It's fitting that Bike to the Future's annual fall forum will take place the day after Canada's federal election, as the local cycling advocacy group is a perfect example of democracy in action.

Formed only two years ago, BttF has been remarkably successful in advancing its stated agenda "to make cycling in Winnipeg a safe, enjoyable, accessible and convenient transportation choice year-round."

Decidedly less radical than the Critical Mass movement that inspired its creation, BttF has instead chosen to play by the rules to get things done - and the strategy seems to be working.

It managed to put cycling on the agenda of the 2006 civic election campaign (no easy task in a car-centric city such as ours) while lobbying hard for the implementation of Winnipeg's Active Transportation report - a 2005 document which recommended, among other things, that the city create a committee that could advise other city departments.

When that committee was finally struck last July, BttF secured a seat at the table, ensuring that the voices of its diverse membership (which includes both hardcore, year-round commuters and casual bike riders) would continue to be heard by those in power.

Its efforts continue to pay off.

Ron Brown, a BttF member and the executive director of the Manitoba Cycling Association, says momentum continues to grow. The group now has over 1,500 members,and Brown says 2008 has been a "peak year" in terms of public interest.

"Bike to the Future is positioned really, really well," Brown says. "We've been a very effective advocacy group. I think we definitely have the ear of the decision-makers. We're a great conduit between the people who are on the street cycling and the people who are making decisions that affect them."

Two recent examples of the group's growing influence stand out. In June, more than 2,000 Winnipeggers participated in the city's first Bike to Work Day - 1,500 more than expected. And just last month, Winnipeg city council approved the creation of a new pedestrian/cycling bridge as part of the $140 million plan to repair the Disraeli Bridge.

Obviously, BttF can't claim full credit for either accomplishment, but the attitudinal shift taking place in Winnipeg with respect to cycling issues - indeed, the fact that cycling is being considered at all - has certainly demonstrated that a small group can accomplish a lot when its members are committed to working together towards a common goal.

This year's BttF forum will take place Oct. 15 at the University of Winnipeg's Bullman Centre. Kicking off at 6:30 p.m., the three-hour event will feature educational videos about the active transportation efforts of other cities, and several informal discussion groups that will allow cyclists to share concerns and brainstorm on ways to improve the situation in Winnipeg.

Forum participants will also have the opportunity to pose questions to a panel of VIPs that will include Kerri Irvin-Ross, Manitoba's minister of healthy living; Marilyn McLaren, CEO of MPI; Janice Lukes, coordinator of the Winnipeg Trails Association; city counselor Jenny Gerbasi; and a member of the Winnipeg Police Service.

Even Mayor Sam Katz has promised to show up. Although he will only be able stay for half an hour, his involvement speaks volumes about BTTF's growing clout.

So to all you cynics out there: When you're casting your vote on Oct. 14 and wondering if one person can really make a difference in the world, remind yourself of BttF's success - and what can happen when ordinary people decide they want change and commit to making it happen.

City council, with some dissent, has approved the rational option for saving the Disraeli overpass and bridge, a span that is, by some professional assessment, heading to collapse. It is disconcerting when the public works department says the bridge is OK for now, largely on the premise it is inspected four times a year for further decay. The city administration needs to move this capital priority along as fast is prudently possible.

The supports and surface of the 48-year-old bridge will be rehabilitated, and a separate cycling/pedestrian bridge will be built to the east of Disraeli. The project, which will involve a private partner to whom the city will pay rent on the bridge for 30 years, will cost $140 million. Four dissenting councillors wanted to see a double span constructed, for an additional $150 million. They were concerned the closure of the bridge for up to 16 months would make the commute from the city's northeast, down alternate routes, onerous. It is expected to add nine minutes to the trip, which almost doubles travel time for some.

No one is predicting that there will be population growth along Henderson Highway to justify a double span bridge over the Red River. Further, if the general trends on bus riding hold, any increased pressure on the route ought to be partially offset by the more efficient mode of transportation. Councillors are expected to speak for their constituents interests but not so disproportionately against the interests of the broader community. The commuters from East Kildonan will feel the temporary inconvenience most acutely, but to double the cost of the Disraeli project would be inappropriate.

The city was told that improving bus service with shuttles and park-and-rides is one way to reduce the increased strain on North Main Street, from the Chief Peguis Trail and the Redwood Bridge. The focus inevitably will be on rush-hour demand, but in isolation of the larger picture -- encouraging the development of more useful mass transit options to attract more riders -- would reduce the exercise to a stop-gap measure that likely would revert back to current ridership when Disraeli opens again.

Winnipeg has been nursing an infrastructure-deficit hangover for decades. It will take a long time to dig out of the multi-million dollar hole. Bridges and freeways are big, expensive things to build and maintain and dangerous when their repair needs are ignored. Pushing drivers onto mass transit can help ease the long-term cost of road maintenance. That should become an integral piece of Winnipeg's the infrastructure maintenance plan.

Winnipeg will forge ahead with a plan to fix the aging Disraeli Freeway against the wishes of every councillor who represents the northeast quadrant of the city.

City council voted 11-4 on Wednesday to approve a Disraeli Freeway repair plan that calls for new concrete decking and refurbished structural supports on the existing 1.1-kilometre roadway, which includes a single-span, four-lane bridge that connects Elmwood with downtown.

The $140-million plan, which calls for a new pedestrian-and-bike bridge to rise over the Red River three blocks to the east, will result in a freeway closure that may last as long as 16 months.

The city hopes to reduce that closure by writing incentives into a formal call for proposals to design, build and maintain the freeway, which was built in 1960 and then damaged by corrosion during the next 48 years.

Winnipeg's chief administrative officer will ensure the city chooses a private construction consortium that either comes up with a plan to speed up the Disraeli repair job or finds a way to keep two lanes of freeway traffic open while some of the work takes place, Mayor Sam Katz said.

But the mayor's assurances could not stop all four councillors who represent the areas most affected by the closure to vote against the plan.

North Kildonan Coun. Jeff Browaty, Elmwood Coun. Lillian Thomas and St. Boniface Coun. Dan Vandal opposed the plan because they believe a 16-month closure is intolerable to northeast Winnipeg motorists. Transcona Coun. Russ Wyatt believes the plan is short-sighted because the city will soon need to refurbish the 97-year-old Louise Bridge and must also build a new bridge to carry buses from Point Douglas to a future Nairn Avenue rapid-transit corridor.

"This is a city that sometimes thinks like a village," said Wyatt, decrying a lack of long-term planning in the city.

The northeast Winnipeg politicians said they would prefer to see Winnipeg build a dual-span, six-lane Disraeli Freeway that could accommodate traffic on one span while the other is under construction.

Rookie councillor Browaty called the single-span plan the biggest disappointment he's seen since he joined council, while Thomas suggested city engineers have overstated the cost of building a dual-span Disraeli Freeway.

Those engineers have placed the projected cost in the $300-million range. Katz said the city cannot afford the tab and is not likely to get help for the project from the provincial government.

"There's no pot of gold on Broadway," the mayor said.

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca

A $140-million plan to repair the Disraeli Freeway and build a new bike/pedestrian bridge over the Red River will head to executive policy committee and council tomnorrow even though politicians failed to approve it today.

Council’s public works committee got hung up in a 2-2 vote over the Disraeli reconstruction plan because North Kildonan Coun. Jeff Browaty and Elmwood-East Kildonan Coun. Lillian Thomas refused to endorse a design that may cause the freeway to be closed for as long as 16 months once work begins in 2010.

City bridge engineers hope to spend only $140 million to repair the single-span, four-lane Disraeli Freeway by reusing existing steel girders and concrete foundations. That plan will require the bridge to be closed when concrete decking that’s crucial to the structural integrity of the bridge will be removed.

Browaty and Thomas want the city to spend more money on a dual-span, six-lane bridge that would allow some traffic to flow during the construction period. City engineers say that would cost upwards of $300 million.

During a 105-minute meeting, a consulting firm hired by the city told councillors the construction would create detours that could add up to nine minutes to a one-way trip from the corner of Chief Peguis Trail and Henderson Highway to downtown Winnipeg.

Mynarski Coun. Harry Lazarenko and committee chairman Bill Clement voted in favour of the plan, noting Winnipeg has faced major bridge repairs before and motorists adapted.

Despite the tie vote, the plan now moves forward to a special meeting of executive policy committee tomorrow and then a vote by council as a whole.

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Bike to the Future note:
BttF Co-Chair Kevin Miller appeared in delegation at this meeting to support this proposal and thank the City's staff for recommending it.

Cyclists are ecstatic but northeast Winnipeg politicians are fuming over the latest Disraeli Freeway reconstruction plan, which calls for a new pedestrian-and-bike bridge but no guarantees motorists won't be stuck in construction traffic for as long as 16 months.

After mulling over three Disraeli design options, city bridge engineers have chosen to forge ahead with a four-lane, single-span structure that will keep the price down to $140 million by reusing existing concrete foundations and steel girders.

The design, which comes before city council's public works committee today, calls for a single sidewalk, wider curb lanes to allow vehicles and cyclists to share the road and a brand-new pedestrian/cyclist bridge that would connect Elmwood with North Point Douglas several blocks to the east.

City engineers say the dedicated pedestrian/bike bridge will add $12.5 million to a design originally pegged at $125 million, but remains cheaper than a $160-million option that called for a wider motor-vehicle bridge to accommodate a separated bike lane.

"No fumes, no fast cars zooming by you. This is exactly what we wanted," said Kevin Miller, a spokesman for Bike To The Future, a commuter-cyclist lobby group. "This is just a wonderful solution that fits in perfectly with the (bike trail) infrastructure that's been built in the last few years."

Pending council approval, city engineers will search for a private construction consortium to design, build, finance and maintain the 1.1-kilometre roadway later this fall, with the hopes of seeing actual work start in 2010.

Preference will be given to a consortium that comes up with a way to abbreviate the expected 16-month construction period or keep two lanes open to traffic while the work is underway, public works director Bill Larkin said.

Those goals will be written into the formal request for proposals, but northeast Winnipeg politicians would still prefer to see the city adopt a design that would not require any closures on the Disraeli Freeway.

North Kildonan Coun. Jeff Browaty, Elmwood Coun. Lillian Thomas, Transcona Coun. Russ Wyatt and former Elmwood MLA Jim Maloway -- who's now running for a federal seat in Transcona -- have been urging the city to build a six-lane, double-span Disraeli Freeway.

