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Category: HC Link

Peer sharing session about online community engagement

Published 2016-12-06

Original link

On November 23, I facilitated an HC Link peer-sharing webinar on online community engagement. I had the misfortune to lose my internet connection half a dozen times during the session, which is always exciting when one is facilitating — a huge thank-you to the participants for your patience! And to Andrea Bodkin, HC Link’s Coordinator, who stepped in as technical backup.

We left the definition of “online community engagement” open. Whether it’s a community that wants to engage online, or an online community that wants to increase engagement, a community is the people involved and not the technology, so it’s quite possible to talk about both at once.

We discussed creating a Terms of Reference for an online community — the difficulty of drafting such a thing before discussing it with potential community members, yet the need for management accountability. The need for flexibility in the document was raised, so that the group can grow and change over time and feel ownership of the community.

Next, people suggested ways to pique people’s interest in the community. Relevance was key here: connect people to content and expertise, help them with their work and goals. One participant was running a community that had recently added a feature that allowed users to tag others in discussions if their opinions or expertise would be helpful — at which point they are emailed a notification, and their response (or lack thereof) is, of course, visible, providing some mild peer pressure to participate.

Participants felt regular updates helped a community both feel and stay active. A monthly newsletter via email, with links back to the community highlighting what’s new / hot topics / upcoming events was one great idea, as were occasional face-to-face meetings (if possible).

Thinking about the technology itself, people generally suggested thinking first about what functions the community truly needs and where people are already. Can you start with a plain old email list? Or Facebook? Often, you can. It’s easier for people to engage if it doesn’t involve learning an entirely new tool.

The issue of moderation was raised. Moderation can be fantastically time-consuming and a source of contention, in my experience, so I suggested avoiding it if at all possible. Others pointed out that group culture, if developed carefully over time, often works well to counter or discourage inappropriate posts. Sometimes supporting people behind the scenes to post and model a desired behaviour — social support of a good post, or respectful criticism — can work well to get things going.

We finished by encouraging people to join HC Link’s discussion list, Community-Links (http://lists.hclinkontario.ca/listinfo.cgi/community-links-hclinkontario.ca), and to get in touch if they had questions that weren’t answered in the peer-sharing session.

Thanks to all the participants!

Here are some of the resources that were shared in the session:

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Recap: Canada’s Vision Zero Summit 2016

Published 2016-11-29

Original link. Also posted on Dandyhorse

This post is part of a blog series leading up to Canada’s Vision Zero Summit on November 29, 2016. Learn more about Sweden’s Vision Zero approach and Parachute’s Canadian approach.

We’re just wrapping up a terrific day at Parachute Canada’s Vision Zero Summit (#VZSummit).

After opening words from Parachute’s Pamela Fuselli (@PFuselli), City Councillor Jaye Robinson (@JayeRobinson), who is Chair of the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee, spoke with both optimism and determination about Toronto’s progress towards Vision Zero. Some highlights: “watch your speed” signs near schools, red-light cameras at 79 priority locations, a plan to double bike infrastructure (hurray!), and a massive education campaign beginning in 2017. She noted that Vision Zero has had strong – and much appreciated — support from the media.

A panel on Vision Zero around the world followed, moderated by Dr. Ian Pike. Dr. Pike enumerated five key areas for laws that help reduce road deaths: speed, drunk driving, helmets, seatbelts, and required child restraints.

Dr Mats-Åke Belin, speaking via video from Sweden and by a previously recorded presentation, noted that Vision Zero is a scientific, systematic approach to safety, putting responsibility on professionals instead of blaming road users. Implementation isn’t one-size-fits-all, however; and as more countries adopt the approach, we can learn from each other.

