British Columbia's Bike to Work Week

Beginning next Monday is the province of British Columbia's "Bike to Work Week". Celebreated in 15 municipalities, including Victoria, participants are encouraged, well, to bike to work.

This May will mark the 17th year that the event has taken place. Close to 10 000 participants are expected to participated across the province, with as many as 6000 people in victoria abandoning their cars for a bicycle that week.

 

 

The purpose of the event is two fold fold.

In one sense it acts a way for people to see that biking is actually a viable mode of transportation in cities. With up to six thousand less cars on the road every day for a week, that creates a whole lot of space for people to get around. People are often frightened of biking in cities due to the lack of proper bike paths and aggressive drivers and this serves as a way to encourage people to go biking, and feel how much more enjoyable it is than driving.

Once people actually get on their bikes, the benefits they can enjoy are immediate. Biking is great exercise, far more engaging than walking or running. You get to work a ton of muscles, and not worry about hurting or damaging your knees. At the same time, you get to enjoy fresh air, feel the sun on your shoulders, and arrive at work awake and exhilerated.

Also important, it cuts back on emissions (not to mention saves you from spending gas money!). If 10 000 cars are off the road for the whole week, thats a whole ton less fumes going into the air. While I doubt that BC has a problem with smog, it's something that Montreal certainly faces from time to time from way too much air pollution. Your lungs and the planet will thank you.

Unfortunately, this trend hasn't really caught on to the same degree here in Montreal. We have car free day once a year, where around 6 blocks of city are closes off, which is nice but it only lasts around half a day. Perhaps because our city has the stigma for terrible drivers that people tend to see cyclists as diehards or lunatics. Luckily though, bike lanes are constantly being added to busy streets to protect and encourage cyclists and the Bixi service is expanding every year. I even noticed some down on Monkland Avenue in NDG the other day! Small steps, but all in the right direction.