Browaty said his constituents won't be happy with any closure on the motor-vehicle bridge.

Maloway completely panned the new city design. "This sounds to me like a pretty goofy idea, because it doesn't change the fact people will be inconvenienced for a year and a half," he said.

City engineers have pegged the price of a double-span Disraeli Freeway at around $300 million, a figure Larkin says the city cannot justify on the basis of meeting future traffic needs or alleviating construction-period congestion.

Even at $140 million, the freeway reconstruction is the second-most-expensive roadway project on Winnipeg's horizon, after the $324-million southwest Winnipeg bus corridor announced by Mayor Sam Katz and Premier Gary Doer earlier this month.

The special meeting of city council's public works committee has been called for this morning to allow Couns. Thomas, Browaty, Bill Clement and Harry Lazarenko to review the Disraeli design, while council as a whole votes on the plan on Wednesday. Maloway said that does not allow enough time for debate, claiming he's heard from 5,000 northeast Winnipeg residents who want to see a two-span bridge built at any cost.

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca

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The original "breaking news" story:

Pedestrian span in new Disraeli plan

Winnipeg Free Press, September 22nd, by Bartley Kives

http://winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/story/4229276p-4870247c.html

The latest design for the Disraeli Freeway reconstruction calls for a new pedestrian/cyclist bridge to connect Elmwood with North Point Douglas.

After six months of mulling over three different design options for the Disraeli Freeway, city bridge engineers have chosen to go ahead with a four-lane, single-span structure that will reuse existing concrete foundations and steel girders.

The $140-million design will come with one sidewalk and wider curb lanes to allow vehicles and cyclists to share the road. But it also calls for a brand-new pedestrian/cyclist bridge east of Disraeli Freeway.

A special meeting of city council’s public works committee has been called for tomorrow morning to allow Couns. Bill Clement, Lillian Thomas, Harry Lazarenko and Jeff Browaty to debate the design before council as a whole votes on the plan on Wednesday.

Several northeast Winnipeg politicians, including North Kildonan Coun. Browaty, Elmwood Coun. Thomas and federal NDP hopeful Jim Maloway, have panned a four-lane, single-span design.

They would prefer to see the city build a six-lane, double-span bridge to ease traffic headaches during a construction period that could last 16 months once it begins in 2010.

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Bike to the Future note:
This is almost identical to what BttF proposed in a position paper that we submitted to the City on May 9th after attending Public Consultations on May 3rd and participating in a 10-person e-mail discussion among core BttF volunteers. Don English suggested the proposal, and Mark Cohoe wrote the submission.

The City of Winnipeg has unveiled its latest plan for rebuilding the Disraeli Freeway over the Red River, including a new bridge for pedestrians and cyclists.

A report released Monday recommends building a new span for cyclists and pedestrians in addition to refurbishing the structure's concrete foundations and steel girders and replacing the existing bridge deck with a four-lane divided roadway and one sidewalk.

The new bridge, east of the vehicle span, would connect two sections of the city's active transportation route, linking Annabella Street in Point Douglas with Brazier Street in Elmwood.

The report also says that some or all of the bridge's current lanes should remain open during construction, if possible.

Previous plans called for the 40-year-old bridge to close during construction, which city officials hope will be completed by late 2011.

Several municipal and provincial politicians from northeast Winnipeg have called for the bridge to be twinned to allow traffic to move on one side of the bridge while the other is under construction, and to provide extra capacity for future traffic.

The new vision of the project would cost about $15 million more than previously anticipated, the report says. The city had previously planned to spend between $125 million and $160 million, depending on the design, to upgrade the four-lane bridge.

The city's standing committee on infrastructure renewal and public works will hold a special meeting Tuesday to discuss the plan.

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Bike to the Future note:

BttF Co-Chair Kevin Miller appeared on CBC Radio One's Up To Speed at 3:05 PM to discuss this story with host Margaux Watt:

• This plan is almost identical to what BttF proposed in a position paper that we submitted to the City on May 9th after attending Public Consultations on May 3rd and participating in a 10-person e-mail discussion among core BttF volunteers.
• BttF, a 100% volunteer group of bicycling advocates, was able to save the City $20M ($15 for the new bridge versus $35M to widen the piers on the vehicle bridge & overpass) while also greatly improving ped and cycling facilities. Win-win.

A $100,000 plan to make Winnipeg roads safer for cyclists has literally washed off city streets, forcing officials to search for a more durable brand of paint.

Back in May, the city created extra-wide "sharrow" lanes on seven major streets to give cyclists and motorists a little extra breathing room.

Sharrows were created on Higgins Avenue, Roblin Boulevard, Grant Avenue, Regent Avenue, Plessis Road, Dakota Street and Dunkirk Drive. Bicycle symbols were painted on the streets and metal signs instructing motorists to "share the road" were erected along boulevards.

But most of the paint washed off by the middle of June because the city used a water-based paint.

"An attempt was made to use an environmentally friendly product for an environmentally friendly project. We're now looking for a better product," said city spokesman Terry Aseltine.

Water-based paint performs well when applied to houses, Aseltine said. But the city did not anticipate the pounding the paint would take after it was applied to asphalt.

The city is now searching for a more durable alternative, but probably won't get around to repainting the sharrows until 2009.

The new lanes, which cost the city $100,000, are part of Winnipeg's $3.2-million plan to create new bike paths and active-transportation corridors. Construction on most of those projects will begin later this month or in September, according to a trail-building update prepared by city active-transportation co-ordinator Kevin Nixon.

But trail groups were upset to see the sharrows disappear only weeks after they were painted.

"This is really disappointing. This was one of the first things the city did in terms of on-street improvements for cycling, and the paint came off in June," said Janice Lukes, executive director of the Winnipeg Trails Association.

Lukes said she is also frustrated to see the late-summer or fall start dates for construction of other trails and active-transportation corridors, such as new bike lanes on downtown streets, new trails alongside Bishop Grandin Boulevard and the extension of Northeast Pioneers Greenway.

Lukes also questioned whether sharrows are a good solution to Winnipeg's bike-trail woes.

"Paint doesn't make me feel safer from an SUV or a semi-trailer. Maybe it does for die-hard commuters, but I have kids. I want a barrier," she said.

Winnipeg has increased its funding for trail-building in recent years, boosting the annual budget from $200,000 in 2006 to $1.5 million in 2007 to $3.2 million this year.

The latter figure includes spending on trails as well as on-street improvements for cyclists.

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca

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Bike to the Future sent two Letters to the Editor in response
__

Re: Bike lanes were a bit of a wash

The issue is not that the paint washed off the road, but that the sharrows pilot project the city implemented this summer was doomed to failure from the start due to lack of thorough thought and follow through.

Sharrows are not synonymous with bike lanes. A bike lane is a fully marked, designated travel lane for exclusive use of bicycles on a roadway, with all the legal requirements of any other travel lane.

Sharrows are not the solution to the cycling infrastructure deficit in Winnipeg. Cities like New York and Toronto are closing streets, tearing up boulevards and taking away lanes from cars to accommodate bikes in a safe, on-road way. Why not Winnipeg?

The politicians at all levels tell us they support Active Transportation, but this has not been reflected in the financial or visionary commitment towards making a comprehensive on-road cycling network in Winnipeg. We need more staff and a vision to make this a reality.

Jackie Avent Co-Chair, Bike to the Future
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From Jeremy Hull, Provincial Committee Director (writing as an individual)

Published on September 15th: http://winnipegfreepress.com/editorial/story/4226198p-4864175c.html

Re: Bike Lanes Were a Bit of a Wash [Bartley Kives, Sept 12/08]

Four years after the City of Winnipeg received the report it commissioned on Active Transportation, and two years after the report was adopted in principle, the City has done little to support cycling in this city.The few things that have been done have been poorly planned and implemented, as the sharrows example shows. These sharrows not only washed away, they were placed too close to the curb, often in lanes that were too narrow to actually share, according to accepted standards for road design. Meanwhile, major priorities for cycling improvements, such as the Pembina corridor, are ignored.

We have lots of pavement in Winnipeg, but we need to reallocate some of it for the use of bicycles. When we rebuild roads and bridges, and when we plan new suburban subdivisions we need to automatically consider and encourage cycling as a means of transportation, instead of building bicycle paths to nowhere as is being done in Waverly West. And we need a public education campaign to get cyclists and motorists sharing the road safely. With yet another spike in gas prices you would think city politicians would get the message – more and more of us are cycling more often. It’s time city council woke up and read the good news: more bicycles mean less traffic congestion, a cleaner environment, fewer street repairs and a healthier, more attractive city.

$138 M for busway's first phase

Winnipeg plans to spend $138 million on the first phase of a $327-million southwest bus corridor that will connect downtown with the University of Manitoba, Premier Gary Doer and Mayor Sam Katz announced Monday.

In spring 2009, the city plans to begin building a busway that will extend 3.6 kilometres from Queen Elizabeth Way to the corner of Jubilee Avenue and Pembina Highway, forming the first leg of a bus corridor that will eventually extend as far south as Bison Drive.

The busway will be designed to allow future conversion into a light-rail transit route and will also feature a bicycle path for commuters. Busway stations are planned for Harkness Street, Osborne Street, Morley Avenue and possibly Jubilee Avenue on the first leg of the route, which also requires the construction of a bridge over Osborne Street and a tunnel underneath CN Rail's Fort Rouge Yards.

The corridor is intended to stimulate the construction of high-rise apartments or condos around the busway stations and use property taxes from these new developments to help pay back the cost of the project.

The city and province each plan to spend $55 million on the first phase of the busway, with the federal government kicking in $28 million, including $17.5 million set aside for transit in Manitoba back in March.

Another $10 million in federal money will be redirected from bus purchases to the busway project, Katz said.

He said he hopes the federal government will contribute to the second phase, which could be constructed more cheaply if the city is able to negotiate the use or acquisition of CN's Letellier Line, which runs roughly parallel to Pembina Highway.

The new busway plan differs from the plan proposed by former Mayor Glen Murray in that buses will not share space with motor vehicles along most of the route, Doer said.

The premier also said the new plan features far more detail in terms of engineering and design work.

Katz, who cancelled Murray's project in 2004, said that move was necessary in order for the city to focus on recreation improvements.

The mayor promised the busway would form a precursor for a future light-rail transit system but would not predict when such a system would be built.