Dr. David Sleet spoke from his experience at the Centres for Disease Control in the US, noting that on the list of public health achievements of 20th century, #10 was advances in road safety: road safety is the intersection of transport and public health. As Europe saw 50% a reduction in alcohol-related and 47% in non-alcohol related road deaths over 10 years, he said, Vision Zero can be a philosophy, useful in keeping people’s eyes on the eventual goal of zero deaths. Implementation requires goals & targets to be set, the use of evidence-based strategies, and mechanisms to assess impact. Examples of interventions included rumble strips (which reduce run-off-road crashes by 40%) and graduated licensing, in particular reducing the number of passengers allowed in cars driven by new drivers. Each city’s mayor must commit to endorsing #VisionZero, among other requirements for designation – an interesting indicator!

Ian Grossman (@AAMVAConnection) from the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (the body that represents US and Canadian driver authorities) spoke about the Toward Zero Deaths document (the US strategy on highway safety) and the Road to Zero Coalition. Toward Zero Deaths is a data-driven approach, with proven countermeasures listed in the report. Areas of emphasis in the report include drivers & passengers, vulnerable users, vehicles, infrastructure, emergency medical services, and safety management. He noted that trying to shift safety culture is the big game-changer: of course it isn’t easy, but it has been done – for example, motorbike helmets. He encouraged everyone to explore the clearinghouse for initiatives at http://www.towardzerodeaths.org/resources/.

A question came up at the end of the panel: What should Canada do? Something at the national level? At the provincial level? City level? Answer: Yes, yes, and yes.

Ned Levitt of Parachute’s Board challenged everyone – in memory of his 18-year-old daughter, who was hit by a car while out running and died — to never give up the fight for safer roads.

An award was presented to the Ambassador of Sweden, Per Sjögren, to recognize Sweden’s lead on Vision Zero.

The next panel, moderated by Dr. Marie-Soleil Cloutier, covered the Canadian road safety environment.

Christine Le Grand of the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators talked about Canada’s Road Safety Strategy 2025. It focuses on a number of specific risk groups as well as the general population. A database of safety measures that have been proven or are promising is available at http://crss-2025.ccmta.ca/en/road-safety-measures.

The Canadian Urban Institute’s Glenn Miller (@CANURB) focused on seniors and mobility, because Canada is aging: 1 in 6 Canadians is over 65, and it will be 1 in 4 by 2041. The safety of all roles — drivers, cyclists, pedestrians, and people using mobility devices – is important (although he noted that cyclists mostly forgotten when talking about seniors’ safety). The Age Friendly Communities initiative aims to reduce the need for seniors to drive. They define mobility as the ability to travel SAFELY where and when you want.

Tony Churchill (@CARSInfo), from the Canadian Association of Road Safety Professionals, gave us a spoiler alert: Vision Zero is NOT about cyclists and pedestrians, but about all road users. We need to make sure messaging reaches everyone, because people ARE traffic. Semantics are important: accidents vs. collisions, aspirational vs. realistic, target/goal vs. vision….

Finally, Traffic Injury Research Foundation President and CEO Robyn Robertson (@TIRFCanada) named drugs, distraction, and automated vehicles as the three priority road issues for the next decade. Drivers testing positive for alcohol have declined in recent years, but positive drug tests have increased. Issues in implementing drug-impaired driving interventions include both the complexity of the science and popular misconceptions about the riskiness of the behaviour. TIRF’s drug-impaired driving learning centre will be available in December. Distracted driving kills about 300 people per year in Canada, especially 20-34-year-olds; a national strategy is coming in January.

The after-lunch panel was moderated by Linda Rothman and talked on a more practical level about what Vision Zero efforts are happening in Canada.

Gerry Shimko from the Office of Traffic Safety in Edmonton opened the panel. Edmonton was the first city in Canada to approve Vision Zero as their road safety strategy in their 2016-2020 plan. Targeted implementations, including right- and left-hand turn alterations, have helped Edmonton reduce road injuries from 8200 in 2006 to 3800 in 2015. At one intersection there used to be 35 crashes a year and that has now dropped to only two. “You have to do something illegal to crash there now,” he said.

