Summer 2015 Update

Welcome Messages

From the Regional Advisory Committee

On behalf of the Regional Advisory Committee, as well as the entire HUB Board, I want to express my appreciation to all Committee chairs, and supporters of all types - from casual contributors to regular members who contribute their precious daytime, evening and weekend hours to supporting the HUB mandate. You make cycling better across the region. I encourage you to read our 2015/16 Action Plan to find out more about our mandate and goals, and how critical it is to have committee support.

Although regional issues of importance to cycling arise all the time, now that we're in a post-plebiscite period our focus is to complete the inventory of route gaps - municipal and provincial - within each committee's jurisdiction. Completion of the master gap inventory will allow us to begin the process of refining, sorting and filtering the inventory for review with regional transportation stakeholders, from the municipal to the provincial level, including TransLink, Metro Vancouver and other prospective partners with whom we need to work in the years to come. The gap inventory will be the real substance behind the coming UnGaptheMap campaign (more on that below).

In the meantime, please come to the HUB Annual General Meeting (AGM) on September 19 in Vancouver. We'll be electing new Board members, and we'd like to have broad regional representation. Let your friends and co-workers know that we're looking, and send them to bikehub.ca/agm. Thanks and have a great rest of the summer!

Alexander Clarkson
President, HUB Cycling Board of Directors • Co-Chair, Regional Advisory Committee (RAC)

 

From the Director of Programs

Spring 2015 was a big success for HUB Programs! From the continued expansion of Bike to School and Bike to Work Week - with record-breaking participation this past spring - to new directions and outcomes for Bike Friendly Business and StreetWise public cycling education programs, there's lots to be excited about.  

One key factor in our continued growth is our renewed contract with TransLink, via their TravelSmart active transportation promotion program, which will once again subsidize our education and promotion in participating Metro Vancouver municipalities.

Other program funding partners includes the municipalities of Burnaby, Coquitlam, New Westminster, North Vancouver City, Port Moody, Richmond, Surrey, West Vancouver, as well as the University of BC. Coquitlam and Richmond in particular increased their contract deliverables from those of 2014, and HUB staff had a very busy spring delivering all our contract responsibilities. 

Some Metro Vancouver municipalities have not yet allocated funding to cycling education or promotion.  In those cases HUB has applied for community foundation funding where available to provide Bike to School demonstration projects, and worked to connect with municipal staff to inform them about HUB’s services and outcomes. Through community grant applications with New Westminster, White Rock, Langley City, Langley Township, and Delta – and early discussions with elected officials and staff in the City of Maple Ridge – we hope to further expand the reach of our programs in 2015.  

Finally, after a two-year dry spell in the City of Vancouver, where HUB was only contracted to deliver Bike to Work Week celebration stations, public tendering for the multi-year delivery of a broad range of active transportation promotion activities began this past winter and spring.  Two separate procurement processes will account for all aspects of cycling promotion and cycling instruction in schools. In June, we learned that we were the successful bidder in the school-based instruction portion, which may lead to a multi-year contract.  The City of Vancouver will likely tender other cycling promotion activities later this year, and HUB is prepared to respond.

Thank you for participating in our ongoing program development by supporting conversations with local stakeholders, as well as our grant applications, and all the work you do to promote cycling across the region. It's working!

Tim Welsh
Director of Programs

 

Message from the Committee Liaison

My job as Committee Liaison is to help you reach your committee goals, whether it's about building committee capacity, finding new and better ways to communicate with your audiences, or engaging with decision-makers about cycling investments and improvements....and often all 3! Here are some of the ways I can help you get there:

  • Regular meetings with me outside of scheduled Committee Meetings - phone &/or f2f
  • Ad hoc meetings with me on specific, pressing committee issues
  • Send you more/better cycling resources - info, docs, links
  • Help you engage local gov't, local businesses, associations & related community groups
  • Get you more training on advocacy, media and committee management

Some committee topics or tasks are challenging or difficult to resolve; similarly, you may have answers or ideas that other committee chairs might benefit from. So, starting in September, we want to begin conducting monthly Mutual Aid Calls during which, with my facilitation, you can share your questions, ideas and successes with your fellow HUB committee chairs.

I will set up an open dial-in conference line for 1-hour every month on a weekday evening. You just show up!  Please indicate your availability for a monthly call starting in September - participate in this Doodle poll which provides the following options:

  • First Wednesday
  • Last Sunday
  • Last Monday

Please visit the poll and submit your preferred day & time!

