Riding into the future
Transportation planners want to see more people on bikes, but cyclists still face a bumpy ride
WATERLOO REGION — More than 54,000 cars, trucks and buses zoom through the roundabout at Ottawa and Homer Watson in Kitchener every day.
On this summer afternoon, there were plenty of vehicles. And one bicycle.
I felt very small on my bike as I entered the roundabout, with three lanes of vehicles racing by.
I plunged into the traffic, hugging the right-hand curb lane. To my horror, as I whizzed round the circle, I realized I needed to be in the extreme left lane, and had to cross all three lanes to exit where I wanted.
Pedalling like mad, I craned over my shoulder to see what was heading toward me. By some miracle, a window in the traffic opened up, and I slipped across the three busy lanes and out of the roundabout again, safe and sound but feeling like I’d been through the wringer. I’m not alone.
Kuyler Neable is a keen cyclist who rides from his home in uptown Waterloo to his office in south Kitchener.
“In all the cycling I have done, I have never had to deal with anything like the roundabouts in K-W ... I used to fly down the hills in Seattle in rush hour, dodging around taxis and traffic jams, and that was a walk in the park compared to the roundabouts here.”
When my editor approached me and asked me to do a feature on what it’s like to cycle in Waterloo Region, my first reaction was it was a dream assignment. I was going to get paid to ride my bike on the region’s byways and bike paths.
But it soon became clear the story wouldn’t only involve leisurely pedals down leafy trails.
Any trip of a reasonable distance to specific destinations in our region is just as likely to include a frantic pedal through a roundabout, or a slog in blazing sun along a busy regional road, dodging curbside debris.
My roundabout adventure captures the biggest challenge of cycling in our area — it’s possible to cycle almost anywhere in the region, but it’s often a scary experience.
The Region of Waterloo and the three cities in the region are banking on more people getting out of their cars and using transit, walking or biking.
Doing so will reduce traffic congestion, wear and tear on roads and slow the need to build more and bigger roads.
The vast majority of us, when we venture out to go to work, school or run errands, do so by car, often with just one person in the vehicle.
If that pattern doesn’t change, the regional road network will have to expand by 35 per cent, and the region will need to build at least 100 new travel lanes by 2031.
Instead, the region has opted to encourage as many people as possible to get out of their cars. The massive spending on light rail and improving bus service is a big part of this effort.
Encouraging “active transportation” — walking and cycling, especially for short trips of less than two kilometres that could easily be done by foot or bike — is another way to ease demand on roads. People still drive for about 71 per cent of short trips.
All the local municipalities are updating their cycling master plans, with the explicit goal of finding ways to encourage more people to get out of their cars and onto a bike for at least short trips. All are spending more to improve cycling facilities.
Because of that push, The Record decided to take a closer look at what it’s like to get around the area on two wheels — what works, what doesn’t.
We rode a variety of bike lanes, trails and roads, talked to the officials tasked with building bike-friendly facilities, and to some of the people who use those facilities, from hard-core allseason cyclists to regular folks who ride their bikes because it’s fun, good for the environment, inexpensive and good exercise.
There are four types of cyclists, the experts say.
Less than one per cent of us are “strong and fearless.” About seven per cent are “enthused and confident” riders.
About two-thirds are “interested but concerned” riders who would like to cycle more but don’t feel comfortable sharing the road with vehicles, while about a third fall into the “no way, no how” group.
Getting that “interested” majority feeling safer is key to boosting the number of cyclists on our roads, planners say.
“The people we’re trying to target are, like, mothers,” said Danny Pimentel, active transportation project manager in Kitchener. “If we can get a mom and her kid on a bike on the roads, then we can get anybody.”
“A lot of people would say they would like to cycle, but they don’t feel safe,” said Phil Hewitson, director of active transportation for the City of Waterloo.
“What’s stopping them cycling is (the lack of ) safe infrastructure. People don’t like cycling in traffic.”
Debbie Chapman, who sometimes rides from her home in downtown Kitchener to her job at Wilfrid Laurier University, is among them.