Roger Browne, Manager of the City of Toronto Traffic Safety Unit Toronto talked about Toronto’s new five-year, $80M road safety plan. It has six primary emphasis areas with specific countermeasures proposed for each: pedestrians, school children, older adults, cyclists, aggressive drivers & distraction, and motorcyclists. Many agencies were partners in creating the plan as part of a large working group – again, a theme of the day; virtually all successful Vision Zero efforts involve large, diverse partnerships or coalitions. Organizational transformation inside the City is key: there must be a fundamental shift from an opportunistic to a strategic approach. They also changed focus. Since 74% of fatalities were vulnerable road users over past 5 years, it made sense to focus on these serious crashes instead of on routine fender-benders. Browne’s key lessons: 1. Be data driven. 2. Be more strategic than opportunistic. 3. Leverage existing resources.

Greg Hart (@GregsThinking) of Safe Calgary talked a lot about the word “should” and how it’s a red flag. “Should” is a product of attention & willpower: to do something you “should” do, you must be paying attention AND have the necessary willpower, interest to act. But both attention and willpower are extremely limited, much more limited than we think, and so decisions about driving are made based on environmental cues you’re not consciously processing. Instead, we need to use a high emphasis on design. Enforcement should be for the lowest-performing 10% of users because design should ensure normal users do the right thing. Since people who feel vulnerable drive more carefully, design can incorporate features that make people feel more vulnerable: novel, variable, ambiguous, complex, unauthorized, proximal, opaque…. In Calgary they are aiming for safe and smooth mobility for everybody. Smooth means presenting design so people do the safe thing — you create more successful situations so we criminalize fewer people and have fewer injuries.

The working part of the day wrapped up with a forward-looking charrette session led by the George Brown Institute Without Boundaries to get people to tease out thoughts about actions, drivers of change, and more. They’ll pull the results into a report for Parachute.

The day ended with a very welcome reception – let’s hope everyone made good plans to #GetHomeSafe!

HC Link’s blog series on Vision Zero

Vision Zero: No more road deaths

Why I’m SO Excited about Vision Zero

Vision Zero’s approach to infrastructure: Making mobility safe from the start

Public health and Vision Zero: what role do we have to play?

Working toward zero – together

What should we do? Reflections from the Vision Zero Summit

 

Looking to learn more about Vision Zero?

Sweden’s Vision Zero Website

Parachute’s Vision Zero Website

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Working Towards Zero — Together

Published 2016-11-29
This post is part of a blog series leading up to Canada’s Vision Zero Summit on November 29, 2016. Learn more about Sweden’s Vision Zero approach and Parachute’s Canadian approach.

It struck me that the first panel at the Vison Zero Summit this morning was really about partnership. Partnership, of course, is a topic dear to the hearts of health promoters everywhere, so to hear its critical importance emphasized by speakers as varied as City Councillor and Chair of the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee, Jaye Robinson, event sponsor, State Farm, and transportation experts from Sweden and the USA was heartening indeed.

To reach zero road deaths, we need a collective effort. Every speaker this morning was clear: transport experts, planners, public health, educators, and all levels of government — city, province, national (and even beyond) — even car companies — need to work together. Just as cooperation at every level was necessary for the near-elimination of polio worldwide, so too will it be necessary for Vision Zero to succeed.
Ian Grossman (@AAMVAConnection), of the Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, talked about the challenge they had in the US getting transport people and public health into the same room when they were working on the reaching consensus while working on the Toward Zero Deaths report (http://www.towardzerodeaths.org/). Then they needed to decide whether to include only the small interventions that they knew would lead to large changes in road deaths or to have an all-inclusive document including smaller contributors to change, so that everyone could see themselves in the report. The all-inclusive approach won out and (as well as the report) they created an online database of resources and interventions (http://www.towardzerodeaths.org/resources/) at all levels, available to anyone.
Near the end of the session there was a question: What should Canada do? Should we work nationally? provincially? At the city level? The answer: Yes, yes, yes. We have to work at all levels, together, to reach zero road deaths – because one is too many.
This post is part of a blog series leading up to Canada’s Vision Zero Summit on November 29, 2016. Learn more about Sweden’s Vision Zero approach and Parachute’s Canadian approach.
HC Link’s blog series on Vision Zero
Looking to learn more about Vision Zero?
Sweden’s Vision Zero Website http://www.visionzeroinitiative.com/
Parachute’s Vision Zero Website http://www.parachutecanada.org/visionzero
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Vision Zero: No more road deaths