Rapid transit agreement inked by Winnipeg and Manitoba

$138-million Project To Include Dedicated Bicycle Paths

A rapid transit system and dedicated bicycle paths linking south Winnipeg to the downtown is one step closer to shovels going in the ground following a $138-million funding agreement reached between the City of Winnipeg and the Province of Manitoba, Premier Gary Doer and Mayor Sam Katz announced today.

"This is a significant infrastructure project linking south Winnipeg to our downtown," said Doer. "It will help improve transit ridership and efficiency, while helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and meet Kyoto targets. I am pleased to partner with the mayor on this important initiative."

The first stage of the Southwest Rapid Transit Corridor will receive a $138-million investment and will extend from Jubilee Avenue to The Forks with a second, future stage to run from Jubilee Avenue to Bison Drive with both stages incorporating bike paths into their construction.

"I've always said rapid transit is part of our city's future," said Katz. "Today's announcement takes a comprehensive approach to link our city with hubs focusing on mixed residential and commercial development that will provide the financial stability needed to make this important project a reality. By laying the groundwork today, we can move ahead on providing Winnipeggers with quick, reliable and green transportation alternatives at a time when gas prices are an unprecedented high."

Winnipeg will contribute $30.75 million which includes $17.5 million from the 2008 Federal Transit Trust. The province will match the federal transit trust contribution of $17.5 million and will fund 50 per cent of the net operating costs of the rapid transit system through its existing 50-50 transit funding agreement, fulfilling its legislative commitment under the Climate Change Act passed earlier this spring.

The new rapid transit corridor will utilize the innovative tax increment financing tool to capture any incremental growth from residential and commercial infill development along the rapid transit corridor. Tax increment financing is an investment and development tool that reinvests property and school taxes into certain areas to encourage infrastructure development that otherwise would not take place.

As part of today's agreement, the mayor and premier also agreed to jointly seek a one-third federal contribution to the second stage of the Southwest Rapid Transit Corridor and agreed to work together to continue the development of a comprehensive rapid transit system for the city of Winnipeg.

A man in Portage la Prairie, Man., has taken up cycling to work — a 90-kilometre trek across the Prairies to Winnipeg in each direction.

Mike Caslor decided to start riding his bicycle to his downtown office once a week last year as a way to get in shape for mountain-bike racing.

The 31-year-old father of two says his schedule was too busy for training time, so the 90-kilometre commute between Portage la Prairie and Winnipeg was a convenient way to get his exercise in.

The ride takes Caslor, a social worker, about 2.5 hours in each direction — as much as three hours when there's a strong Prairie headwind, he said.

"My office mates think I'm a little bit crazy. But in many ways, part of the reason I do this is to encourage other people to cycle," he said.

"The vast majority of the people I work with don't live 90 kilometres from work. They live nine kilometres from work so they have no excuse: Get on the bike and bike to work."

Since his weekly rides began last year, he became motivated to do it more often to reduce his fuel bill. He now makes the trip by bicycle twice a week.

City bike lanes needed

Caslor is also an avid cycling advocate — and wants to see more bike lanes. He says cycling in the city is a lot more dangerous than on the highway, contrary to what he's been told.

Caslor says he feels safer on the highway portion of his commute than he does in the city. (CBC)"[On the highway], it's really obvious that I'm little old me going fairly slow and not weighing very much. And everybody out there is very fast and weighs quite a bit, so that creates a respect out on the highway that mitigates a lot of that risk," he said.

Far more dangerous is the city part of the trip, he said. "The interesting thing that happens as soon as you hit the city is that the concept of 'mutual respect' between cyclists and drivers tends to get lessened just a little bit," he said.

"On a place like Portage Avenue, I'm in the slow lane and sometimes … motorists provide me half of the lane, and sometimes less than that. So sometimes cars pass me with just inches to spare, or a foot or two at most. So it's just that proximity that makes it dangerous."

On the highway, Caslor said, he can use the shoulder as a kind of dedicated bike lane. But in Winnipeg, there are no dedicated bicycle lanes on major routes — something Caslor believes the city should introduce.

City officials say that could be tricky.

"Basically, we didn't really build the city for bikes the first time," said Coun. Jenny Gerbasi.

"If you don't build it right the first time, to go back and fix it is difficult. But, you know, I think that's the direction we need to go."

Caslor says he has a simple solution: he suggests the city eliminate parking in curb lanes on major routes, such as Portage Avenue and Pembina Highway, and have the parking lane become a cycling lane.

I am a cyclist. Everyday I put on my helmet, and sling my bag over my shoulder in preparation for my daily commute. Whether I'm going to work, the store or a social event, safety is always my first priority. Not just my safety but the safety of those I share the road with, whether they be fellow cyclists or drivers of automobiles.

When approaching an intersection I make sure to signal my turns in order to make my fellow road users aware of my intentions. When stopped at a light I always check the turning signal of the car behind me. If they're turning right I move my bike off the curb lane into the middle of the street -- the most dangerous place for a cyclist to be. We bike riders are notoriously slow off the bloke. By moving out of the curb lane I allow the automobile behind me to make their turn without having to wait for me to get out of the way. This means less waiting and more importantly less idling, which wastes fuel, a resource that grows more precious each day.

When traveling at night I sport lights on both the front and back of my bicycle. Reflectors work well for automobiles that are facing or following a bicycle, but vehicles approaching from the side might not notice me. My lights work on their own, letting other traveller's know I'm coming.

I don't have to do any of this. While I might technically be supposed to wear a helmet, I won't get a ticket for not wearing one unless the police are really bored. My lights are my own expense. Nobody asks me to buy them or honks when I don't signal properly. I do it because I want to.

I'm a cyclist. It's my duty.

For the most part my fellow travelers are accommodating. I get no reward for what I do and I don't want any. But though I do what I can to make sure I and those I share the road with stay safe, what does the city do for me? The answer is nothing.

Every day I take my bicycle onto the streets of Winnipeg I risk my life. Not because of cars or trucks but because of the roads themselves. Potholes, bumps, blisters, cracks, caves, I could list a dozen nouns to describe the plethora of obstacles I face in one city block, let alone my whole daily commute. Some of these obstacles are mere inconveniences, like the ridges between two imperfectly poured sections of asphalt. Others pose serious threats to my safety and the integrity of my bicycle. It is one such obstacle that has prompted me to write today.

It rests at the corner of River and Nassau, at the northern mouth of the north bound yield. The asphalt had been worn away to the reveal a concrete below and beyond that a deep fissure between where the concrete slabs join.

The crevice is no more than four inches at its widest, 20 long and at least six deep. To the average motor vehicle it means a bump in the road, a city truck wouldn't even notice. But to me it is a ticking time bomb.

My homeward commute takes me right over this particular pothole. Every night as I ride home from my job at a local restaurant I wonder will this be the night?

Well, one night it was. I hit the pothole head on and now the rim of my rear wheel is bent. My primary mode of transportation has been damaged by something the city has failed to fix.

Now I will have to buy a new one. I am working to support myself and to go back to school. This expense, small as it may seem to some, is one I can't really afford, and one that could easily have been avoided if the city took the needs of real cyclists seriously.

Mayor Sam Katz wants to spend millions on new "bike paths." They are great for recreational cyclists but completely useless for people who use their bicycles every day. We are students, and lawyers, doctors and bankers, who commute to work or school. We don't cycle because it's cheap. It's a choice, and our choice should be respected in the way the city chooses to maintain its streets. Spending millions to improve a cycling route that will benefit only a few? Why don't they spend some of it to fix some of the obstacles in the downtown area that pose a serious threat to the safety of cyclists every day. I would be happy to give them a list.

Just because I have two wheels doesn't mean I have fewer rights than someone with four.

Re: Environmentalists use pedal power, July 19.

Mike Waite of the Manitoba Safety Council was quoted as saying bike taxis are "risky business" and went on to say that the city's infrastructure "doesn't support another mode of transportation that will slow us down and complicate the system even more."

I understand his concern about safety but he seems to think that completely separate facilities are required before bicycle traffic can be safe. This is not true -- what is needed are cyclists and drivers who know how to share the road, drive safely and respect each other's right to be there. The Manitoba Safety Council could assist in this by offering courses for cyclists, along the lines of the Can-Bike program that has been adopted by the Canadian Cycling Association. And Manitoba Public Insurance could assist in this by providing more focus on how to share the road with cyclists in their driver education program. The reality is that increasing numbers of people travel by bicycle in Winnipeg, and that cyclists need to use city streets to get where they want to go.

We should be supporting the growth of cycling for environmental, health and economic reasons, and making it as safe as possible rather than discouraging cycling because we don't have perfect infrastructure.

Cycling advocates worry an increase in the number of riders on the road could translate into a higher toll of deaths and injuries among cyclists.

Officials with Bike to the Future say the lobby group's surveys of major arteries into downtown Winnipeg suggest that more than 5,000 people commute by bicycle, an increase of 17 per cent over last year.

That meshes with Statistics Canada's information from the 2006 census, which indicated 5,760 Winnipeggers commuted by bicycle in 2006.

Bike to the Future spokesman Dave Elmore said the increase is good news — but the problem is many of the new cyclists don't know the rules of the road.

"People don't see cycling education as being necessary. They've ridden them all their lives. They consider them to almost be a toy," he said.

"We're seeing a lot of cyclists who haven't had a lot of experience, other than riding to the park with their kids, out there commuting back and forth and riding into downtown. And they don't necessarily have the training or experience."

No adult education available

Part of the problem, Elmore said, is that there is nowhere in Manitoba for adults to receive instruction or training.

The Canadian Cycling Association's CAN-BIKE courses, which offer information on traffic safety, equipment, maintenance and riding skills for adults, are not currently offered in Manitoba, although Elmore said efforts are being made to revive the program here.

Elmore suggests Manitoba Public Insurance is responsible for road safety, and that perhaps the Crown vehicle insurance agency should help fill the void.

"It would make common sense that MPI would get involved in educating cyclists, because an educated cyclist would be a better cyclist and a safer cyclist, and that would reduce claims," Elmore said.

An average of 180 cyclists are injured and two are killed on Manitoba roads every year, according to MPI. The corporation paid out $8.2 million in injury claims for cyclists hit by vehicles in 2006, a fourfold increase since 2002.

If MPI spent even a fraction of that amount on cyclist education, Elmore said, the number of injuries and deaths could be reduced.

