Bike to the future

Protected cycling lanes. If you’ve spent time on local Twitter, they’re either something people absolutely love or completely loathe.

Earlier this summer, the Region of Waterloo approved and installed 30 kilometers of new temporary bike lanes on regional roads across Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge. While the response has been mixed, the project does force us to ask ourselves a question – what kind of cities do we want to live in?

For cycling advocate David Trueman, the temporary bike lane project is a chance for us to think differently about our streets. “For a street such as Westmount, do we need four lanes of high-speed traffic going through a neighbourhood?” Trueman is a member of the steering committee of CycleWR, a local group that advocates for better and safer cycling in Waterloo Region. 

With two months left to go in the project, Trueman is seeing and hearing more cyclists take advantage of the lanes. “It’s still in the early adoption phase,” said Trueman. “People see the lanes and give them a try. They tell a neighbour who gets to trying them later. You see more people biking and you start to think more about it yourself.”

While the temporary bike lanes in Kitchener and Waterloo have been relatively well-received, the bike lanes in Cambridge on King Street, Coronation Boulevard and Dundas Street from Bishop Street to Beverly Street were removed this month after negative feedback from the community.

“The traffic situation is tighter in Cambridge. There’s no alternative routes for cars to take,” Trueman said. The lanes in Cambridge also suffered from having construction at both ends of the temporary lanes, which only increased traffic.

Congestion was one issue, the other was a perceived impact on access to Cambridge Memorial Hospital. “That was the emotional issue that caught hold,” added Trueman. “The issue wasn’t countered right away by paramedics or the hospital. In the end, they did make a statement saying it wasn’t an issue – but the time had passed.”

Back in Waterloo on Westmount Road, Trueman says the feared congestion never materialized. “The Region said traffic peaks on Westmount are 60 per cent lower than what they were before the pandemic,” said Trueman. “There’s no congestion; maybe a little slow-down on garbage day.” CycleWR has received preliminary data showing an increase in the first week of the project from 1,200 cyclists to 1,800 cyclists per week using Westmount Road. “This is like a social movement. It follows a slow adoption and then starts taking off.”

When it comes to data on road usage, there are no better experts than the team at Kitchener-based traffic technology leader Miovision. “We’re in the data business, not the opinion business,” said Kurtis McBride, co-founder and CEO of Miovision. “There’s a political dimension to cycling lanes. We get brought in when groups want to make data-based decisions on city planning.”

Since it started up in the Accelerator Centre in the David Johnston R+T Park, Miovision has been working with the Region of Waterloo. “When we launched TrafficLink, they have been a kind of co-development partner.” The Region has made staff available to share their problems, bounce around ideas and even provided access to a small number of intersections as a sandbox to work in.

Miovision’s engagements with the region grew to include work on collecting data from the roundabouts on Franklin Boulevard in Cambridge and working on pedestrian safety at intersections for the ION light rail transit project. Earlier in July, Miovision announced that the Region of Waterloo would be installing their technology in over 240 intersections around the region.

Miovision’s technology isn’t only for managing auto traffic. “We’re collecting data on all modes of transportation – auto, cycling, pedestrians, even emerging modes of transportation like ebikes,” said McBride. “For us, it’s about equitable access to roads for everyone.”

The Region of Waterloo’s Strategic Plan is influenced by the Complete Streets planning movement. The movement’s goal is for everyone to have safe, comfortable and convenient access to community destinations and public places – whether walking, driving, bicycling or taking public transportation. Our regional planners even threw a little local flavour in by including horse-and-buggy transportation to the strategic plan’s version of the Complete Streets goal. 

Miovision’s office is located inside Catalyst137 in Midtown. “As the number of people increases in the building, some will take non-vehicle modes to get to work,” said McBride. “Our brand that we’re trying to build inside Catalyst137 is one of community and progressiveness. We want to attract people who cycle, walk or use other active transportation modes to work to help create the 21st-century working environment.”

One of the people McBride is referring to is Miovision’s Director of Communications, Tony Florio. “I’m an avid cyclist,” said Florio. “Miovision and Catalyst137 have the best cycling facilities; it really sealed the deal when I was offered the position here.” 

Florio pointed out that the region’s official plan is built on more people in the urban cores. “We have a hard border where development can happen,” he said. “We’re going to have more people, not more roads.” Asking how many people are using the cycling lanes now isn’t the right question, according to Florio. Instead, he said we need to find out what incentives will get people to use them. “It’s not build it and they will come, it’s build it or else.”

There is a similar argument against building high-speed rail in Ontario. “People say, ‘Why build it when you can take the GO train?’ Well, GO takes two and a half hours. If there was a faster option, people would use it.” The same argument is used against expanding GO train service. If there were more daily trains, ridership would increase. But now, it’s faster to drive and you can control your departure time. “People would switch their mode of travel if there’s a better option. If it takes longer and I don’t feel safe, I’m not going to do it,” McBride said.

Most streets today are built for commuters to get as many cars from A to B as fast as possible. “That’s at odds with safe cycling experiences,” added McBride. “If there’s no way to get safely from point A to point B then we’ll need more and more cars.”

The cycling lanes raise a bigger issue for Trueman. “Are we going to return to pre-pandemic levels of auto traffic? Maybe we won’t see those same peak levels again,” he said. “It’s a chance for us to reclaim the space we’ve given up to high-speed traffic.”