Toronto Bike Summit
I was honored to speak at this year’s Toronto Bike Summit. It was a great event – congratulations to TCAT for hosting an inspiring and informative group of speakers. It was great to see so many old friends, and meet new ones.
The event was further evidence of the growing momentum for and interest in cycling as a mainstream mode of transportation. The City of Toronto is making investments in cycling accommodations – including bike lockers at Union Station – and cycling advocates, and many forward thinking politicians – and an excellent, professional staff at the City have our thanks.
Much has been made of the polarizing and rather unhelpful debates in Toronto lately and the so-called “war on cars'. It is encouraging to see that an increasing number of folks reject this paradigm. Fresh from attending the Velo City global conference on Cycling in Brussels, it is clear that in a growing number of jurisdictions in the world , sustainable mobility -- in which the bicycle plays a prominent role -- is growing in popularity as an important antidote to a number of pressing global problems: pollution, heart disease and obesity, oil dependency and economic development.
My hope is that we, and in particular our political leaders, can be inspired by these bicycle friendly jurisdictions and that the growing numbers of our fellow citizens who have share our love affair with the bicycle will join us in creating a Bicycle Friendly Ontario!