MPI responsible for autos, not bicycles

But MPI spokesman Brian Smiley said the corporation's mandate is automobile safety.

"Obviously we can't be everything to everyone," he said. "Cyclists need to remember that as the public automobile insurer, we are obligated to providing funding towards safety towards automobiles."

Both Smiley and Elmore agreed that bicycles are vehicles and, as such, are legally obligated to obey the rules of the road.

"Cyclists are riding at night wearing dark clothing and not a light to be seen," Smiley said. "That is not a safe situation. Many cyclists are driving down Portage Avenue, 7:30 in the morning, doing erratic lane changes. Now, again, that's not a wise move. So a lot of the onus will lie with the cyclist."

Despite the acknowledged problems, however, officials with Winnipeg police told CBC News they had not handed out a single ticket to a cyclist this year.

It's Bike-To-Work day today, and if all went according to plan, I arrived at Mountain Avenue this morning on two wheels.

I know it's not something to crow about; lots of people do it every day, but for me, it was a big step forward.

I tried it once two months ago and hated it.

For years, I'd dreamed about getting fit, saving gas money and being ecologically holy. For years, I'd envied my kids, who cycle to school six months of the year whether they like it or not.

It makes sense for busy people, I'd always argued -- especially sedentary people who sit in front of screens or in meetings all day. Why drive to the gym before work to ride a stationary bike when you can ride a real bike to work and skip the gym altogether?

But reality has a way of ruining a perfectly good fantasy.

Reality last time started with a heart-stopping encounter on Portage Avenue with eight lanes of rush-hour traffic; up a bleak, rutted Wall Street to Notre Dame, then McPhillips, jostling for elbow room with cars going 60 kilometres an hour and faster; under a dark and pungent Logan Street underpass.

Every once in a while, just to make it a little more unpleasant, the unseasonably hot south wind whipped up the winter's leftover road salt and crud and sandblasted it into my face.

All in all, it was an ugly ride.

I've cycled on holidays -- in France, in the Netherlands and, last September, the family cycled Le P'tit Train du Nord -- a fabulous 200-kilometre bike trail built on an abandoned train line that winds its way up to the Laurentians.

We saw hundreds of ruddy-faced, Lycraed cyclists speeding along that route and many more-laid-back folks out enjoying a short trek or a lunch-hour picnic.

These are urban bike trails, too, which bring hundreds of cyclists into the cities every day on wide, smooth asphalt or crushed gravel. Like Winnipeg's expansive riverside bike trails, they are well-used and well-loved.

Montreal itself has more than 600 kilometres of bike trails. Winnipeg has about 100.

My kids think cycling is the only way to travel; close to the ground, slow enough to really see and smell and touch where you are. It seems to press more of the place you're visiting into your bones.

Our holidays have often made me wish that the city would embrace its lovely flat terrain, show some vision and build a decent urban bike-trail system.

Yes, there are at least five months a year when cycling here is as much fun as toboganning in July, but if we celebrate winter with ice rinks and skating trails, why not embrace the summer in like-minded fashion?

Last week, I ran into an old friend who cycles yearround. She looked 10 years younger than the last time I'd seen her; lithe and fit and full of energy.

I told her I had tried to bike to work, but explained that my route was just too industrial and gritty.

She looked puzzled.

Apparently, she takes almost the same route north as I do, only it's a whole lot farther -- 30 kilometres in total from south Winnipeg to the Maples. And she loves it.

It took me a few days to figure out where I'd gone wrong. But today -- and until city council builds a better commuter system for cyclists -- I offer some hard-learned tips on how to get to work on a bike and not completely hate it.

Change your route. Forget about the congested urban thoroughfares. Take back roads and lanes. They're more interesting, more fun, and a lot less scary.

Change your routine. I left earlier today to avoid the morning rush hour, and read the papers at the office, instead.

Change your perspective. This is not just exercise and it's not just a commute. It's both. So if it takes longer to get somewhere that's a good thing.

Now if one person can be inspired by one person's example, maybe city hall should take a look at the hundreds of shiny examples out there today on two wheels -- and help Winnipeg change for the better, too.

Margo Goodhand is editor of the Free Press.

Thousands leave cars at home

If you drove to work Friday you missed out on a chance to be part of history as part of Winnipeg's first annual Bike-To-Work day.

The riding fest, organized by cycling advocacy groups including the Manitoba Cycling Association, Climate Change Connection, and the Winnipeg Trails Association, was in full swing Friday, with more than 2,200 cyclists counted at 10 stations around the city.

"We thought today's impact was about a 70-per-cent increase," said organizer Ron Brown Friday, thrilled by the jump based on estimates taken last year of the number of commuters who cycle.

One of the aims of Bike-To-Work day is to promote cycling as a viable transportation alternative to cars.

About one in seven of the roughly 2,000 registrants were new commuters who had never taken their bike to work, Brown said.

The bike-promoting groups also lobby for a "connected route system" -- trails or road -- and support from workplaces such as providing secure bike-locking areas and change rooms, Brown said.

At The Forks market, cyclists parked their bikes with a valet and enjoyed a breakfast of pancakes and fruit to the sounds of the Garfield Street Strings cello quintet.

Cellist Eleanor Thompson arrived at The Forks on her bike with her fullsized cello strapped to her back. She gets around the city on two wheels this way except in the winter. Thompson's idea for promoting city cycling is one gleaned from Europe.

"In Vienna, they have these big sidewalks just like we do down Portage Avenue," Thompson said. "And they've divide it into two. And half of it is pedestrian, and the other half is bicycle."

Across the city, volunteers greeted cyclists at 12 "energy stations", distributing T-shirts and counting the number of cyclists coming through.

"It was a great morning, actually," said MLA Jennifer Howard, who admitted biking was a bit beyond her abilities but said she'd wanted to help out at the Osborne St. station.

Volunteers counted a total of 276 bicycles passing the pit-stop, with their tallying cut off at 8:30 a.m.

"Everyone was very appreciative," said Vico Fabbri, offering free water from Culligan at the pit-stop.

The event cost around $30,000, Brown said, with corporate sponsorship from about 40 different companies, and involved about 75 volunteers.

"It'll take people out of their cars and make them see how easy it is to bike to work," said Wilderness Supply employee Katrina Rosen. The company's entire workforce is registered for the event, Rosen said.

A police spokesperson said they recorded only one bicycle accident yesterday -- a bike-car crash, apparently after which the cyclist refused treatment, and no one remained on the scene to report to police.

Police could not comment on whether they were doing extra monitoring of traffic due to Bike-To-Work day.

Some bike-to-work cyclists are in for long commutes. A colleague of Rosen rides in from outside the Perimeter highway, she said. And Mike Caslor, 31, pedals infrom Portage La Prairie about twice a week, a trek of 86 km each way. Caslor, vice-president of the Manitoba Cycling Association, has done the bike commute for about the last three years.

"I think people underestimate what they're capable of," Caslor said of people's ability to bike to work. "Start small and then build modestly."

With files from Lindsey Wiebe

will.tremain@freepress.mb.ca

They are coming from far and wide, propelled by leg-power alone.

Winnipeg’s first annual bike-to-work day is in full swing today, with more than 2,000 cyclists registered, said organizer Ron Brown.

The riding-fest aims to promote cycling as a viable transportation alternative to cars.

At The Forks market, cyclists parked their bikes with a valet and enjoyed a pancake breakfast to the sounds of a string quintet. Twelve “energy stations” are also greeting cyclists at other points across the city, distributing T-shirts and counting the number of cyclists coming through.

“It’ll take people out of their cars and make them see how easy it is to bike to work,” said Wilderness Supply employee Katrina Rosen. The company’s entire workforce is registered for the event.

This week, thousands of Manitobans have been leaving their cars at home as part of the Commuter Challenge ­ a week-long initiative that began June 1 and continues until June 7.

Coordinated locally by Resource Conservation Manitoba, the challenge runs in conjunction with Canadian Environment Week (yes, there is such a thing) and encourages people to find alternative ways to get to work or school.

It¹s a well-meaning endeavour for all the obvious reasons. Transportation accounts for a significant portion of Manitoba¹s greenhouse gas emissions -- in 2005, it represented 37% of our overall total -- which means that driving a car is one of the main ways individual citizens contribute to climate change and that, conversely, not driving a car is one of the main ways us regular folks can be a part of the solution.

There are other negatives associated with car use, too: air pollution, traffic congestion, excess wear and tear on our city¹s existing (and already crumbling) infrastructure, and a reduction in the amount of physical activity within our daily routines, just to name a few.

Last year, 12,881 people from more than 250 workplaces and schools across the province participated in the Commuter Challenge. Collectively, they prevented about 154 tonnes of GHG emissions from entering the atmosphere -- a noteworthy success, to be sure, and an encouraging sign -- particularly here in Winnipeg, a city that, historically, has been less than enthusiastic to embrace alternative transportation as a viable concept. (See: the kiboshing of rapid transit in 2004; the two years of foot-dragging prior to the adoption of our active transportation study last summer; and the lack of investment in commuter cycling infrastructure such as on-road bike lanes.)

Clearly, those attitudes are definitely changing. But, while the city may now be more willing to endorse drive-less initiatives such as the Commuter Challenge or the upcoming Bike to Work Day on June 20, and while increasing numbers of people may be more willing to participate in them, the fact remains that we citizens have yet to abandon our cars en masse.

This could be because the decks appear to be stacked against us. Our city is spread out, our current transit system is painfully slow and frequently inadequate, and prolonged bouts of freezing weather makes the idea of year-round cycling daunting, to say the least.

Still, I have a sneaking suspicion that our reluctance to change our behaviours has more to do with our unwillingness to inconvenience ourselves. We like our cars, we like the freedom they give us to get around quickly and with minimal effort, and we¹re just not prepared to sacrifice that -- even if we know we should; even if soaring gas prices have added a financial incentive to do so.

So what will it take for us to change our driving habits once and for all? What¹s the tipping point at which we finally say enough is enough -- and are we close to reaching it?

E-mail me at marlo.campbell@uptownmag.com and let me know your thoughts. Are you driving less nowadays -- or are you just feeling guiltier?

New bicycle lanes are being painted on more than a half a dozen busy traffic routes throughout Winnipeg.

The new lines create "sharrows," or narrow lanes demarcated on existing streets; it's hoped they'll help ease tension between cyclists and motorists, who often feel like rivals for space on the roads.

