February 25/15 12:16 pm - Ontario Bike Summit - Updated Agenda & Early Bird Registration

Posted by Editoress on 02/25/15
 

Spring is coming early to Ontario this year with the 7th Annual Ontario Bike Summit scheduled for Tuesday, March 31st, and Wednesday, April 1st, in Toronto. This year's summit -- From Paper to Pavement: Moving Forward with #CycleON -- is a can't miss event with something for everyone:

• Keynote address by Kathryn McGarry, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Transportation
• Reception and dinner with members of the Provincial All-Party Cycling Caucus
• Panel Discussion looking at Ontario's speed limit with the Honourable Yasir Naqvi
• Workshops on cycling best practices (hosted by APBP), risk management (hosted by The Co-operators) and advocacy in Ontario (with the CAA)
• Recognition of the 2015 Bicycle-Friendly Community award recipients
• Next steps for #CycleON with the Ministry of Transportation
• and more!

Be there and help shape the future of cycling in Ontario.

Download the Updated Program

Early Bird registration ends at midnight on Saturday, February 28th. Visit the EventBrite registration page now to take advantage of these rates. You can also book a room for $145/night at the Eaton Chelsea if you reserve by March 2nd. Reservations can be made online Here or by phoning the Eaton Chelsea and letting them know you are part of the Ontario Bike Summit. (The special summit rate cannot be guaranteed if booked after March 2nd).

2015 Bicycle-Friendly Communities Yearbook

Across the province, innovative programs support the growth of cycling in Ontario. The Bicycle-Friendly Communities Yearbook is an annual document produced by Share the Road profiling some of the most interesting, effective and transferable programs in the province - and you can get your copy first at the 2015 Ontario Bike Summit.

The Yearbook profiles the "Class of 2014" award recipients as well as great programs that fall under the five E's framework - Education, Encouragement, Enforcement, Engineering and Evaluation & Planning. One such program is the Halton Hills Community Cycling Challenge.

The Community Cycling Challenge encourages residents to bike towards a collective goal of donating $50,000 to the local hospital foundation. The catch - the money would only be donated if the community logged over 200,000km of cycle trips over the summer.

"The goal seemed so impossibly high that people couldn't imagine success without their participation" says Councillor Jane Fogal, one of the driving forces behind the challenge. "It really got the whole town on-side with cycling."

Read more about the Halton Hills Community Cycling Challenge and other success stories in the 2015 Bicycle-Friendly Communities Yearbook.

Spoiler alert: Halton Hills reached their goal and have raised $116,000 for their local hospital over the past two years.

Share the Road Welcomes Two New Board Members

Share the Road is powered by the high calibre volunteers who sit on our Board of Directors. In January, we welcomed J. David McLaughlin and John Scott to the team as new Board of Directors members. Both David and John have contributed to Share the Road's work for years, including David's contributions as a judge for the Bicycle-Friendly Communities program and John's enthusiasm as our Master of Ceremonies at the Ontario Bike Summit. Having such talented people choose to commit their time to Share the Road truly re-affirms the impact of our work and the role that we have to play in Ontario. We are thrilled to welcome David and John onto our board and know that we will benefit from their years of experience in transportation planning, stakeholder relations, municipal politics and non-profit management.