by Victoria Gray
The City of Waterloo wants to know about your bike.
As cycling popularity rises in the region, the city wants to give residents more and better options when it comes to how they get around on and where they park their bicycle in the tri-city area.
Kathryn Broadbelt, the city’s active transportation program coordinator hopes to get a better idea of what residents would like to see in the city by launching a survey aimed at cyclists.
“The City of Waterloo is looking to expand our bicycle parking network over the next couple of years. In order to understand where residents would like to see additional/new bicycle parking we have created a survey to gather the public’s opinions,” she said in an email.
She said gathering student’s opinion is very important because the city includes such a large number of students.
“Students at the University of Waterloo are a large part of the population in Waterloo, and a large part of the cycling community,” she said.
The survey will help determine if people would like to see bicycle parking near transit stops, trails, or in Uptown Waterloo.
It will also help the city find out where and how people are using their bikes in the city.
The city of Waterloo’s website says the city demonstrates their commitment to cycling through planning, building, and maintaining bicycle facilities, trails, and laneways with the Region of Waterloo.
The city was recognized as a gold Bicycle Friendly Community by the Share the Road Cycling Coalition this year and is the first mid-sized city in Ontario to achieve that designation.
Toronto and Ottawa have also achieved the gold standard but they are larger cities. Waterloo wants to keep bikes top of mind.
The website says there are a 42 communities in Ontario that are recognized as bike-friendly (31 bronze level, eight silver level and three gold), representing 70 per cent of Ontario’s population.
“Waterloo was recognized for its commitment to designing complete streets and connecting people throughout the community,” the website states.
The city’s transportation master plan totes active transportation as a key piece in developing a more sustainable transportation system for Waterloo and they have an active transportation committee that advises council.
Connecting the city’s bicycle/walking trails was a key election issue and mayor Dave Jaworsky said he intends to continue working toward connecting those trails.
To take the survey visit www.surveymonkey.com/r/T9ZQYRV