“I love biking. I’d love to do it more. I’d love to not use my car all spring and summer and fall, but there are reasons why I don’t. I don’t feel safe on the bigger roads.
The statistics show those fears are not misplaced.
The number of cyclists struck on regional roads is at a 20-year low and trending down, from 130 collisions in 2012 to 87 in 2016.
The number of cyclists injured in those crashes ranged from 107 in 2012 to 74 in 2016. Three cyclists have been killed in that time: Two in 2012, one in 2016.
But cyclists are very vulnerable if they do get hit, suffering injuries about 80 to 85 per cent of the time. That compares to about 28 per cent of those in cars.
Cyclists are always aware it just takes one driver not paying attention to make things very dangerous for a bike.
Ryan McDonough cycles under the assumption drivers will make stupid mistakes. “That’s what you have to do. The onus is on me if I’m the one who’s going to get killed if I get hit.”
Cyclists just want drivers to remember that most of them are ordinary folks, not militant car haters, says Scott Weldon, who commutes most days from his home in Waterloo to his job in Laurentian Hills in Kitchener.
“We’re people. We’re teachers. We’re doctors. We’re humans and we just want to be able to ride our bikes safely. And it’s very hard to do that in a car-centric society.”
Once it became clear that my cycling assignment was not going to be simply a leisurely pedal on quiet lanes, my editor checked with human resources staff about health and safety concerns around sending me on such a job.
He also asked me to wear a bright orange safety vest to be as visible as possible as I negotiated busier roads.
Despite those fears, I found lots of positive developments in the local cycling scene.
Generally, drivers were courteous and alert, and gave me plenty of space as they passed me.
The three cities and region boast of having more than 500 kilometres of cycling lanes and bike paths.
Many of those routes are a delight to travel on — scenic journeys by the Grand River in Cambridge, shady paths like the Forwell Trail in Waterloo or Kitchener’s Dom Cardillo Trail — where cyclists can travel for kilometres in park-like settings away from traffic.
Cycling often is way more fun than sitting in a car.
“It’s definitely fun,” says Emily Slofstra, who doesn’t own a car.
“You’re outside. You have adventures. It’s exercise so you don’t have to go to the gym. It’s a nice way to interact with your neighbours.”
“There’s something so obviously good about being in nature and being outside,” says Kyle Messier. “My ride home every day is a chance to decompress.”
“It’s my freedom,” says Clifford Vanclief, who owns The Hub Bicycle Shop in Hespeler.
“It’s what I do and what I love. It’s my rejuvenation. It gives me time to be in my head and I’m out in the fresh air.”
Exploring different bike routes on the commute offers the chance to discover new neighbourhoods and trails, says McDonough, who with Messier has been holding informal bike rides every couple of weeks from McPhail’s Cycle & Sport in Waterloo to show people some of the routes in and around town.
The trick, they say, is to stop thinking like a driver using main roads, and find the quieter streets and the off-road trails.
Weldon’s trip is more than seven kilometres, and he rides it in less than 25 minutes. He believes if more people got out of their cars and gave cycling a try, they’d soon realize it’s quicker and easier than they think.
He started a monthly “bagel and bike,” in which his co-workers would meet at a local café and cycle from there to the school where they worked.
“People kept saying, ‘I can’t believe how close it is.’ ‘I can’t believe how good I feel.’ ”
As many as 1,800 cyclists a day use the popular Iron Horse and Spur Line trails.
“Most local streets wouldn’t see that many trips,” says Waterloo’s Hewitson. Trips on those two key trails peak during morning and evening rush hours.
Local governments have successfully tapped into funding from the provinces and Ottawa to build more cycling infrastructure. The region, for example, got funding to pay half the $3.8 mil-
Encouraging “active transportation” — walking and cycling, especially for short trips of less than two kilometres that could easily be done by foot or bike — is another way to ease demand on roads. People still drive for about 71 per cent of short trips.
Visit therecord.com to follow Catherine Thompson’s experience cycling the roads, paths, trails and roundabouts of Waterloo Region on video.