Published 2016-11-17

Original link

What’s more important: letting cars move quickly, or keeping everyone (inside and outside cars) safe? Is risk of death or injury the price we have to pay for mobility? As health promoters, we see injury prevention (as well as pollution and healthy neighbourhoods) as a key component of healthy communities, and road safety as surely something worthy of serious design efforts that mitigate danger. The international Vision Zero movement agrees.

“No loss of life is acceptable. In every situation a person might fail — the road system should not. This is the core principle of the Vision Zero concept.” — http://www.visionzeroinitiative.com/

In essence, Vision Zero works to design transportation systems that compensate for human error. Whatever mistake you might make as an imperfect and distractable human, the systems around you should protect you. It’s an approach that puts much more emphasis on design and much less on the behaviour of the system’s users. When health promoters talk about lifestyle issues we often say “make the healthy choice the easy choice” — it’s easy to see how Vision Zero is doing exactly that.

On November 29, HC Link Coordinator Andrea Bodkin and I are excited to be covering the Vision Zero Summit on social media. Organized by Parachute, the Summit will look at how Vision Zero is being implemented in Canada, drawing on examples from Canada and beyond. Watch for our tweets and blog posts!

As Edmonton, which was the first Canadian city to officially adopt Vision Zero, says:

“Why should you get behind Vision Zero?

We all want our loved ones to get home safely.”

HC Link’s blog series on Vision Zero

Vision Zero: No more road deaths

Why I’m SO Excited about Vision Zero

Vision Zero’s approach to infrastructure: Making mobility safe from the start

More information:

Vision Zero (Sweden)

Vision Zero Canada

Parachute Canada – Vision Zero

Canada’s Vision Zero Summit

Summit hashtag: #VZSummit

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Healthy Kids Community Challenge: “Water Does Wonders”

Published 2016-10-12

Original link

As a member of the Healthy Kids Resource Centre, HC Link is proud to support the Healthy Kids Community Challenge program. This program promotes children’s health by focusing on a healthy start in life, healthy food, and healthy active communities. After nearly a year on the first theme of the program “Run. Jump. Play. Every Day.”, in July the 45 participating communities launched into the second theme, “Water Does Wonders”.

Water Does Wonders
Source: http://healthykidsniagara.ca/water-does-wonders

The principal message of this theme is to encourage kids to drink water instead of sugar-sweetened beverages when they are thirsty. Sugar-sweetened beverages are completely unnecessary as part of a healthy diet. The Heart and Stroke Foundation says:

“Consuming too much sugar is associated with heart disease, stroke, obesity, diabetes, high blood cholesterol, cancer and cavities.”

How can we encourage children (and their families) to drink more water, and to drink water instead of sugary drinks? The 45 participating communities have lots of ideas.

A popular idea is distributing reusable water bottles to kids. A number of communities encouraged families to photograph themselves with their reusable water bottles while engaging in various physical activities, and to share their photos on social media.

When one has a reusable water bottle, it’s important to be able to refill it. To fill this need, various communities are installing refill stations.

As another idea to illustrate “Water Does Wonders” for health, in the summer various communities sponsored free swims – water in enormous quantity!

For other participating communities, clean, drinkable, safe water is not easily available. In these communities, participants are working to improve access to clean water as a necessary co-requisite to encouraging children to drink more water.

Follow the participating communities on Twitter in English #HealthyKidsON and #IChooseTapWater and in French #enfantsensanteON.

