To cycle, or not to cycle
Ironically, while Adam Wilson is becoming a cycling behaviour expert, he’s not riding his bike much these days. “I’m living in downtown Toronto right now and there aren’t a lot of bike lanes. And I’m not a confident enough cyclist yet to get right in the downtown Toronto traffic,” explains Wilson, who was born and raised in Kelowna.
“Plus, I live close enough to everything to walk or take the subway.”
Wilson is in Toronto attending Ryerson to earn a master of planning degree and work as a research assistant at the university.
He’s helping a professor track the increase in cycling in the densely populated and multicultural Thorncliffe neighbourhood of east central Toronto with the introduction of bike lanes.
Wilson, 21, graduated from Kelowna Secondary School’s French immersion program in 2013 and then earned a bachelor of arts degree from Montreal’s McGill University with a double major in urban systems and international development.
Along the way, he worked a summer with B.C. Minister of Agriculture and KelownaLake Country MLA Norm Letnick on community outreach to determine the priorities of Kelowna residents.
The information gathered was used to build Letnick’s platform for his re-election in the May provincial vote.
It was at McGill that Wilson did a research paper on cycling lanes and cyclist behaviour.
While it focused on some international trends, he also made some observations about his hometown.
“Kelowna is an interesting study,” he said.
“It has the highest per capita percentage of bike lanes of any city in Canada. Yet, most people use those bike lands for recreational rides rather than to run errands or commute to work.”
Kelowna’s challenge is change the mindset of people to cycle and use the bike lanes for all types of activities.
Wilson’s research also showed in North America, 70 per cent of cyclists are men, 30 per cent women. In Europe, the split is much more even. “In Europe, more people use their bikes to run errands and commute to work,” he pointed out.
“In North America, the culture of cycling is geared more to men. Cycle shops also tend to be staffed by and cater to men. Although it’s a small part of it, women also tend not to want to wear a bike helmet and ruin their hair.” The helmet issue is also interesting. Generally, head protection isn’t the law in Europe and there are fewer accidents.
In North America, where wearing a helmet is mandatory in most jurisdictions, there are more accidents.
“It has something to do with the critical mass of cycling in Europe making it safer,” said Wilson.
Perceptions of and stigma associated with cycling to work in North America is also fascinating.
Some low-income earners cycle to and from work out of necessity because they can’t afford a car.
Editor’s note: Every week in this space with Top Forty Under 40 we profile a businessperson under the age of 40 who is finding success in their career and making a difference.
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The middle class is the most unlikely to be a commuter cyclist because they prefer taking their car and don’t want to be seen as a loser who has to cycle to work.
High-income earners are the most likely to cycle to work because they have choices and expensive bikes and see commuter cycling as an altruistic pursuit that’s also great exercise.
When Wilson graduates from Ryerson he’d like to move back to Kelowna and work as an urban planner for the City of Kelowna or Central Okanagan Regional District.
“I’m passionate about how cities are designed,” he said.
“Cities can become more people-friendly simply be decreasing speed limits for cars in urban area, increasing the space between roads and pedestrian areas and making street fronts more interesting with multiple stores.”
While at McGill, Wilson was president of the university’s Conservative Association, an affiliate of the federal Conservative Party, and grew membership by 200 per cent and organized events with MPs.
His political work saw him interviewed by Maclean’s magazine, the National Post and Montreal Gazette and land three politicial commentator gigs on CBC News.