"It's going to increase the awareness of drivers to share the road with cyclists, and … it'll increase the awareness for cyclists, you know, to stay where the sharrows are," said Janice Lukes of the city's active transportation advisory committee.

Since the new lanes are on seven busy streets, most of the people who will use them will be experienced cyclists, Lukes said. She hopes the sharrows lead the city to take more steps to become more cycling-friendly.

"It's an absolutely huge first step, from nothing to this — and then it's only a matter of time where you're going to have more families [who] want separated lanes," she said.

"I do believe that the will of the government is there to where eventually we'll see that, maybe in the next two years. It wouldn't surprise me."

The city set aside $100,000 in the 2008 capital budget for the sharrow initiative.

The lanes, accompanied by signs urging motorists and cyclists to "share the road," will appear on:

Higgins Avenue. Roblin Boulevard. Grant Avenue. Regent Avenue. Plessis Road. Dakota Street. Dunkirk Drive.

Winnipeg's and Manitoba's economies appear more robust than they have for many years. As the nation's labour force stagnates, Manitoba's continues to grow. Houses continue to sell at more than their asking price and, while spring always makes Winnipeggers feel better, there is a sense of optimism in the air.

This optimism and growth needs sustaining. To do so, the province and the city need to become truly innovative. We need the image of our city to be such that it becomes a magnet for people because it is ahead of the curve. We need to make ourselves one of the most creative places to do business in Canada. As Minneapolis has dubbed itself, Winnipeg needs to be "one cool city."

How would we do that?

Not so much by big moves but by small gestures. The big moves are developments like the human rights museum. That's going to be a huge attraction adding to the perception that Winnipeg is a city to live in. Other developments have created a cool image for us -- the Louis Riel bridge is one, the continuing success of our arts and culture is another.

But it is smaller, non-institutional developments that often really turn the image of city -- its restaurants, clubs, a digital movie theatre, a new festival, a new feeling.

The best innovation of this type builds on natural advantages -- winter skating on the Assiniboine is an example -- next year we should get Starbucks to provide stops along route. The restaurants and open spaces and access to the rivers at The Forks are another.

The water buses are way cool.

In an environment where gas is more expensive than it has ever been and a barrel of oil worth four times what it was a couple of years ago, anything that looks like an answer to the looming energy crisis is worth its weight in image gold.

Winnipeg has one key advantage that seems almost to be forgotten about. It's flat. That's why it once had streetcars. Bringing streetcars back would be innovative but is a big ticket item, not one of the smaller gestures that can bring as much notice.

Our city has the ideal typography for bicycling. Not just bicycling for recreation along the four designated streets closed to cars in May for the weekend, but bicycling to get to work, visit your friends and run easy errands. Despite an active lobby to encourage commuter bicycling and the city promise of $500,000 for biking and walking trails, true commuter bike paths and lanes are few if not non-existent.

There are signs for biking on lesser used roads, but not bike lanes to go with them.

Why not?

The last place I lived that was as flat as Winnipeg was on the Plain of Holderness in England. The city was Hull and you couldn't move for bikes.

Commuter bike lanes in Winnipeg would do all kinds of good, at least in the summer. It would encourage a healthier lifestyle, reduce the number of cars on the road and save energy.

In other cities, kids too young to drive and too poor to own cars bike to see their friends, to school and to university. Who in their right mind would bike down Waverley or Pembina at rush hour? With bike lanes, it would be possible.

Winnipeg could also follow Washington D.C. and create a public-private partnership to rent bikes by the hour similar to the Zipcar and Autoshare plans I recently wrote about.

Why not combine the two?

A city that is serious about combating its energy usage takes easy routes to get cars off the road. That has to start somewhere and it is unlikely to get going without a public commitment.

So, Mr. Mayor and city council, get going. Create bike lanes for children and commuters. Get in touch with the bike shops and bicycle lobbyists to set up a bike-sharing scheme. Try a pilot plan with bikes located behind the barriers at Portage and Main and at The Forks.

Combine the bike-sharing scheme with a car-sharing scheme.

Recreational biking is fine. But in Winnipeg, it often means taking your bike on a rack on your car to where the recreational trails start.

It doesn't have to be that way.

An innovative city sees its natural advantages and takes small measures for big gains. Designated bike lanes and bike and car sharing -- maybe working together -- are the types of innovation that would get our city talked about and put it ahead of the curve. Will we do it? If not, why not?

Nicholas Hirst is CEO of Winnipeg-based television and film producer Original Pictures Inc.

(c) 2008 Winnipeg Free Press. All Rights Reserved.

Founder of One Green City gets things done

He could easily be one of Winnipeg's busiest volunteers, donating his time to more organizations and committees than he can count on his fingers.

Thirty-year old Anders Swanson is dedicated to helping Winnipeg become a greener city by improving the cycling network, with more trails, safer lanes on roads and maps that will get beginner cyclists and veteran cycling commuters alike, from point A to point B.

The Mayor's Environmental Committee, the City of Winnipeg's Active Transportation Committee, Bike to the Future, BIZ Transportation Committee, and the Winnipeg Trails Association are just a few of the groups he's involved with. In addition, he helped form the North Winnipeg Commuter Cyclists, the West Central Commuter Cyclists and was the founder of One Green City -- a service which liaises cycling groups and encourages them to connect.

"I am essentially volunteering with as many cycling related committees and volunteer groups throughout the city as I can to try to bring them together around the idea of building a comprehensive network of cycling routes," said Swanson, a Corydon Village resident who hasn't owned a car for more than five years. "I really felt I understood why people weren't cycling. I wanted to address the reasons that they weren't rather than just telling them to."

His hard work is paying off. Since he became involved just a few years ago, progress has already been made with a $600,000 commitment from the city budget now dedicated to building a trail infrastructure and the creation of the Northwest Pioneers Greenway.

He said that with a larger budget dedicated to the issue, cyclists will be safer and the tensions between motorists and those riding bicycles will be lessened.

"The more cyclists you have out and the more cycling infrastructure there is, the less people get hurt," explained Swanson, who works as a bike mechanic at Natural Cycle. "I think the key is reducing conflict. I don't drive now, but as a driver I was scared of hitting cyclists. It's stressful."

Janice Lukes, co-ordinator for the Winnipeg Trails Association, said the work done by Swanson for her organization and the many others he volunteers for, has been nothing short of amazing.

"I have been involved in trail development since 2001 and have met a ton of volunteers, all passionate, all motivational," she wrote in an e-mail to the Winnipeg Free Press. "But Anders Swanson's commitment, dedication and passion to help others embrace the bicycle as a means of transportation and source of recreation is simply unprecedented. I know many of the trail and cycling organizations in Winnipeg would agree that Anders has been instrumental in helping secure more trails and bike pathways for Winnipeggers!"

For more information about the work done by Swanson, visit www.onegreencity.com. To learn more about the Winnipeg Trails Association, visit www.winnipegtrails.com.

If you know a special volunteer who strives to make their community a better place to live, please contact Erin Madden at erinmadden@shaw.ca.

Mayor Sam Katz predicts the first day of summer will be a nice day to get on a bicycle.

The mayor has proclaimed Friday, June 20 "Bike To Work Day" in an effort to persuade more Winnipeggers to leave their carbon dioxide-spewing cars at home.

"You may wish to know that spandex is not required," the mayor joked Friday as he encouraged all 16 members of city council, 9,000 city employees and all 660,000 Winnipeg residents to commute on two wheels instead of four.

So far, Couns. Justin Swandel (St. Norbert), Gord Steeves (St. Vital), Scott Fielding (St. James), Jenny Gerbasi (Fort Rouge), Russ Wyatt (Transcona) and Mike Pagtakhan (Point Douglas) have pledged to ride to work on June 20.

Bike To Work Day is entirely separate from the weeklong Commuter Challenge issued every June by Resource Conservation Manitoba, a non-governmental lobby group. This year's challenge, which implores Winnipeggers to commute by any means other than single-occupancy cars, takes place June 1-7.

The non-profit organization supports the mayor's efforts and is not concerned people will confuse Bike To Work Day with the Commuter Challenge.

"We look at it as another thing to do after the challenge," said Sara Perlmutter, who co-ordinates the seven-day event for RCM. "The challenge is great, but it's only one week."

Other non-profit organizations supporting the civic event include the Manitoba Cycling Association, Climate Change Connection, the Winnipeg Trails Association and Bike To The Future.

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca

Winnipeg will spend more than $3 million this year to create 70 kilometres of new bike-and-pedestrian paths and bike lanes in an effort to make the city easier to navigate for commuters who don't use cars.

Asphalt and limestone-covered trails will be completed in North Kildonan, Charleswood, St. Vital, Fort Garry and Fort Rouge, new bike lanes will appear downtown and bike corridors will be created on inner-city streets in 2008, according to a trail-creation plan presented to city councillors on Friday.

Two years of grassroots activism by organized cycling groups -- as well as the rising price of gasoline and the high cost of maintaining conventional roadways -- helped convince politicians of the need to beef up the city's trail-creation budget.

"I'm not one to go 'rah-rah city,' but this is great," said Janice Lukes, executive director of the Winnipeg Trails Association. "People are speaking up and elected officials-- who like to get elected -- are listening."

In 2006, Winnipeg devoted $200,000 to trail creation. The trail-building budget increased to $1.5 million in 2007 and now stands at $2.56 million for dedicated paths for bikes and pedestrians, plus $600,000 for shared spaces for bikes and cars on existing roads.

By the end of the year, Winnipeg will have 190 kilometres of dedicated paths and shared bike corridors. The city's existing trail network of 120 kilometres has long been derided as inadequate by commuter and recreational cyclists alike.

"This is long overdue. We're still behind other cities, but we're starting to catch up," said Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz.

All new city roads and bridges will include lanes for cyclists and pedestrians, the mayor said.

But the greater challenge lies in connecting Winnipeg's existing patchwork of trails, especially in older neighbourhoods where it's difficult to acquire land, said Kevin Nixon, the city's active-transportation co-ordinator.

To that end, Nixon said, this year's Active Transportation plan is primarily aimed at eliminating commuter-cycling "choke points" such as the Osborne Street underpass south of Confusion Corner, which can soon be avoided by a new 1.5-kilometre connection to the Red River.

New signs funded by the city and the Winnipeg Trails Association will help cyclists find the new routes, he said.