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Action communautaire Enfants en santé : « L’eau fait des merveilles »

Published 2016-09-30
En tant que membre des centres de ressources Enfants en santé, Réseau CS est fier d’appuyer le programme Action communautaire Enfants en santé. Ce programme favorise la santé des enfants en promouvant l’alimentation saine, l’activité physique, et les comportements sains. Après presqu’un an sur le premier thème « Courir. Sauter. Jouer. Tous les jours », les 45 collectivités participantes ont commencé en juillet le deuxième thème du programme « L’eau fait des merveilles ».
Le message principal de ce thème est de remplacer les boissons sucrées par l’eau quand on a soif. Les boissons sucrées ne sont pas du tout nécessaires pour une alimentation saine. Selon la Fondation des maladies du cœur et de l’AVC :
« Une consommation excessive de sucre est associée aux maladies du cœur, à l’AVC, à l’obésité, au diabète, à l’hypercholestérolémie, au cancer et aux caries dentaires. »
Comment encourager les enfants (et leurs familles) à boire plus d’eau, et de boire de l’eau au lieu de boissons sucrées? Les 45 collectivités participantes ont quelques idées.
Une des idées populaires est de distribuer aux enfants des bouteilles d’eau réutilisables. Certaines communautés incitent les familles à se photographier avec leurs bouteilles d’eau réutilisable lorsqu’elles font de l’activité physique, et de partager ces photos sur les médias sociaux.
Quand on utilise une bouteille d’eau réutilisable, c’est important de pouvoir la remplir à nouveau. À cause de cette nécessité, quelques collectivités participantes installent des stations d’eau.
Une autre idée pour illustrer que « L’eau fait des merveilles » pour la santé, quelques communautés ont parrainé des occasions pour faire de la natation sans frais l’été passé — d’eau en très grande quantité !
Pour d’autres communautés, de l’eau propre, potable et sûre n’est pas facilement disponible. Dans ces communautés, les collectivités participantes feront des efforts pour améliorer l’accès à l’eau potable et encourageront les enfants à boire moins de boissons sucrées.
Suivez les collectivités participantes sur Twitter en français à #EnfantsEnSantéON et en anglais à #HealthyKidsON.
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A few words in favour of Pokémon Go

Published 2016-08-11

Original link

Pokémon Go

As health promoters, we frequently can be heard disparaging video games. All that screen time! Why don’t people go outside? Well, Pokémon Go is getting people outside — albeit with screens still firmly in hands. What can we do to emphasize the health-promoting aspects of the game? Here are a few ideas.

Encourage inter-generational activity

Kids, parents, and grandparents can all play. Age gives no advantage, so it’s a fair game for all. Parents may find kids who play Pokémon Go are more willing to walk around their neighbourhoods, to take on chores such as dog-walking, and to tag along on dull errands such as grocery shopping, as they have to walk several kilometres to hatch Pokémon eggs. Time to encourage family Pokémon-hunting walks after dinner, perhaps?

Encourage exploration

Different Pokémon are found in different kinds of environments, so those found near water are different than those found on busy streets or near forests. Pokémon collectors need to venture beyond their usual haunts if they want to complete their collection. Health promoters can encourage people to use this opportunity to find and appreciate new features of their community. I’d like to see community walking tours that encompass local spots of interest both real and Pokémon-related.

Encourage the social elements

You can’t trade Pokémon (yet), but if you want to learn some of the finer points of playing or if you want to know where you can catch a particular kind of Pokémon, you’re going to need to go out and walk around, and you’re also going to have to talk to other players. It’s too soon for proper research, but anecdotal evidence suggests some people with autism or depression have been deriving benefits from walking and from Pokémon-related socializing. (You can go to spots called “gyms” to battle other players’ Pokémon as well, which might be considered another social element of the game, but that part is less potentially health-promoting!)

It’s easy for health promoters to disparage screens and video games, and sometimes we do so out of habit. I’d suggest we take a closer look at the assets Pokémon Go gives us to work with and see where it takes us.

