About the survey

1. General Active Transportation Ideas

1. If elected, will you vote to fund your municipality’s Active Transportation Master Plan? Yes / No / Maybe
2. Do you think we should be spending more on active transportation? Yes / No / Maybe
3. If elected, would you be willing to propose specific active transportation initiatives to your council? Yes / No / Maybe
4. What are the most important things you would like your municipal council to accomplish over the next four years to support active transportation? Written answer

2. The Future of Shared Micro Mobility

With the acquisition of Neuron by Lime, the Region of Waterloo is continuing its shared micromobility contract with Lime.

Private companies are naturally incentivized to maximize their profits. Neuron’s approach created the following issues:

• High cost: The lowest cost for a 30-minute ride on Neuron was $12.85, compared to just $4.50 in Hamilton or $4.60 in Toronto. Neuron’s monthly membership pass of $139.90 is roughly 7 to 14 times higher than Hamilton’s ($20/mo) or Toronto’s ($120/year).
• Accessibility issues: Despite promising a 50/50 vehicle split, the Neuron private fleet shifted almost entirely to e-scooters. E-scooters are significantly cheaper than e-bikes, so this was more profitable for Neuron. This created a major age-equity issue, since many seniors and older adults would use a standard, seated bicycle, but view e-scooters as too risky. Neuron’s approach effectively locked them out of the system.
• Low utilization: From the Pedal Poll data for this year, we compared the non-pedestrian results at 2 locations in Toronto (2485 users) to 6 locations in Waterloo Region (1024 users). Shared mobility devices accounted for 12% of all non-pedestrian traffic in Toronto, but only 1% in Waterloo Region.

1. When our shared mobility contracts are next up for renewal, will you support transitioning the Region of Waterloo to a true municipal bike-share model – similar to Hamilton or Toronto – with cheaper non-electric options, and affordable monthly memberships? Yes / No / Maybe
2. If you have more ideas on how to improve bike share in the Region, we’d love to know. Written answer

3. Winter Maintenance

We conducted a survey in 2023 to identify top concerns faced by cyclists in the Region, and winter maintenance was a major concern. Painted bike lanes that are left with snow on them after they have been “cleared”, and other major cycling routes that remain snow covered after sidewalks and roads have been cleared, were the two most common concerns.

1. Will you support the funding required to achieve a snow clearing standard for major cycling routes within the same time frame (maximum of 24 hours) as we have for roads? Yes / No / Maybe
2. What other ideas do you have to make winter biking easier and safer? Written answer

4. E-bike Regulations

Currently the municipalities in the Region treat all e-bikes the same. E-bikes are not legally allowed to use most of the safe cycling routes in the Region. E-bikes help seniors and others to consider cycling more, as they make it easier to climb hills and cycle farther.

1. The Province is proposing a new class structure for power-assisted e-bikes that would exclude moped and motorcycle-type bikes (these would require licences). For the e-bikes that do not require licences, would you support the municipalities giving the same access as a regular bike, provided they fulfill two key criteria – maximum speed from the motor of 32 km/hr and maximum weight of 55 kilograms? Yes / No / Maybe
2. What other ideas do you have for changes in regulations that would make it easier or safer to cycle in the Region? Written answer

5. Regional Budget (regional and mayoral candidates only)

The vast majority of the Regional work on cycling projects is done only when major road infrastructure is renewed. While this is “efficient”, it can also be an inefficient use of tax dollars.

This often leads to one of the most persistent cyclist concerns – patchwork infrastructure that does not produce long connected safe cycling routes. Even a 200 metre gap that is unsafe can radically reduce the volume of cyclists that will use a route.

1. Would you support a significant allocation of the Regional budget for “standalone” cycling infrastructure projects? The expectation is that staff will identify the most critical gaps in the cycling network that could be filled now, rather than waiting for the next major roadwork on that section of road. Yes / No / Maybe
2. Feel free to tell us more! Do you have any other ideas to ensure that future cycling networks are built in a connected manner? Written answer

6. Bicycle Parking

The inability to securely lock a bicycle when you reach your destination was another major concern noted in our 2023 survey.

1. Do you have ideas on how your municipality could better support installing more bike racks and/or fully enclosed bike lockers or cages? Written answer

7. Signed Wayfinding (Cambridge candidates only)

CycleWR has made a proposal to add multiple new signed wayfinding cycling routes in Cambridge, making it easy to follow indirect safe routes to major destinations, when the direct routes on busy streets have no safe cycling infrastructure (for example, Concession Street). Signage cost for a typical route is less than $15,000, and there is no disruption to drivers before or after the signage is put in.

1. If elected, would you support this initiative? Yes / No / Maybe
2. Would you like to hear more about this proposal? Yes / No / Maybe
3. Any additional comments? Written answer