The trail-creation plan was hammered out over six months at dozens of meetings involving hundreds of volunteers who belong to trail-building organizations as well as lobby groups such as Bike To The Future and the Manitoba Cycling Association.

"The city is going in the right direction," said Kevin Miller, Bike To The Future's co-chair. "We hope to see the momentum carried through in following years, until Winnipeg reaches the level of bicycle infrastructure that other Canadian cities already have."

The Active Transportation plan does not, however, address the largest issue looming in Winnipeg's transportation future: The need to develop some form of rapid-transit corridor parallel to Pembina Highway.

The volunteers who hammered out the trail-creation plan actually listed the southwest Winnipeg corridor as the city's top trail priority, but the city has neither the money to create the busway that would make it possible -- or the land-use deals in place with CN Rail.

The first leg of that busway, from downtown to Jubilee Avenue, would cost $70 million. The city and the province are still deciding whether to devote $17.9 million of new federal transportation dollars toward the corridor.

"If there is a busway, there will be a bike path," said Katz, who personally prefers light-rail transit but does not believe Winnipeg can afford it.

A decision about how to spend the federal transportation kitty will be made before the end of July, the mayor said.

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca

Happy trails to you

The City of Winnipeg plans to spend $2.58 million on bike and pedestrian paths in 2008, plus $600,000 on active-transportation corridors where cyclists will share roads with motor vehicles. Here's where the money will be spent:

Dedicated trails for bikes and redestrians

Northeast Pioneers Greenway (Phase II)

Six more kilometres of this North Kildonan commuter trail will be completed between Knowles Avenue and Springfield Road. Pricetag: $500,000

Harte Trail

Packed gravel surface to be completed on this 12-kilometre trail south of the Assiniboine Forest, between Shaftesbury Boulevard and Elmhurst Road. Pricetag: $250,000

Bishop Grandin Greenway

Asphalt paths alongside Bishop Grandin Boulevard will link St. Vital Centre to St. Vital Park and the University of Manitoba. Pricetag: $900,000

WinSmart Pathway

A 1.5-kilometre path connecting the Red River to Osborne Street, allowing cyclists to avoid the Osborne Underpass south of Confusion Corner. Pricetag: $150,000

Southpoint Pathway

A two-kilometre asphalt path connecting the Lord Roberts neighbourhood to The Forks. Pricetag: $400,000

On-street improvements

Sharrows

Extra-wide lanes will allow bikes and cars to share portions of major commuter routes, including portions of Higgins Avenue, Roblin Boulevard, Grant Avenue, Regent Avenue, Plessis Road, Dakota Street and Dunkirk Drive. Pricetag: $50,000

East-west bike boulevards

Portions of Assiniboine Avenue, Elgin Avenue, Pacific Avenue and Alexander Avenue will be modified to encourage cycling and discourage automobile traffic. Pricetag: $550,000, including bike lanes (below)

Downtown bike lanes

New bike lanes on Carlton, Hargrave, Fort and Garry Streets are designed to make it easier for cyclists to navigate downtown. Pricetag: $550,000, including bike boulevards (above)

Other Projects

Trail signage

New, consistent signs for all Winnipeg trails. Pricetag: $80,000

North Winnipeg Parkway

Completing a study on how to complete a 10-kilometre stretch of the Trans-Canada Trail along the Red River between Alfred Avenue and St. John's Park. Pricetag: $50,000

The federal government has announced that $17.9 million from the new Transit Fund is committed for Manitoba, creating a new window of opportunity to start building a rapid transit system for Winnipeg.

The federal government has said that the money must be used to implement the 2005 Rapid Transit Task Force recommendations (designated busways, other transit improvements) and/or bike paths.

The ball is now firmly in the court of the city and the province to decide how the money will be spent.

What isn't clear yet is whether this new federal cash infusion will go towards finally getting started on rapid transit for Winnipeg.

This window of opportunity could be lost if the funds are spent on replacement busses or recreational bike trails which may not even be located in the City of Winnipeg.

A key recommendation of the Mayor's Rapid Transit Task Force was to build designated busways starting with downtown to the University of Manitoba and also the eastern corridor.

Phase One of the busway would cut off nine to 10 minutes of travel time going from downtown to Jubilee, bypassing congestion on the Donald Street Bridge, in Osborne Village and at Confusion Corner.

Over $100 million of infill housing development would be stimulated in the Fort Rouge Yards where existing schools, recreational facilities and infrastructure are in place. The economic benefit of compact, sustainable infill development clearly brings both financial and environmental benefit.

Not everyone is aware that it has always been part of the bus rapid transit plan that true commuter bike lanes would be built alongside the transit bus ways.

Building BRT from downtown and ultimately to the University of Manitoba achieves both the goals of high-speed transit and of safe commuter cycling.

There are huge cost savings to be found by building commuter bike paths in conjunction with the bus way using railway lands.

In the case of the south corridor, trying to build a commuter bike path apart from the transit project requires taking away lanes of traffic on Pembina Highway, costs more and would do nothing to improve transit service.

The amount of these new federal funds that go to the City of Winnipeg is based on transit ridership which gives Winnipeg most of the money if the money is used for transit. However, if the money is used for recreational trails, the projects and the dollars could go anywhere in the province.

Focusing on a transit-related project gives Winnipeg a better deal.

There are, in fact, financing options that would make building rapid transit doable.

The cost of BRT from downtown to Jubilee is about $70 million, up from the $43 million it was in 2004. The longer it takes Winnipeg to get started on rapid transit, the more it will cost.

Assuming the federal funds are designated for BRT, the province and the city would need to each find $26 million to build the first phase of BRT from downtown to Jubilee.

Capital projects are usually built by financing them over 20 or 30 years. That is how the Chief Peguis Trail, the Disraeli Bridge and the widening of McGillivray Boulevard will be financed.

The new rapid transit reserve fund of $2.7 million that was established in the city budget should be used to fund capital investment in rapid transit.

One scenario could involve the province matching the city's contribution to the reserve fund each year. The fund could be used to pay the financing charges over a number of years, just as we do with our other capital projects.

The announcement of the new federal money is the perfect opportunity to get rapid transit back on track. The longer we wait to get started, the higher the costs of construction will be.

The price of gas will continue to rise. Greenhouse gas emissions need to be reduced. A rapid transit system benefits all Winnipeggers by reducing traffic congestion and providing an environmentally friendlier, quick and reliable alternative mode of transportation

Winnipeg, our capital city, has an opportunity to be a leader and to plan for the future in a changing world.

There are ways to make this work if the mayor and the premier have the political will to make it happen.

Councillors Jenny Gerbasi and Mike Pagtakhan were members of the Mayor's Rapid Transit Task Force.

"The Public Works Department will be promoting active transportation options such as commuter cycling alternatives during the bridge closure. A sidewalk over the bridges and pedestrian and cycling connections to it will be maintained throughout the rehabilitation of the bridges. In addition, pedestrian and cycling routes that connect to the bridge, transit options, and cycling networks to downtown will be identified."

Cyclists are continuing to find excellent traction at City Hall, where Mayor Sam Katz’s cabinet has found another $500,000 to spend on bike corridors next year. Earlier this year, lobbying efforts by cycling and walking-trail groups helped convince the city to name planner Kevin Nixon the city’s first active-transportation co-ordinator, a new full-time position devoted to creating and connecting trails.

Then over the past two weeks, cycling and trail groups appeared before city council subcommittees to request more spending on commuter trails, stressing not just the environmental and health benefits, but the potential cost savings from reduced motor-vehicle wear-and-tear on roads.

While the 2008 capital budget already called for $1.5 million worth of spending on trails, council’s executive policy committee passed a budget amendment today calling for an additional $500,000 to be devoted to new active-transportation corridors.

The money will not flow until March, when Nixon is expected to complete a trail-creation report. But Katz said Nixon will need some money to work with once his plans are in place. “We all know we lag far behind the rest of Canada, if you take a look at the cycling infrastructure in other cities. We’re catching up, but we need to do more,” Katz said.

As recently as 2006, Winnipeg spent approximately $200,000 a year on trails. In 2007, that figure was increased to $1.5 million, with most of the money consumed by the creation of the Northeast Pioneers Greenway, the new commuter trail in East and North Kildonan.

The 2008 capital budget and six-year spending forecast calls for $1.5 million on spending to build new walkways and bike paths every year until 2013. The additional $500,000 announced on Wednesday is devoted to corridors, which could include new trails as well as new bike lanes on existing roads or more extra-wide curb lanes designed to be shared by cars and cyclists.

“The trails budget is useful for cyclists, but ultimately people start on the road,” said Anders Swanson, project co-ordinator for volunteer trail-advocacy group One Green City.

On Monday, a presentation by Swanson helped convince Katz’s cabinet to find a little extra cash in the tight capital budget.

“I’m not surprised. This is going to be very popular. With the price of gas, concerns about the environment and health issues like obesity and asthma, more and more people are cycling,” Swanson said.

In other capital budget amendments, EPC bumped up the city-wide accessibility program by $100,000, which means Winnipeg will spend $350,000 next year on the likes of new wheelchair ramps and curb cuts.

But EPC also cancelled a Public Works amendment that would have seen Panet Road and Molson Street added to the list of regional roads slated for improvements in 2008.

City council will debate the 2008 capital budget during a special session on Dec. 18.

"A sense grows that the electorate as a whole is defenseless against the leviathan state," writes Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor in his book The Ethics of Authenticity. "A well-organized and integrated partial grouping may, indeed, be able to make a dent, but the idea that the majority of the people might frame and carry through a common project comes to seem utopian and naive. So people give up."

Referring to the general malaise experienced by many living in Western democracies, Taylor points out that the common people feel detached from the processes whereby any meaningful action or change can take place in their societies. Rather than moping around like pessimistic teenagers, suggesting we should burn the system down, he insists instead that we should get active and bring the system back to life. This is exactly what happened this past Thursday, Oct. 11, in the Bulman Centre at the University of Winnipeg, where members of the cycling advocacy group Bike to the Future met to flex their socially concerned muscles at their second annual forum, "From Imagination to Creation: The Future of Cycling in Winnipeg."

Forum organizer Molly McCracken urged the over 200 cyclists gathered to speak up, take action, and make the city of Winnipeg a better place for cycling. "All of the knowledge is here in this room," she said, "and all of the right people are here in this room, so we have a lot of experience and knowledge because we ride our bikes and we know what it's like, so we can do it." With these confident, democracy-rousing words, the group split up into smaller groups according to area of specialization or interest to hash out the specifics.

