Cycling enthusiasts gathered at the McNabb Community Centre on March 21 for the fourth annual Spring.Bike.Ottawa event organized by Citizens for Safe Cycling. This year’s theme was mapping change.
Gareth Davies, a member of the event’s planning committee, says the three main goals of the event are celebrating, updating and socializing.
“It’s basically a chance for the public and community bike-friendly organizations to get together on the first day of spring and celebrate a new summer season,” he says. From the law to local infrastructure to provincial updates, Davies says it’s an opportunity to get updates on new cycling issues and what is being done.
Trevor Haché, a worker at the Healthy Transportation Coalition, a newly-formed organization that works to make Ottawa a better place for pedestrians, cyclists and transit users, presented at the event.
His talk was based on the diverse nature of the group’s membership, which includes pedestrian groups, cycling advocacy groups, community health centres, community associations, anti-poverty organizations, academic and university-based groups. The more different organizations come together, the more they will be able to help their cause.
“What we’re trying to do is bring together a diverse group of organizations, individuals and ultimately businesses in the city that all want to see our transportation system be more equal,” says Haché. He says they want spending on transportation to focus on equality and equity.
Haché also spoke about a mapping project the organization is working on. The group will be working with six neighbourhoods over the next four years that have both low socio-economic status and poor walkability, he says.
The group created maps of 15 candidate neighbourhoods that show the existing transportation infrastructure along with planned improvements for the next several years. These maps will help decide which of the candidate neighbourhoods need the most help.
The event began with a three-speaker panel of cycling experts who covered the latest in cycling laws and advocacy updates. Davies says they try to change the event each year to keep it fresh, fun and useful for the cycling community.
Glenn Gobuyan, owner and designer at PIXO design, spoke about cycling wayfinding in Ottawa. Wayfinding is the way we navigate ourselves to move from place to place, says Gobuyan, but there is more to it than just putting up signs everywhere.
“We should look at cycling wayfinding as more than just a means of telling us where it’s safe to bike or where it’s safe to go,” Gobuyan says.
He says he believes it should be grounded in how our communities are laid out and point towards local destinations. A lot of people don’t cycle because they cannot conceive of how they can get from one place to another on their bike, says Gobuyan. With some trails, it’s hard to pinpoint where you are in case of an emergency, he adds.
With a little bit of investment and thinking, he says he believes the same money being spent on labeling cycling trails could be turned into something more useful.