Besides, it’s kind of fun.

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Est-ce que le Pokémon Go est bien pour la santé ?

Published 2016-07-25

Original link

Le Pokémon Go est un jeu intéressant sur écran comme bien d’autres jeux. Ce qui est différent avec Pokémon Go c’est que les joueurs sortent de leurs maisons, qu’ils marchent et qu’ils parlent aux autres joueurs.

Les avantages

  • Il n’y a pas que les enfants qui jouent au Pokémon Go. Il y a également leurs parents, leurs grands-parents et aussi les jeunes adultes qui se souviennent des cartes Pokémon à collectionner des années 1990.  C’est rare qu’un jeu plaise à tant de gens de divers âges.
  • On doit marcher quelques kilomètres pour réussir à faire « éclore » les œufs de quelques Pokémons. La distance qu’on doit marcher peut atteindre jusqu’à 10 km.
  • On doit sortir de sa maison et explorer son quartier pour ramasser les Pokémons et on doit jouer avec d’autres participants pour gagner des batailles et avancer dans le jeu.

Les désavantages

  • Pour jouer, on doit marcher et regarder en même temps son écran. Les promoteurs de la santé préféreraient qu’on marche sans regarder l’écran pour éviter de se blesser et pour être conscient de son environnement.
  • Puisque le but du jeu est les batailles entre les Pokémons, certaines personnes préféreraient peut-être un but plus paisible, comme chasser les Pokémons sans les batailles.

Qu’est-ce que on doit en penser? Moi, je pense qu’il y a plus d’avantages que de désavantages. Les jeux qui utilisent la réalité amplifiée sont nouveaux et les activités qu’ils offrent intéressent énormément les promoteurs de la santé. Je suis curieuse de voir comment le jeu va se développer !

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Webinar recap: new technology trends, tools, and applications

Published 2016-05-04

Original link

New Technology webinarStar Wars Day (May the 4th Be With You), seemed like a good day for a webinar on new technology trends and uses and some health promotion implications. As health promoters, we like to be sure we stay on the light side of the Force, and to do that we need to think about new technology as it develops as well as paying attention to research findings about the best ways existing technologies are used.

I discussed trends in new technology generally, including the Internet of Things, wearable technology, virtual reality / augmented reality, and the growth of the Internet as a shrinking collection of walled gardens.

Design trends I mentioned included the massive growth in mobile traffic, leading to trends such as responsive design (where the various parts of the page display differently depending on the size of your screen) and infinite scrolling (endless webpages that keep loading content, such as your Facebook homepage); the tendency for design to now be slightly less “flat” than has been the trend for the past few years; the increased use and acceptability of images and video; and the inclusion of nonstandard interface controls such as sideways scrolling (instead of the usual vertical scrolling).

I encouraged health promoters not to ignore the world of apps, which suffers from the same content-quality controls as the rest of the Internet. Whether we choose to create our own apps or whether we choose to help highlight the pros and cons of various existing apps, health promoters can play a useful role.

While research on social media has challenges — by the time you conduct and publish your research, the technology has probably changed — I discussed some findings from existing studies and reviews.

One main finding is that two-way communication in any kind of health promotion social media effort is critical for success. Just putting information out there is not enough.

Another main finding is that while many studies have assessed the reach of social media — and of course it can be very good at expanding an intervention’s reach — many fewer have assessed behaviour change. However, one meta-review did find no negative behaviour changes occurred as a result of social media interventions, so at the very least we can be reasonably sure we are not causing harm.

HC Link has a number of resources on social media including policy and plan outlines, a starter sheet to fill out before you set up a social media account, and a communications inventory to help you figure out what you already have that you might effectively repurpose with social media.

You can view the webinar recording and download the accompanying handout on our webinar archive page.

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Today is Bike to Work Day!

Published 2015-05-25

Original link

Although many HC Link staff cycle for much or all of the year, it’s nice to take time on Bike to Work day to celebrate our favourite mode of transportation. I asked a few HC Link staff and other colleagues for a few comments.