To hope that such a small group of people could affect change could be called naive, but considering the concrete results of last year's forum, the word "ambitious" is much more fitting, no irony attached. Bike to the Future outlined some of the key successes in a press release earlier this month: "the city hired an Active Transportation Co-ordinator ... we expanded our trail systems ... and new zoning bylaws require bike racks in parking lots." Funding for trails also jumped this year from $200,000 to $1.7 million. Far from naivet�, it is informed optimism that set the goal for this year's forum, which was "to celebrate advances and explore options to create a future Winnipeg as a great cycling city."

To be sure, what happened at this event must happen elsewhere, but it was my first real experience of participatory democracy. While casting a vote in federal and provincial elections is technically referred to as participating in a democracy, it is nonetheless a very hands-off process with a very limited number of choices that doesn't seem to have much to do with me beyond placing a checkmark inside a box. The process at the forum was quite different and much more involved.

Participants split up into groups under broad category headings such as "Safety and Education," "Civic Issues," "Bikes and Police," "Sharing the Road," and "Mapping Galore." This is when participants could voice individual concerns and ideas which ranged from "how to prevent death while riding on ice" and "there's nowhere to lock my bike when I go to the salon on Academy" to "but I like going through stop signs" (that one was mine) and "drivers need to know that bikers are not as soft and durable as pillows." Everyone willing to speak was listened to, suggestions, ideas, and concerns were written down and then at the end of the small group sessions the top issues with greatest consensus were compiled and presented back to the entire gathering so that the group as a whole would know what they were about. Findings and recommendations are going to be presented to city council later this year.

Karin Kliewer, membership co-ordinator and city planning grad student, talked to me about the importance of consensus building in working for social change, but was realistic about the speed at which that sometimes happens. Citing an example given by one of her professors about the Quakers, she said: "They do everything by consensus building and it took them 90 years to build consensus that they were against slavery. Even then they were way ahead of actual thought at the time. But when they had finally built that consensus, they came out so strong and were such an active voice for it. So I think that groups like Bike to the Future, when we can slowly build a critical body, a critical mass, I think that's what will make the most difference."

Though the group still seems small, they've already accomplished quite a lot, and the larger critical body is actively growing. When the forum opened at 7 p.m., Bike to the Future had 175 members. When they shut down at 9:30 p.m., it was announced that membership had surpassed the 200 mark. Despite the obvious successes, Karin still emphasized that significant progress and growing membership does not automatically guarantee that the city will continue moving forward based on the recommendations of Bike to the Future, nor even on the recommendations of city planners. The final decisions end up being entirely in the hands of politicians.

But just because the final say is technically out of the people's hands, it does not mean that if a recommendation gets blocked people should give up and fall back into the apathy Charles Taylor describes. Politicians are supposed to represent the voice of the people and they can only do so if the people keep speaking loud enough to be heard, which is exactly what Bike to the Future is doing. Bolstering the confidence and resolve of the participants during an intermission at the forum, the Purple Pirate, children's performer and bicycling advocate, wore bright spandex and rhymed, "Expecting I was to peddle alone, all 900 kilometres away from home, people said, 'Not possible, to peddle that far without a car.' But I knew I could do it, I could see it in my mind. I trained for it daily and then I would find that people can talk only about what they know. People say, 'There are places you can't go, it isn't possible, you can't do it.' But I know better. I plan to prove it."

It's not just your handlebars you take in your hands when you get on your bicycle, but your life.

Last month was a particularly bad time to be a cyclist in the city.

During little more than a week, five cyclists were injured after tangling with vehicles. A Free Press carrier suffered fractures to her nose and jaw and a broken leg after being struck head-on by a car. A 16-year-old was treated for minor injuries after being hit, smashing the car's windshield. A 46-year-old broke an ankle after being hit by a motorist.

This past Monday, a 17-year-old was virtually uninjured after a Winnipeg Transit bus struck her and dragged her underneath the vehicle about 12 metres.

But last week, a 20-year-old bicyclist died from injuries after being struck by a car in an isolated area of Transcona while on his way to work.

The spate of collisions comes at a time when the city is beginning to greatly increase the number of kilometres of bike trails. After years of slowly putting in place features to help cyclists, earlier this year the city boosted its annual trail-creation budget from about $200,000 to $1.7 million.

Last month, this money resulted in the opening of Phase 1 of the Northeast Pioneers Greenway along a portion of the former CPR Marconi Line from Springfield Road south to Herbert Avenue. The city is also putting in bike trails beside Bishop Grandin and McGillivray boulevards.

The city has also appointed a civic bureaucrat as its first active transportation co-ordinator to set up a committee to advise on trails and to help plan new ones. But because so many bicyclists were recently hurt, the Free Press asked some key people their views on the state of bicycles and cycling in the city and what can be done to make things safer.

Kevin Miller, Co-chairman of Bike to the Future, a group representing the city's cyclists:

Miller said every bicyclist needs to be armed with skill and knowledge before venturing out on the city's streets.

He said that's why his group, which wants to make cycling safe in the city, is setting up a bike-riding safety program here.

"It's true -- and motorists say it all the time -- there are yahoo cyclists out there and that's a problem."

Miller said his group -- which is holding a forum about the future of cycling in the city at the University of Winnipeg's Bulman Student Centre on Oct. 11 from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. -- is also meeting with the province to try adding bike safety to the education curriculum as they have in British Columbia.

But Miller said bicyclists also need to be supported and that's where the city comes in.

"The city's street system is designed to take motorists. To a great extent, transportation corridors like Pembina and Henderson fail cyclists."

Miller said when the city renovates its aging streets, it will include improvements designed for bikes, such as bike lanes. But, he said, sometimes the city has to be reminded, so his group makes sure it has members advising on the projects.

"We want it to get to the point that any time a street is done, the active transportation co-ordinator has to sign off on it before it goes ahead," he said. "Collisions will always occur, but hopefully they can be minimized."

Miller said the city's appointing of Kevin Nixon as the city's active transportation co-ordinator is a good sign.

"That is the most profound action the city has ever done to recognize bicycling is a legitimate type of transportation," he said.

On that note...

Brian Smiley, Manitoba Public Insurance:

Because Autopac is the insurer that has to pay out when a bicyclist is injured, it's in their best interests to provide safety tips to riders.

Smiley said that's why the insurer provides bicycle rodeos for children where they are provided with safety tips, including proper hand signals and rules of the road.

"One of the biggest tips is obeying the rules of the road," he said. "Follow stop signs and signals. And cyclists need to be very visible. You have to have a flashing light on your helmet or the back of your waist. You need very bright clothing."

Smiley said when bicyclists are injured by a motorist, whether or not they are at fault, MPI can assist them in several ways, including income replacement if they lose time from work or replacing broken glasses.

"If the bicyclist was not at fault, we will replace the bicycle, minus depreciation," he said.

Smiley said MPI will even pay out a benefit if the bicyclist is fatally injured.

Kevin Nixon, The city's active transportation co-ordinator:

Nixon said his role during his two-year secondment from the planning department is to focus on pedestrians, rollerbladers, skateboarders, and bicyclists. During that time, besides an advisory committee being set up, a detailed action plan with time-frames will be set up for trails and other bike needs through the city.

Nixon said most potential bike projects are still in the proposal stage, but next year the city will be looking at constructing the bike-trail portion of WinSmart from The Forks to the Jubilee underpass.

"It's a very green thing to do," he said. "It reduces greenhouse gases. It increases peoples' health.

"And safety is a big issue."

Nixon knows of what he speaks. He is an avid cyclist himself and while he might drive to work, most of the time his bike is in his trunk.

"Twenty years ago I bicycled to the University of Manitoba. A study has found that there is a cusp population that would cycle and walk to work if things were a bit different. We're trying to improve things that bit to get them to bicycle and walk."

Const Clyde Raven, Winnipeg Police Service:

Raven, who just completed his fourth year as part of the force's bike patrol unit, said he sees first-hand in front of his handlebars the interactions between bicyclists and motorists.

"Even we, as police officers, have to be very vigilant," Raven said. "Motorists don't give us a wide berth. Each summer, two or three times, I'm almost killed. Motorists just don't see cyclists and motorcycles."

Raven said many cyclists who are ticketed for riding on sidewalks can't believe it is against the law. The officers handed out about 100 tickets for bicycle infractions this year, out of a total of 2,000 offence notices issued for various offences. Under the Highway Traffic Act, it is illegal for bicycles with wheel diameters bigger than 16 inches (32 centimetres) to be ridden on a sidewalk.

"Every summer we get an old lady picked off by someone on a bike," he said.

"Everyone says it's too dangerous to ride on the road. Can it be dangerous? Yes, it can be, but what contributes to that? I think cyclists have a bad reputation and I think that's because many don't follow the rules of the road.

"Anybody breaking the law is giving all cyclists a bad name. If everyone followed the law, the public would learn to respect cyclists and give the cyclist a wide berth the next time they go by."

Raven said on the positive side, the unit did hand out more than 120 envelopes filled with $25 worth of Canadian Tire dollars to bicyclists they spotted following all the laws this summer.

And as for infrastructure, Raven, having pedalled through San Francisco last month during a fundraiser by several officers for the Children's Wish Foundation, said he appreciated the marking of a bike lane on major traffic routes through that city.

"The big, thick, white line on the pavement isn't a physical barrier, but it feels like it makes you safer," he said.

Ken Allen, Spokesman for Winnipeg Transit:

Allen said the city came up with a program to allow bicyclists to put their bikes on racks at the front of the vehicle and hop on the bus in 1999.

Since then, 35 transit buses have been outfitted with the racks for the 60 Pembina route, the only route that has them. The free program runs during the main bicycle season from May 1 to Oct. 31.

Allen said this route makes the most sense to have the bike racks on because it is the major one from downtown to the University of Manitoba.

"They are used by about one person per day," he said.

"There's room for these bike racks to be used more."

Neophyte cyclists are reminded to remove their bikes from the front of the bus because many forget the first time they use the service.

For more information about the bike and bus transit program, go to www.winnipegtransit.com/main/bikeandbus.jsp

Don't hit me, driver -- it'll delay your commute

Geoff Kirbyson

"Aren't you afraid of getting smoked by an SUV?" one of my editors asked me as I clicked my cycling shoes into my pedals.