Beyond these monthly calls, I will continue to remind and support you with inputting your committee's local gaps on our Gap list spreadsheet. This work forms the basis of a much-needed, standardized inventory of bike network improvement priorities for your local areas and the region, as well as our public UnGaptheMap campaign. This tool will help you and your committee to achieve your goals. I will be contacting you this month to discuss next steps for the rest of the summer and fall.

Thanks for all your efforts and time - it's a pleasure working with you and your fellow committee members!

Colin Stein
Director of Marketing, Communications & Campaigns • HUB Committee Liaison

Action Update

A group of HUB staff, Board and committee members are working closely together to improve the quality of our relationship with the Ministry of Transportation & Infrastructure (MoTI) and related decision-makers - mainly, how HUB can collaborate on and impact cycling prioritization as part of provincial highway projects. A big part of this will be re-introducing HUB, our structure, and the purpose of UnGaptheMap and other committee work. We are currently seeking meetings with senior staff, as well as the new Minister responsible for TransLink and other local MLAs over the next few months.

While we pursue meetings, our provincial roads continue to require maintenance; and as cycling volumes grow, so too does the need for greater maintenance frequency and quality. Mainroad, the province's maintenance contractor for the Lower Mainland, has asked HUB to send them feedback on maintenance services provided this past spring through to this summer. Go here to provide your input - one response per Committee please.

We can't forget the connection between cycling, emissions reduction and climate action goals in BC. As part of next steps to address climate change and act, the Province is seeking to understand public opinion about climate action values, strategies and priorities. Please participate - visit their website and answer their survey, which closes August 17.

Lastly, working alongside long-time HUB supporter David Hay of Richards Buell Sutton LLP, we are currently a member of the Motor Vehicle Act Legislative Review Committee, which is making several recommendations to the government on how to make the MVA fairer for all road users. Visit our webpage to see our recommended Motor Vehicle Act improvements, and email any feedback to Erin.

Bike to School

The Bike to School program is growing! HUB has been instructing growing numbers of schools and students in more municipalities each successive year; in 2015 the relative number of Ride the Road courses (grades 6-9) we delivered grew in comparison to our Learn2Ride courses (grades 2-5). To date in 2015, over 5,000 students have participated in Bike to School courses.

Ride the Road participants receive in-class and school-ground cycling instruction, plus local, on-road riding instruction. New Westminster, North Vancouver, Richmond, and Coquitlam have contracted HUB to provide Ride the Road courses in their schools.  

Learn2Ride continues to be a very valuable intro course for primary grade children – check out this great video one of our talented volunteers made for Learn2Ride!

Volunteer with Bike to School

The Bike to School team is seeking volunteers to help instructors deliver our Learn2Ride bike skills and safety course. Learn2Ride is a playground-based introductory course for grades 3-5 that teaches students how to negotiate different types of road safety situations in a simulated environment, free from traffic. Cycle station volunteers help children build their cycling skills, knowledge and confidence and are a big part of the program's success!

Interested volunteers are invited to attend an orientation on Tuesday, August 25th from 2-3pm at the HUB office. (See this volunteer description - share with any committee members or friends who you think may be interested).

For more information and to sign up to volunteer contact alyshia@bikehub.ca.

Bike to School Week

HUB organizes Bike to School Week with HASTeBC across BC, and this year’s event was a soaring success, with participation at an estimated 15,000 students (double 2014)!  Our interactive trip logging poster was a big part of the increased, friendly competition between schools for provincial bragging rights (and prizes). 

Bike to Work Week

Participation in Spring 2015 Bike to Work Week once again surpassed all previous records, including sponsorships! Businesses are recognizing the benefits of more urban cycling, with no greater testament than the revelation that the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Area is now supportive of new bike lanes, contrary to their previous opposition!

Spring 2015 Bike to Work Week results

  • 10,924 riders (21% new to cycling)
  • 53,750 trips logged (avg 10 km / trip)
  • 534,948 kilometres
  • 16,048,044 Calories Burned
  • 115,977 kg of greenhouse gases
  • 55% Male, 45% Female

Host a Celebration Station for Fall Bike to Work Week

Fall Bike to Work Week is fast approaching (Oct 26-Nov 1). If you're interested in hosting a celebration station in your municipality, please email Alyshia with the desired date, time and location before August 20th.