Toronto has several group rides that head downtown from various parts of the city, ending at City Hall for a pancake breakfast. Those festivities start too early for my night-owl habits, but lots of HC Link staff will be there.

What will you be doing for Bike to Work day?

Alison says: I’ll be at CPHA in Vancouver this year and not on a bike! But if I were in Toronto, I would be riding my bike to work and all other parts.

Sam: I’m going to bike to work. Unless it’s really pouring rain.

Sara: On Bike to Work day I will be riding with the pack and loving every moment of it.

Andrea: I will be biking to work- first ride of the season as I have been quite sick over the winter. I can’t wait!

Amanda: I will be commuting into Toronto on the GO train…I would rather be biking but it`s too far!

Lisa B: I will definitely be biking to work and I am planning on attending the Bike to Work Day Group Commute & Pancake Breakfast at Nathan Phillips Square.

One of the advantages of living in Toronto is its transit system — our buses, streetcars, subways, intercity trains, and ferries. Of course we all love to complain about it, but it gives us options that just don’t exist in some other parts of Ontario. If the weather is bad or if we’re tired or ill, we don’t have to ride our bikes or resort to car travel.

How do you usually get to work?

Lisa B: I commute to work by bike in spring, summer, and fall weather permitting. If it is raining or too cold I take the TTC. I now work at PAD and bike from High Park to north of Keele and Wilson! I ride on main streets with heavy traffic but go out of my way to stay off of Keele, the ride takes me about 45 minutes each way.

Alison: To get to work I take my bike on the Toronto Island ferry and then head up Bay Street if I am in a hurry or further west to Simcoe where there’s a bike lane — a much safer way to go.

Sara: I usually walk, TTC or ride depending on the weather and my body.

Sam: Bicycle! Mostly main streets, like Bathurst and Bloor

Andrea: Usually I bike from March to December and take public transit the rest of the time. The nice things about public transit are that a) I live in a city with public transit and b) that it allows me to “bookend” transit trips with walking. The not-so-nice thing is how crowded it is. Biking is THE BEST way to get to work!

Once people start cycling, it’s hard to get them to stop. But getting people to start can be challenging: it can seem scary and intimidating to put your small, squishy, un-armored self out there in traffic with large metal boxes on wheels.

Joanne: I just got a bike — it’s my mom’s old bike. I think it has 21 gears. I just need to work up the nerve to ride it to work! I’ve never ridden in the city.

Matthuschka: I’d have to work my way up to it. We can get down to the waterfront easily but not into the core.

Remember, though, that downtown traffic moves quite slowly much of the time, so the speed differential between bikes and cars is very low. In fact, cyclists typically find they’re faster from point A to point B than a car making the same trip.

What would you say to non-cyclists on Bike to Work day?

Sara: I would tell non-riders that riding in the city is not as scary as many believe. The benefits of riding extend beyond improving your mental and physical health, it is also great for getting to know your city, for reducing emissions and saving money. As well, the more cyclists there are, the better cars will get at sharing the road. Join the fun!

Alison: Try it, you’ll like it! Cycling is fun, fast and a healthy way to get around.

Sam: since you have to go to work anyway you might as well exercise and get there for free!

Matthuschka: support the bike to work movement! even if you can’t, make it so others can. If it’s fear, then find ways to get over that fear — work on creating a safe bike network in the core of the city.

Andrea: I’d say: be brave and give it a try. Bike to Work day is a great day to try it out especially if there is a group bike happening. Also the pancakes at City Hall are delicious. But really: map out your route and try it on a weekend; pay attention and be safe and: most importantly have an awesome ride!

Amanda: Share the road! Biking is fun and great exercise.

Lisa B: I would say try cycling! Especially if you live and work in the downtown core, it is not nearly as intimidating as you might think and a great way to get some fresh air and physical activity.

Want to give it a try? Here are a few resources to help you get started:

Happy cycling!

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