● Gatineau hires an official “bike route co-ordinator”.
It looks like the City of Gatineau has hired a “bike route co-ordinator” (the name of the person is suppose to be released in 2 weeks).
According to a report in the Ottawa Citizen, the co-ordinator will be responsible for “overseeing the city’s existing cycling network plan, as well as other measures in order to reduce the number of cars on the roads”.
The city has budgeted $200,000 for this position for the initial two-year period.
Gatineau likes to bill itself as “Ville Vélo” (Bicycle City), and has been investing in its cycling infrastructure over the past couple of years. It currently has close to 290 kilometres of pathways and bicycle paths and wants to establish itself as one of the great cycling cities in Quebec.
Hmmm… I think most of the cycling infrastructure was instituted by the NCC as most of the land to which the bike paths sit on is ncc land for the most part. I think the initiative is a good one. But, to change the typical mindset of the people of gatineau… that’s the tough part. We americans love our automobile. Trying to change that will be near impossible now, its so easy to push a button that the pain required to jump onto a bike in order to do daily chores, bike to/from work, etc… will be an uphill battle. The best we can do is to get more kids out biking – schools, clubs (OBC just increased its rates to 100 bucks and I suspect it will increase again next year for kids), and have more events for kids cycling etc… its a change in mindset for the next generation. The current generation (from millennials onwards..), good luck with that. We’ve created a generation of push button fools, pain avoidance… where the good ol automobile is a part of most people’s image, existence and being. Almost to the point where it is seen as a necessity of life, which is absolute bullsht really, but that’s how we are brought up in america. Thus, need a good plan in place to change the mindset first…