The School Neighbourhood Activation Playbook (SNAP) provides a cross-sector framework for planning and implementing active school travel (AST) for anyone who advocates for, promotes, and advances active transportation in school neighbourhoods across BC, including local government staff, school administrators and staff, public health professionals, and local champions.

Drawing on the SNAP framework, this workshop is designed to equip participants from various backgrounds in understanding the impact and opportunities of AST, planning a coordinated AST Plan for a real school, and preparing an implementation plan for an AST program. 

This workshop will be delivered collaboratively by TransLink, Society for Children and Youth of BC, HUB Cycling, Green Communities Canada, and Capital Bike, partners with on-the-ground experience in designing and delivering children’s active travel programming across Canada.

By participating in this workshop, you will:

• Understand the SNAP framework and how this resource can help advance AST, from planning to implementation to monitoring. 

• Learn directly from four non-profit organizations about AST programs and how they are delivered.

• Practice applying the SNAP in real case studies in BC school neighbourhoods.  

• Leave with a draft implementation plan for launching an AST program at a school.

Lead facilitator: Molly Barkowsky, (TransLink)

Co-facilitators: Joanne Kautz-Allard (SCY), Ildiko Kovacs (SCY), Ashley Parsons (SCY), Xuedan Xu (GCC), Maya Goldstein (HUB), Aliya Khan (Capital Bike)

Join staff from the Ministry of Transportation and Transit and Urban Systems for a workshop exploring the recent update to the BC Active Transportation Planning and Design Guide, BC’s premier resource for planning and designing high-quality active transportation infrastructure. 

Since the first edition of the Guide in 2019, there have been significant changes in legislation, policy, and research impacting the transportation landscape, which have been included in this year’s update. The update Guide also represents a major step forward in professional practice from the first edition—it introduces a new approach to facility selection, expanded accessibility guidance, more detailed intersection design, and other improvements. 

Through practical exercises based on real-world challenges, you’ll learn how the updated Guide can be applied and build confidence using the Guide in your day-to-day work. Key updates include:

• Consideration of emerging mobility options, including e-bikes and micromobility devices;

• Greater emphasis on multimodal integration and context-sensitive design.

• Updated approaches to safety, comfort, and facility selection;

• Enhanced accessibility guidance and integration of Accessible BC Act principles;

• New guidance for rural and small communities, school neighbourhoods, and roundabouts, and;

• Expanded guidance for active transportation within Ministry rights-of-way.Description text goes here

The Guide receiving this thorough training on the updated edition will bring participants up to date in the field of active transportation infrastructure planning and design, including:

• Applying the updated Guide in a wide range of scenarios.

• Active transportation implementation in rural and small communities

• Designing for accessibility

The workshop will be highly interactive and will equip practitioners with hands-on learnings about that is consistent across the province. Many case studies featured in the Guide are from BC Indigenous communities and can serve as a model for both First Nations and local governments alike.

By the end of the session, you’ll have the tools and foundation to start applying the Guide on your next project.

Adam Krupper (BC Ministry of Transportation and Transit),  Brian Patterson (Urban Systems)

A collaborative working session by and for advocacy organizations working on bicycle and AT-related programs and causes, including:

• Member-based associations, clubs and societies

• Social enterprises and co-ops

• Community groups and NGOs

This workshop is all about sharing local success stories with other communities, and collaborating between workshop co-facilitators and participants to build a framework and strategy for collaboration to replicate programs where they are needed, using a strategy that is responsive to the ‘conditions on the ground’ in each community.

Programs to be showcased in this workshop include: 

• Community Transportation Education: Strategic, practical framework for implementing inclusive, safe, and developmentally appropriate cycling education for pre-school-aged children, through school-aged youth, and including the general population, including pathways for implementation and adaptations for specific local contexts, and considerations for equity and inclusion, e-bikes, and rules of the road. 

• Community bike shops & pop-up repair clinics: an exploration of how community-based repair services can function as essential “soft infrastructure”, and how community access to repair and mobility supports can empower individuals facing barriers to transportation, improve independence, and strengthen resilience. 

• AT advocacy in rural & remote communities: How community leadership and regional collaboration can help advance active transportation in rural and island contexts, particularly for unincorporated communities, and how small communities can contribute to larger regional mobility systems.

