When a fellow optometrist at Peterborough Optometric said she was mulling the idea of cycling to work, it was music to clinic owner Joe Hoja’s ears.
Hoja, who has been plying Peterborough’s streets on two wheels for more than three decades, is passionate about sharing his love of cycling with others.
The garage of Hoja’s west-end home is filled with his family’s bicycles. With young grandchildren now learning to ride, he is adding hooks to store even more.
“It’ll almost be like a museum of bikes,” he says.
He also built a locked shed at the clinic for staff to store bikes during inclement weather.
So, when Hoja’s colleague Bella Sudit said she wanted to ride to work but didn’t have a bike, Hoja was quick to offer one from his collection.
As a new mom, cycling to work has given Sudit some much needed alone time each day.
“The ride allows for those 15 minutes to myself,” she says. “Plus, by the time I arrive at home, I feel like I’ve done some exercise already because the ride home is physically difficult.”
Peterborough Optometric is one of a growing number of local businesses making it easier for employees to commute by active transportation. Some organizations, like the Peterborough Public Library, have invested in building sheltered and secure bike parking areas, but small steps can also make a difference.
Unicity, a shared office space in downtown Peterborough, turned an unused space under a stairwell into a secure bike parking area by simply screwing a few bike mounts into the wall.
“Because we’re downtown, driving isn’t always the most convenient option to commute to work, so we wanted to make sure that our tenants and their clients had options,” says Savanna Cordeiro-Nolan from Unicity.
It would be hard to find a business that’s done more to encourage cycling and walking than local outdoor retailer Wild Rock Outfitters. The downtown Peterborough business offers staff discounts on bicycles, a salary add-on meant to encourage active transportation, and secure indoor bike parking.
It’s not just carrots, though, there’s a stick too: employees must pay to use the customer parking lot if they choose to drive.
“What we needed to do at Wild Rock was to make driving less convenient and biking or walking more appealing, which nudged our staff to make the switch,” says co-owner Scott Murison.
The result? According to Murison, about 35 of 40 staff members walk or bike to work, himself included.
After 35 years of commuting by bike, Murison says he recently started making the daily trek on foot to give himself more time to transition between home and work.
“Cycling was almost too efficient. Sometimes I listen to podcasts, and other times, I just listen to my own thoughts.”
Jim Sexton is one Wild Rock employee who doesn’t need a nudge to get out of his car. He spent his summers growing up riding his BMX in Orillia and his enthusiasm for bikes never faded.
“Cycling is as close to flying as humans can get,” Sexton says.
To savour that flying feeling as long as possible each day, Sexton loops through residential streets and trails on his daily commute. He drags out what would otherwise be a three-kilometre trip to 15 kilometres.
“Even when I feel like it’s going to be a slog, I will push through, and I always feel better in the end,” he says.
There are many ways workplaces can encourage staff to bike, walk, or use public transit, but sometimes the best catalyst for change is one person showing it can be done.
Josh Burke, a designer with civil engineering firm Engage Engineering, says he was new to cycle commuting when he first hopped on the hand-me-down bike he got from his father-in-law last November.
“I started biking out of necessity as we only have one car, but I definitely started to enjoy it,” he says.
Burke biked to work all through this past winter, one of the harshest in recent memory, and is currently participating in the Shifting Gears May Challenge.
Now in its 23rd year, the month-long challenge sees hundreds of people in the region swap their car keys for active and sustainable modes of transportation every May.
Burke says his efforts haven’t gone unnoticed by his colleagues.
“I don’t know if I have inspired anyone, but they definitely say, ‘if Josh can do it in the winter, you can do it.'”
The Shifting Gears May Challenge wraps up next week, but GreenUP works year-round to promote active and sustainable transportation, including helping businesses implement bike-friendly measures.
Oeterborough Optometric, Engage Engineering, and Wild Rock Outfitters are members of GreenUP’s Green Economy Peterborough (GEP) program, a network that supports local businesses in sustainable practices. Learn more and sign up for the GEP mailing list at greeneconomypeterborough.ca.
Visit greenup.on.ca/shifting-gears to learn more about Shifting Gears and to sign up for the mailing list.
