Bridging the gaps

St. James-Assiniboia

West End

St. Vital

Transcona

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This article was published 22/05/2024 (527 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Great leaders lead by example.

That’s a lesson Patty Wiens, the bicycle mayor of Winnipeg, has taken to heart.

“I’m an aggressive cyclist now, because I’m confident,” said Wiens, a 51-year-old St. James resident. “But in order for people to feel confident, it’s good for them to practise.”

Wiens, who also serves on the board of directors of advocacy group Bike Winnipeg, is one of five bike mayors in Canada, and 147 worldwide. Successful applicants to the program, like Wiens, are bestowed the title of “bicycle mayor” by BYCS, an Amsterdam-based non-governmental organization at the centre of an international network of bike enthusiasts. Mayors serve for a period of two years, with the goal of addressing the main barriers to increasing cycling in their respective cities.

Born and raised in Brazil, Wiens moved to Winnipeg at the age of 17 and quickly traded in her bike for a car.

“When you grow up, you think cars are the symbol of being a real grown-up,” she said. “I started a life, had kids, and all of a sudden I wanted to get back on my bike and commute to work. My commute grew from a 10-minute bike ride to either I drive downtown and pay $200 for parking, or ride my bike for 45 minutes in the summer. I decided to bike.”

Her experience both winter cycling and sharing the streets of Winnipeg with motor vehicle drivers radicalized her.

“You start noticing, ‘Oh, I don’t feel so safe in certain places because drivers are angry that I’m on the road’,” she said. “Why are people saying I don’t have the right to the road? I pay a lot of taxes for roads, yet have no right to them. So I started to get involved in advocacy groups that were already batting for me at City Hall.”

Her work with Bike Winnipeg led her to apply to become bike mayor. She hope to both address issues facing cyclists in the city — such as a lack of connectivity between official bike routes — and to encourage more people to get on their bikes and explore their neighbourhoods.

“There are some big gaps. The North End is a big bike desert. There are big gaps in St. Vital. There’s a big disconnect between (downtown) and all those beautiful paths in Transcona. It’s ridiculous,” Wiens said.

“I hate when people call me an ‘avid cyclist,’ because the connotation is that I’m really good at this. I’m not, at all. I’ve never been on a road bike, never worn cycling Lycra in my life,” she added, with a laugh. “We need to change the image of the bike commuter. A bike commuter is just a person who needs to get somewhere. We pay taxes like everyone else, yet we’re treated like second-class citizens.”

In order to highlight the gaps in cycling infrastructure while also familiarizing would-be cyclists with their own local networks and safe routes, Bike Winnipeg regularly hosts group rides in every corner of the city.

“One way to get to know your neighbourhood is to come out on these group rides and see which streets are bike friendly,” Wiens said. “The rides are family friendly, we have people trained as bike marshals.”

The next group ride is scheduled for Sunday, May 26 in west Transcona — which, in part, will highlight the missing segments on the Marianne Cerilli Trail and Park City Pathway — from 1 to 3 p.m.

“People on bikes are really loyal to each other. All of a sudden your world is smaller, because of where you can go, but your community grows exponentially,” Wiens said.

“Get on a bike, you’re gonna find people. Let’s go for a group ride, or a bike jam, and you’re gonna have 400 new friends.”

For more information on Bike Winnipeg group rides, visit bikewinnipeg.ca/get-involved/local-bike-groups