• Community-led road maintenance: the story of a successful grassroots initiative that used community crowdfunding and a locally-designed bike lane sweeper to sweep local bike lanes, and an exploration of how community-funded action can help improve transportation safety when governments are too slow.

This session workshops support the work of organizations to align with local and provincial AT goals, to reduce barriers to active transportation for all ages and abilities in communities across BC, and to strengthen advocacy partnerships across the education sector, for small and local businesses, for community-serving bodies and groups, and and lobby organizations. 

By attending this workshop, advocates will get practical takeaways to apply immediately towards:

• a curriculum, support, and partnership strategies for cycling education programs in schools and communities

• a replicable model for creating AT programs focused on equity and accessibility

• a scalable, cost-effective model that increases access to bicycles and mobility devices for people experiencing barriers to transportation

• practical lessons for organizations seeking equitable approaches to mobility.

• ways to use storytelling, events, and community engagement to help build public support for active transportation

• a replicable crowdfunding blueprint for setting up a community-funded road maintenance support

• a strategy for understanding government maintenance contracts

Lead facilitators: Kay Teschke, Ashley Wright, Quentin Randall (GoByBike BC Society), Colin Stein (BC Cycling Coalition)

Co-facilitator(s): Brooke Jones (Nelson & Area Community Transportation), Sarah Thomas (Our Community Bikes), Robin Jenkinson (Island Pathways), Cedric Eveleigh (Bike Lane Sweeper)

Electric Kick Scooter Pilot Project Update 

This spring marked the halfway point of the four-year Electric Kick Scooter Pilot Project. Data has been collected for the first two years of the pilot project, which currently has 37 participating communities. Ministry staff will overview the pilot project, methods of data collection and analysis, and results from years one and two. Plans for years three and four of the pilot will also be discussed, along with a future decision on whether to permanently regulate these devices when the pilot project ends in April 2028.

Future Motor Vehicle Act Pilot Projects

Pilot projects provide opportunity for controlled testing of new transportation-related matters and experimental regulatory frameworks. They also enable the collection and analysis of data to help inform key decisions on transportation-related topics. Ministry staff will explain the process for establishing new pilot projects, including application requirements, assessment criteria and decision-making processes. Potential future pilot projects will be discussed and how they are critical to shaping BC’s future transportation landscape.

Regulating Personal Mobility Devices 

What makes a motorized device legal (or illegal) for use on public roads? Why are some things like e-bikes legal, while others like electric unicycles are not? This presentation will overview how BC regulates personal mobility devices under the Motor Vehicle Act. Ministry staff will explain how BC’s framework works and what rules apply to different types of personal mobility devices. Safety considerations will be discussed and what it takes for new types of devices to become street legal.

The target audience for this workshop includes:

• active transportation advocacy groups

• law enforcement organizations

• municipal transportation staff and elected officials

• shared mobility, transit and transportation service providers

• transportation planners

Facilitators: Bradley Gerhart, Byron Plant, Katia Gauvin (Ministry of Transportation and Transit)

As e-bike, cargo bike, scooter, and shared micromobility use continues to grow, communities are facing new challenges around parking, storage, charging, security, and public space management. While significant attention has been placed on moving people safely, far less attention has been given to where and how these devices are parked at the end of a trip.

This interactive workshop explores the emerging gap between micromobility adoption and parking infrastructure. Drawing on lessons from municipalities, campuses, transit hubs, and shared mobility systems across North America and Europe, participants will examine how communities can create practical, scalable, and user-friendly parking solutions that support long-term mode shift.

The session combines practical examples, facilitated discussion, and hands-on learning to help participants better understand the role parking infrastructure plays in unlocking the next phase of active transportation growth.

Participants will leave with:

• A deeper understanding of emerging parking and storage challenges associated with e-bikes, cargo bikes, scooters, and shared micromobility.

• Insights into how different communities are approaching parking, charging, and end-of-trip infrastructure.

• An understanding of the relationship between parking, user confidence, ridership growth, and mode shift.

• Ideas and approaches that can be applied by municipalities, campuses, developers, transportation agencies, and community organizations.

Venkatesh Gopal (movmi), Kosta Chatzi Spiros (Urban Racks)