Event Description
Bike Winnipeg and Safe Speeds Winnipeg presents
Bike for the Future – Bourkevale 30!
Come for a ride with us in one of Winnipeg’s first neighborhood’s to have a safe speed limit! Bourkevale is located in St. James, west of route 90 and north of Portage ave. Providing the residents of Bourkevale with safe speeds will help promote safe active travel which will allow people of all ages and abilities the opportunity to use financially and ecologically sustainable modes of travel. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/speed-limit-reduce-winnipeg-30-km-1.5386329
We will be riding an approximately 8 km loop within and around the Bourkevale Community. The ride is for all ages and abilities. No one will be left behind!
When: September 24, 2022
Where: Meeting at Bourkevale Community Centre, 100 Ferry Road, https://goo.gl/maps/RogJiJehFbjiP4g29
What is Bike for the Future?
Bike for the Future was first held in August of 2021 in response to cuts to active transportation funding and the need to create safe speeds for active transportation users in our neighborhoods.
We are a group of concerned citizens advocating for safe spaces for our friends and families to actively commute. Walking and cycling are the two most environmentally friendly modes of transportation and need to play a key role in our greenhouse gas reductions. Transportation makes up 50% of Winnipeg’s emissions (https://winnipeg.ca/sustainability/ClimateChange.stm).
We are in the midst of a climate emergency. Extreme weather events are happening more frequently. Locally weather extremes are having a negative impact on agriculture. Air quality warnings became common place in the summer of 2021 as fires raged in northern Manitoba and Ontario. This summer we’re experiencing record setting precipitation and flooding. Every day when we turn on our radios and TV’s we see and hear how our global neighbors are suffering from a host of extreme weather events being amplified by anthropogenic climate change. We have had enough foot dragging by all levels of government. They have a responsibility to make walking and riding a bike the easiest way to get around within and between our urban neighborhoods.
Winnipeggers need a transportation system that allows them to safely, comfortably, and conveniently travel from point a to point b, and they need access to safe bike storage. Currently 60% of Winnipeggers feel walking and cycling is unsafe. To make it safe and comfortable, motorized vehicles need to drive slowly on our residential roads (no more than 30 km/h). We need separated and protected spaces on routes with higher vehicle speeds and we need plenty of places to safely cross busy streets and rail lines in a reasonable amount of time.
1) We demand that the city start making investments on par with need and non-budget public policy in our cycling and walking strategy. Currently, the City of Winnipeg spends 10 million dollars’ on AT projects annually; the city should be spending at least 27.5 million in order to complete the active transportation network in a reasonable amount of time. The United Nations has recommended that cities spend 20 percent of their transportation budget on active travel. – https://cyclingindustry.news/united-nations-call-for-at-least-20-of-transport-budgets-for-cycling-and-walking/
2) The city and province need to work out how to lower the default speed limit to 30 km/h immediately. City engineers can set higher speeds on collector and arterial routes where appropriate. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/speed-limit-reduce-winnipeg-30-km-1.5386329
3) The city and province need to get a handle on bicycle theft by addressing the root causes of theft. There is an epidemic of bike thefts which discourage people from actively commuting. Providing better mental health supports, living wages and a universal basic income as well as installing more secure solutions for people on bikes could go a long way to reducing bike theft and encourage more people to actively commute. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/bike-winnipeg-theft-survey-1.6408326