Volunteering with Bike Winnipeg
Volunteering with Bike Winnipeg can be a fun and fulfilling experience that let’s you share your passion for cycling while encouraging and empowering people to get onto their bikes.
As a non-profit, Bike Winnipeg depends on volunteer labour to accomplish our goal of getting more people cycling more often. We offer a number of meaningful opportunities for people to get involved at various levels of commitment and across a range of tasks while taking advantage of a wide range of skills. We’d be thrilled to welcome you onto our team. We’ve started the journey to a bikeable city, but we also know that we have a long way to go before every road is safe for children and grandparents to ride. Planning a route is as simple as knowing where you want to go, and doing the weekly grocery shop by bicycle isn’t just possible, it’s preferable!
Contact us at ed@bikewinnipeg.ca
Volunteer Roles
Bicycle Valet
Bike Winnipeg works with event promoters to offer Bicycle Valet services at events to reduce traffic and parking congestion and encourage Active Transportation use in Winnipeg. By providing a free, safe place for the public to park their “wheels”, our bicycle valet service is encouraging people to choose an active lifestyle and increase the use of Winnipeg’s growing Active Transportation infrastructure. The service depends on volunteers for schlepping (hauling equipment to and from venues by bicycle), event set up and tear down, and of course the actual valet service itself (parking and ticketing bicycles).
Bike Counts
Bike Winnipeg has been counting and reporting on the number of cyclists across the city since 2007, providing the only historical measure of cycling activity in Winnipeg. Volunteers are asked to make 2 hour counts of pedestrian and bicycle traffic at an assigned location.
Ride Marshals
Our ride marshals are an integral part of our group rides program. Ride Marshals are responsible for helping to ensure the safety of our ride participants during group rides. Ride marshals will help lead rides and manage traffic along our routes. Additional training will be provided.
Cycling Ambassadors
At public events across the city, our cycling ambassadors communicate Bike Winnipeg positions and priorities, help the public select safe routes around the city, and share knowledge and advice to encourage people to get out on their bikes.
Committee Volunteers
Local Bike Groups
Our Local Bike Groups draw on neighbourhood-level expertise to help us refine plans for the city’s bike network, identify and engage local stakeholders, and help us fulfill our role as a stakeholder in various city projects related to the bike network.
Local Bike Groups actively engage the public by holding periodic meetings, organizing local events and displays that introduce people to local bike routes and connections, local shops and attractions, and generally encouraging people to get out on their bikes.
The area covered by each local bike group mirrors the city of Winnipeg’s five community committees (City Centre, Assiniboia, Lord Selkirk-West Kildonan, East Kildonan-Transcona, and the Riel Community Committee). Each of these committees is made up of three council wards.
Outreach
The purpose of the outreach committee is to engage the public on cycling related opportunities, develop connections with community organizations that share common values, encourage and inspire more people to bike more often, and connect potentially interested members and volunteers with Bike Winnipeg.The committee is responsible for:
- Developing and organizing rides that introduce people to cycling and the city’s bike network through fun, informative, and convenient rides held around the city.
- Giving Bike Winnipeg a public presence at various community events where we can promote Bike Winnipeg and its positions, Encourage them to provide feedback on city/provincial/federal projects and policies, and promote cycling in general.
- Organizing and facilitating community events aimed at informing and gaining public feedback on local projects or the local bike network.
- Developing and organizing educational opportunities for members and the public.
- Networking with like-minded organizations and stakeholders
- Encouraging people to volunteer
Volunteers to the committee are welcomed to attend meetings as regularly as they like.
Advocacy
The advocacy committee is responsible for several tasks such as:
- Advocating for specific active transportation projects around the city of Winnipeg.
- Developing recommendations for walk/bike projects and plans.
- Developing recommendations for city/provincial/federal policies that impact people on bikes
- Advocating for laws that protect vulnerable road users such as those on bicycle.
- Advocating for more active transportation infrastructure dollars at the municipal, provincial and federal level.
Committee members also act as stakeholders on various MPI working groups, advocating for better training of motorists so that they can interact safely with people on bikes, data collection and sharing, and safety campaigns. Volunteers on this committee will be responsible for advocating for projects with a city-wide scope and will work with the Local Bike Groups to determine local and regional priorities.
Fundraising
The fundraising committee helps Bike Winnipeg recruit members, solicit donations and sponsorship, plan and run fundraising events, and identify and apply for various grants.