GreenUP’s new active transportation program coordinator Brett Throop kicks off the 23rd year of the Shifting Gears May Challenge by reflecting on how sustainable transportation has influenced someone close to him: his mother.
When I started riding my clunky, green and white Supercycle to high school in the early 2000s, my mom Sue Throop was encouraging — and perhaps a little jealous.
Pedalling to work intrigued her, she said, but she didn’t believe she could do it. She hadn’t been on a bike in over a decade, and the 25-minute ride into town from our family home north of Cobourg seemed too daunting.
“You talked me into it,” she told me recently, recalling the day she finally dug the blue mountain bike a friend gave her out of the shed.
“I think you just said, ‘Why don’t we give it a try together?'”
That first day she had to get off her bike and walk up every small hill, all the while thinking ‘I don’t know if I can keep doing this.’
My mom is far from alone in wanting to cut her time in the car. Many cities have seen an uptick in people using active and sustainable transportation in recent years.
Peterborough is doing better than most municipalities in the Greater Golden Horseshoe on this front: 18 per cent of all trips made by City of Peterborough residents are by cycling, walking, and transit, according to data from the 2022 Transportation Tomorrow Survey. Of all cities surveyed, only Toronto and the City of Waterloo had higher combined rates of cycling, walking, and transit. (Peterborough was tied with Hamilton, Mississauga, and Kitchener).
Behind those numbers are countless small moments when someone decided to try a more sustainable way to travel — like my mom putting aside her apprehensions and popping on her helmet.
What tips someone over the edge to make that first move?
For Mom, a little encouragement helped her believe she had it in her. She quickly got hooked and was soon onto her next challenge: cycling all the way around Lake Ontario as part of a fundraiser to support research on trees and arboriculture.
For others, making a transportation shift is more of an economic calculation. Many Canadians boarded public transit for the first time amid the energy shocks of the 1970s. With another global energy crisis currently driving up gas prices, some people may be looking up the location of their nearest Peterborough Transit stop or lacing up their walking shoes for the first time in a while.
Safety and comfort are, of course, other key factors in people’s transportation decisions. Some are cycling curious, but won’t jump on a bike until they find a route away from fast-moving traffic.
When Bethune Street was turned into Peterborough’s first bicycle-priority street in 2023, I was working as a reporter. While interviewing people about the transformation, I flagged down an older woman on a hot pink cruiser bike. She told me it was a brand-new experience for her to feel safe cycling on a city street.
The new design restricts vehicles from entering Bethune Street at certain entry points to reduce car volumes and features narrow lanes to encourage slower speeds — upgrades that make a bike trip downtown feel safer.
In the Peterborough region, some people’s first foray into active and sustainable transportation starts by signing up for the Shifting Gears May Challenge. Now in its 23rd year, the challenge is a fun and supportive way to make more trips by walking, cycling, public transit, or carpooling, while getting the chance to win prizes at the same time.
Registrants are asked what mode of transportation they wish to try during the month. Tracking weekly trips results in being entered into a prize draw for each week in May. There is also a bonus prize for the first 50 people to sign up for each mode (walking, cycling, transit, or carpooling).
Shaking up a commute can be easier with others, which is why participants can also recruit coworkers to join the Shifting Gears May Challenge as a team. Teams compete against similar-sized workplaces for awards to be handed out at a Green Economy Peterborough ceremony in June.
The Shifting Gears May Challenge is all about moving toward a healthier, happier, safer and more sustainable transportation system. That’s a tall order. But big transportation changes start with small steps.
Even if you only manage to make one sustainable trip in May, that’s a win worth celebrating.
For more information, resources, and to register for the Shifting Gears May Challenge, visit greenup.on.ca/shifting-gears/.
