned for later this week.
The bikes range in cost from $350 (used) to over $1,000.
Cycling had been rising in popularity in Winnipeg long before the pandemic: a
2018 poll conducted by Probe Research found over one fifth of respondents
cycled weekly. While data related to the COVID-19 era is not yet available,
Swanson said anecdotal evidence shows the mode of transportation has become
an increasingly attractive option for many as habits changed during the
pandemic.
In April, when the city designated certain stretches for active
transportation and restricted vehicle use, roadways were filled with
cyclists, rollerbladers, or pedestrians. Elsewhere, vehicular traffic fell,
leading to a minor reclamation of pavement by cyclists.
“When the roads were empty, people were falling in love with (cycling),”
Swanson said.
Adding to the demand have been changes to the ways residents exercise.
While gyms are open, many are struggling to regain members, and
recreational sports, though ongoing, are dealing with similar reluctance.
As well, bike ownership and maintenance is considerably cheaper than car
ownership — a key consideration during a time of economic instability. As
the school year nears, parents are also looking for active options for
their kids to get to and from class, Swanson said.
So far, the response from the community has been strong: the Bicycle
Garden’s most recent harvest is nearly half-picked.
AT other shops around the city, demand remains high, however supply
continues to be an issue. “The biggest thing for us is that when a customer
walks in the door, we’ll likely have a bike for them, but options are still
limited,” said Mac Wood, the assistant sales manager at Woodcock Cycle. “In
a typical spring or summer, that doesn’t happen.”
“It’s certainly more difficult to forecast availability to our customers,”
he said. “We, as an industry, are as much at the mercy of restrictions as
any other.”
The pop-up shop — which could go until October or beyond — is the
commercial tenant
on the main floor of the Sherbrook Flats.
“When (the pop-up) came to us with a proposal, I was very excited,” said
Sotirios Kotoulas, the building’s designer and part-owner. “For us, the
most important thing is to activate the street,” he added. “It takes time
to transform a streetscape or find the right fit, but obviously a bicycle
shop is an amazing fit.”
Outside the shop, there are a few tables and chairs, meant to evoke the
bikes’ Dutch vibe. Repairs are also being offered on the boulevard, which
borders an unprotected bike lane on Sherbrook. Since opening, Parry said
the interest from the public has been obvious.
“Day one, we had a lineup outside mostly of older people looking to get
around independently,” she said. “There are a lot of people walking and
biking by, which is really good for us.”
ben.waldman(a)freepress.mb.ca