During these extraordinary times, the health and safety, and well-being of you, our staff, our volunteers, and the community in general is our top priority. To that end, we are following the advice of health authorities and government and postponing all in person events until the end of May. We will continue to the monitor the situation and resume our normal activities once the current restrictions are relaxed or removed.
In the meantime, our staff, board, and volunteers continue to advocate for a city where every road is safe for cycling, all bike paths are connected, and riding a bike is normal and always fun. Our Outreach Committee has changed it’s focus from in person events that engage our community and gather important input from people like you toward information sharing that will provide tips to help you and others embrace cycling in your everyday activities. We’re busy working with our partners on the development of self-guided rides that we hope will provide people with a much needed distraction from the events that have overtaken us.
COVID-19 Related Postponements
Bike Winnipeg AGM – Postponed
Our Annual General Meeting (AGM), which had been scheduled for April 8th, 2020 at Fools + Horses Coffee has been postponed. We are currently looking into options to host the AGM in June, possibly/probably as an online event, and will send out an AGM notice once plans have been finalized.
Ride Marshal Training – Cancelled
Our Ride Marshal training sessions, which had been scheduled for May 9th and 23rd have been cancelled.
Rides – On Hold for Now
While all rides are on hold for now, we are working with our partners to provide rides once restrictions are reduced or removed, and are looking into platforms that will let us provide engaging self-guided tours that you can enjoy on your own or with your family. Again, we’ll keep you posted on developments.
Bike Week – Postponed
Our Work Going Forward
As we navigate our way through the COVID-19 crisis, we are continuing our efforts to make cycling in Winnipeg a safe, enjoyable, accessible and convenient transportation choice year round. As you’ll see below, we’ve moved our committee and local bike group meetings over to a virtual platform, which you are welcome to join. A sampling of our current efforts follows:
Advocacy
Transportation Master Plan – Winnipeg’s Transportation Master Plan 2050 is a major policy document that will be used to guide development of the city’s land use and transportation infrastructure for the next 30 years. Over the last few months, we have been busy developing a coalition of partners in the transportation field to gather input for the strategy, provide recommendations that will help build a more sustainable city, and educate and engage the wider community in the process. Our goal is to deliver positive outcomes for people on foot, bike, or transit.
Pedestrian and Cycling Strategies Update – The city has just begun the process of updating its Pedestrian and Cycling Strategies, which were passed back in July of 2015. As the key policy document driving the development of Winnipeg’s bike network and bike culture, a key focus of our advocacy committee’s efforts will be the development of recommendations for this policy along with education and engagement of our membership and the general public on those recommendations.
Other Key Advocacy Projects – Beyond the Transportation and Master Plan and Pedestrian and Cycling Strategies, the advocacy committee (working in tandem with our Local Bike Groups) will be focused on a number of studies and roadway projects with important implications for the city’s bike network: These include:
- Wolseley to Downtown Walk/Bike Project
- Leila Avenue Protected Bike Lanes
- Downtown Protected Bike Lanes
- Keewatin Underpass
- Arlington Bridge Replacement
Outreach
Our Outreach Committee works to educate the public on existing cycling infrastructure throughout the city and to encourage the public to incorporate cycling into their everyday lives.
Tips on Incorporating Cycling into Everyday Life – We’re hoping to develop a series of posts on our website that will provide practical tips to people looking to increase their use of cycling in everyday life. How exactly do you go about shopping for groceries, dropping the kids off at daycare, or navigating your way across the city to meet up with friends? We’ll cover this and more in the blog/vlog series.
Self Guided Tours – For the time being at least, group rides such as our popular ArtRides will have to remain on hold. To help give you some ideas for rides that can be managed on your own or with your family, we are working with our ride partners to put together a series of fun and engaging self-guided tours that will be made available through our website.
Fundraising
Your continued financial support is crucial to keep us moving forward. If you haven’t already done so, please consider becoming a member of Bike Winnipeg or making a donation. Without your support, there is no Bike Winnipeg.
All committees are open to all members in good standing. If you would like to join a committee, please get in touch with our Executive Director, Mark Cohoe.
Local Bike Groups
Local Bike Groups are Bike Winnipeg’s geographically based sub-committees of our Advocacy and Outreach Committees. The areas to be covered by the local bike groups will mirror the city of Winnipeg’s 5 community committees (City Centre, Assiniboia, Lord Selkirk-West Kildonan, East Kildonan-Transcona, and the Riel Community Committee). The objective of the local bike groups is to:
- Draw on neighbourhood-level expertise to help refine plans for the bike network
- Identify and engage local stakeholders;
- Actively engage the public in the vision and mission of Bike Winnipeg.
We launched these groups at the end of January, and are currently in the process of transitioning to a virtual workspace for meetings. If you are interested in joining one of our Local Bike Groups, please get in touch with our Executive Director, Mark Cohoe.