Here are the two types of Celebration Stations that can be arranged:

  • HUB Staffed Celebration Stations: Sponsored by municipalities and/or corporate sponsors, which pays for HUB staff to organize and run during BTWW, including food/refreshments, prizing and volunteer coordination. May be located anywhere in Metro Vancouver - locations guided by sponsor preference. Sponsorship starts at $1,500, and ranges up to $2,500 for additional marketing recognition. If you have a suggestion or want to introduce us to a sponsor, please email Laura.
  • Community-Run Celebration Stations: Run independently by community groups, sponsors or HUB Committees. Primary requirement is to provide a table and/or tent, food/refreshments, prizing and necessary volunteers. The HUB office provides you with maps, brochures and a banner. Click here for more information about how to set up your own community station this fall. If you plan to set one up on municipal land and would like HUB staff to help with the permit, please email Alyshia with the date, time and location of your station before August 20th.

StreetWise Cycling Courses

Our bike education program continues to promote and host a variety of cycling instruction and bike maintenance courses, including new opportunities to provide instruction to new Canadians, and toddlers and youth through summer parks programming.

While our community centres and bike shop courses in the City of Vancouver fulfills the region’s greatest, most concentrated demand, registration consistency is quite variable, and low registration sometimes means delivering courses at a financial loss, or cancelling.  We’re currently using a Vancouver Greenest City Grant to develop more marketing strategies and materials to reach more potential fee-paying clients with the right message, so we can ensure the entire StreetWise program will be financially viable.  We’ll monitor the outcomes of this project over the summer.

Meanwhile, Burnaby, Coquitlam, and Richmond are paying for the delivery of specialized StreetWise courses, such as Learn to Ride courses for immigrants. UBC contracted HUB to deliver an outdoor cycling skills workshop over the lunch period during Bike to Work Week, and the City of Surrey contracted HUB to provide public bike maintenance courses at public libraries.  The City of Coquitlam in 2014 asked HUB for the first time to deliver what we call “StreetWise Junior” courses to toddlers and children as part of summer parks programming, and the program was so popular that Coquitlam has contracted us to deliver more of these courses this summer – this year’s courses filled up within days of being announced.

Check out this short video on a Streetwise course for older women that we delivered through a grant from ViaSport.

Want StreetWise courses in your area?

To set up a StreetWise course outside Vancouver, we need either a confirmed and booked location, or registration of min. 6 participants. However, we often need both - participants won't register without a confirmed date/time and location, and HUB can't pay for a location and book an instructor without paid registrations.

If your local municipality or committee are keen to solve these challenges, email Scout to discuss the opportunity, and how to make it happen!

Bike Friendly Business | Traction Toolkit

In early 2015, we relaunched our Bike Friendly Business program to support more people cycling more through workplace promotion, education and support.

Traction Toolkit is a two-year package of services to guide employers in all aspects of improving their workplace bikeability.  Following completion of a marketing and sales plan, supported in part by Vancity Credit Union, we hired Sherese Johnson to begin talking to businesses about the proigram, and we’re thrilled to already see strong….traction!  Learn more about the Traction Toolkit – and check out the great video celebrating Vancity’s commitment to workplace cycling.

While working to establish Traction Toolkit, we continued to deliver Workplace Cycling Workshops via municipal contracts and for a number of participating Bike to Work Week corporate teams.

 

Membership Update

Membership is an important part of everything we do at HUB; members give us our voice for better cycling in the region, and membership dues support committee operations and our action campaigns, like Vote to Bike, UnGaptheMap and work on changes to the Motor Vehicle Act.

So...we need your help to support HUB membership sales and renewal every time you're out in the community!

With your support at local events throughout the spring and summer, we've seen some encouraging upticks in membership regionally, and look forward to more. Anytime your committee hosts or appears at an event, please contact Nicole to arrange for event supplies, including a membership sales kit. We can also support volunteer recruitment - ask Nicole or Colin how!

Remember, while not mandatory, we expect regular committee members to join HUB as members; any HUB member on your committee can be given access to the Local Committee Resources section of this website - email Colin to obtain access for a committee member.

 

Campaigns Update

At this point, we expect all committees to be familiar with the objective and parameters of the UnGaptheMap campaign, to have identified local gaps, and to be entering gaps as line items in our master Gap List.

We've made some great progress with many committees, but some still have work to do. It is imperative for your committee to complete your Gap entry work by Labour Day so RAC can assess the complete list, and we can begin our next stage of public messaging. Colin will contact you in the coming weeks to check on progress; if you have any questions or concerns, please contact him now.

Want to better understand how UnGaptheMap fits into the regional transportation conversation? It's actually a great answer to "what now", with the No outcome to the Transportation Plebiscite - read more here.