"Every day," I replied. "Every day."

I've been riding my mountain bike to work from March to November for the last nine years. As a one-vehicle family, my wife and I have found this far easier than having to juggle our schedules and those of our two kids, Mia, 9, and Alex, 6, all year round.

I simply throw my work clothes in a backpack and head out for the 12-km trek every morning. It takes a little longer but it's cheaper than buying a second car. And I get an hour's worth of "free" cardio every day.

Some people pat me on the back for doing what's right for the environment, too. I don't tell them I used to love throwing Styrofoam into my parents' woodstove at Victoria Beach when I was a kid. (It burned such cool colours!)

Every cyclist on the road has his or her own reasons for being there. But the foundation of those reasons has no doubt been shaken over the past week as a half-dozen of our comrades-on-wheels have been felled, including one who was killed.

Just as with drivers, there are good and bad cyclists on the road. Most of us, though, have a very healthy fear of getting up close and personal with several thousand pounds of metal travelling 60 km -- and usually more -- per hour. We're well aware of the potential consequences of a wrong move. If you, car driver, make a mistake, you're probably booking an appointment with the body shop. If we make one, we're probably being rushed to the hospital. Or the morgue.

We do our best to hug the right-hand side of the road and we cringe when we feel the whoosh of wind as you whip by us. I believe technically we're entitled to an entire lane but we scooch over and recite the rosary under our breath rather than incite a riot of angry leadfoots behind us.

Most of us are unfailingly polite to drivers, too. We wave when you give us the right of way, motion us through or back off to keep us from having to jump up temporarily on to the sidewalk. But you forget all of us when one guy flips you the bird after a near-miss.

Sure, we're camouflaged by helmets, sunglasses and gear but everybody knows a cyclist. It could be a family member, friend, co-worker or neighbour -- or one of their kids. Think about them every time you rev up to pass a cyclist to save a few nanoseconds on your way to or from work.

And if time really is your motivation for throwing the fear of God into us, do a quick risk-reward evaluation. Sure, you might save a couple of steps once you get to your destination, but what if you hit one of us? What then? You've got to pull over, get out of your car and maybe even interrupt your important cellphone conversation to call 911 so we can get some medical attention.

What if some of our blood gets on your shirt as you peel us off your grill? That's two trips to the dry cleaner. And when the cops show up you'll have to give a statement, maybe even go to court.

All it takes is one accident to wipe out all the time you've saved from speeding by cyclists. So please slow down and we won't let our injuries keep you from getting where you want to go.

If the jam-packed bike racks at school this year are any indication, more and more people are choosing the bicycle as their preferred mode of transportation, yet Winnipeg still lacks any commuter-oriented cycling infrastructure.

A local advocacy group hopes all that is about to change.

Next Thursday, Oct. 11 at 7:00-9:30 p.m. Bike to the Future (BTTF) hosts its second annual forum in the Bulman Centre at the University of Winnipeg. This year's forum, "From Imagination to Creation: The Future of Cycling in Winnipeg," will include speakers, videos, information tables and discussion groups, and will once again be a venue for cyclists to have their voices heard.

"We see the annual forum as a way to hear from Winnipeg cyclists, to find out what they want," says Kevin Miller, BTTF's co-chair. "We need their feedback to help us develop goals and objectives for the coming year."

"They're our pulse," he adds.

This year's forum is made even more relevant by the city's recent cycling accidents. In the week leading up to the Uniter's press time, the W nnipeg Free Press reported at least three cyclists hit.

Winnipeg's cyclist accommodations have been trailing behind those of other Canadian cities. Ottawa, Edmonton and Montreal all boast a variety of on and off-road bike lanes and paths designed to facilitate year-round commuting, and Saskatoon's municipal government has been implementing its Comprehensive Bicycle Plan for five years now.

In fact, cities large and small all over North America have been including bikes in their transportation plans for years.

In Winnipeg, recreational trails along riverbanks that often don't take cyclists where they need to go present the bicycle largely as a toy.

Bike to the Future was formed to address this problem. In the summer of 2006, a small, dedicated group of people realized that the growing number of cyclists in Winnipeg lacked a collective voice.

In August of 2006 they organized the Bike to the Future forum to determine the needs of Winnipeg cyclists. The well-attended event was a chance for cyclists of all persuasions to voice their concerns and make suggestions on how to make Winnipeg more bike-friendly.

The forum produced a 20-page document outlining a vision for cycling in Winnipeg. It called for the inclusion of cyclists in future planning decisions and for the implementation of meaningful infrastructure such as on-road bike lanes.

As a result of the 2006 forum, BTTF was established as a year-round advocacy group, with monthly meetings open to anyone.

For the past year the organization has been busy lobbying all three levels of government to address the needs of cyclists. Creative approaches such as questionnaires for candidates in the recent provincial and municipal elections have put cycling issues in the media spotlight.

The group's website (www.biketothefuture.org) indicates that encouraging progress has already been made in a number of areas.

As a result of BTTF pressure, the city has adopted the Active Transportation Plan (developed in 2005) as official policy, and has hired a full-time ATP coordinator. The first stages of the federally-funded WinSmart path from the Forks to the U of M will begin construction this spring; and this month the city is experimenting with three shared bike lanes called Sharrows.

For more information about the upcoming forum, or to become a member of Bike to the Future, go to www.biketothefuture.org or visit them in person on the 3rd floor of 303 Portage Ave (above MEC).

As Winnipeggers, we like to think that we are completely dependent on our cars to get around. Sure, we'll occasionally take the bus (if the car is in the shop) or a cab (if we've had one too many Fort Garry Darks), but using any other transportation, especially in the downtown area, is a ludicrous thought. Heck, not driving from your office on Portage to a lunch rendezvous on Ellice is preposterous. Or is it?

There are an increasing number of urban dwellers and downtown office workers who are choosing an alternate transportation module - the bicycle. Not only healthier for you (you can't drink a double-double while cycling), bikes are also easier on the wallet, saving you money on gas and parking.

There's one problem that cyclists face, however, when they try to navigate the downtown streets. While designated bike paths exist in suburbia, they are harder to find in Winnipeg's business centre, wherea concrete jungle - chock full of screeching tires and honking horns - can be downright scary on a two-wheeler.

A new group of concerned citizens is trying to change all that. Bike to the Future (BTTF), as noted on their website (www.biketothefuture.org), is "a voluntary, inclusive group of concerned cyclists working to make cycling in Winnipeg a safe, enjoyable, accessible and convenient transportation choice year-round."

In describing the current situation for downtown cyclists, there are two main areas of focus, says BTTF co-chair Kevin Miller. First are the paths that run along riverbanks and streets like Assiniboine Avenue. Here, Miller sees that improvements can be made by making the smaller paths more connected to one another, giving cyclists a more linear route.

Second are inner streets like Kennedy, which can be problematic, as space to build a bikepath is at an undeniable premium, when you consider just how busy the streets and sidewalks already are with cares, buses, cabs, pedestrian and the inevitable daycare group.

But Miller and BTTF see a solution to the downtown biking dilemma: wider curb lanes and bike-specific lanes downtown.

These changes aren't really a stretch, says Miller, who points to cities like Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver as examples of how proper planning can accommodate bike-only and bike-safe areas, even in high-traffic areas.

In campaigning for its cause, Bike to the Future has used the two-pronged method of approaching both the municipal and provincial governments to discuss changes to downtown roads. While the reaction to a survey given to all four provincial political parties did not meet expectations (the grades for each party can be seen on BTTF's website), the response from City Hall, says Miller, has been positive.

"The City of Winnipeg has been exceptional to work with, both at the political level and at the administrative level," Miller reports. "Our city committee has been very pleased with the number of meetings and other representation we've had with the City. Their attitude has been excellent and a lot of what they're doing is working. We can see that we're making great progress at the civic level."

It is quite possible, thanks to the efforts of active groups like BTTF, that Winnipeg's downtown will soon be a friendlier terrain for cyclists. The only question is, will our car culture adapt?

A provincial election is the perfect time to put politicians in the hot seat.

Especially the one normally occupied by bicycle riders.

I mean, given cyclists in this city built for green-house-gas belching motor vehicles are risking their lives every time they take to major arteries.

So it was that Bike to The Future -- "an advocacy group for cycling as everyday transportation" -- created a series of questions they've asked the provincial parties to answer.

Mark Cohoe, of Bike to the Future, forwarded them to me after reading last week's column (Slow lane is what city needs, and fast, April 26) about Ainsley Hutchings, the 22-year-old cyclist who was literally tossed to the curb by a Transit bus earlier this spring.

Cohoe's e-mail was one of many generated by Hutchings' story. They came from cyclists and bus drivers alike.

They complained, not surprisingly, about each other's lack of care and courtesy on the road and in the curb lanes they are forced to share with each other.

All the more reason to separate big buses in a hurry from vulnerable cyclists by creating a slow lane for bikes.

Anyway, here for starters is what Bike to the Future wants the NDP, Tories and Liberals to answer:

"Do you agree that increased use of bicycles as everyday transportation for work, shopping or other travel is desirable for environmental, health and/or economic reasons, and that the province should develop a provincial policy and support the use of bicycles as transportation?"

In other words, "Do you believe in motherhood? OK, How about David Suzuki?"

But how do we convince a civic government to create a network of bike lanes when it can't even afford to keep up with maintaining the crumbling, pothole-pitted roads we do have?

The answer is, we make it a budget priority for a province that -- according to Premier Gary Doer's promise -- is going to make going green the law of the land if he's re-elected.

It doesn't even have to be all that costly. If you don't believe me, how about an expert. Lindsay Gauld is the former Olympic cyclist turned bike courier who bikes around the city for a living.

"I have some short term solutions," he wrote, "which would involve little capital expenditures as that seems to be a major sticking point.

"1. Extend the Diamond lanes during rush hour on the major arteries.

"2. Paint white bike lanes about three-feet out from the curb on major arteries. Our lanes are at least 12-feet wide and this came about during the era of the big boats that Detroit produced. With the exception of the proliferation of Hummers and similar other SUVs, cars are much smaller now."

And then there was a suggestion from a reader named Delaney Earthwalker. He wants to put politicians to try the real hot seat.

"I challenge Winnipeg's councillors and the mayor to ride a bike on the city streets -- alone and unescorted -- for the equivalent of one