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.