The Big Ask for Bike Sense & Investing in CleanBC
Would you invest $100 in better, safer cycling for all British Columbians?
This is how we end 2020 — asking individual people, like you, to put your hard-earned money on the line.
Why? Because in October, we committed to moving forward with an important project — producing the 7th edition of Bike Sense, the BC bicycle operating manual.
We began by asking various levels of government, public agencies, and private companies to sponsor the project (which many have done).
With $100,000, we could update the print and online editions of Bike Sense — including new photography and illustrations, and updated content about all different types of cycling and bikes — and get it into the hands and onto the screens of every British Columbian.
Most importantly, reaching this sponsorship goal would allow us to make Bike Sense free for all.
No matter where you live, from Prince Rupert to Sooke, from Cranbrook to Fort Nelson, and from White Rock to Williams Lake, you would not have to pay for Bike Sense.
For us, this is big and bold. These are the kinds of actions that may be the only ways for us to reduce the environmental, financial and health costs of road transportation, and quickly.
The provincial government knows this; their CleanBC plan is about reducing these same costs, for the safety, security and comfort of all British Columbians. CleanBC’s active transportation strategy, Move Commute Connect, encourages more use of bicycles, e-bikes, scooters, and other mobility devices, alongside walking and public transit.
Moving these dials requires more information for all British Columbians, because information is power. Good information — especially when it’s educational — can motivate us all to do be part of the changes we want, and need, in society.
Sharing information with the public and government decision-makers is the work we’ve been doing all year, such as:
Encouraging cycling in the early days of the pandemic;
Recommending big moves in active transportation policy and investments as a result of COVID-19;
Explaining the gaps and failures in the BC's road safety legislation and insurance regulations;
Promoting e-bikes, the 'magic beans' behind the active transportation boom; and
Sharing success stories about new and emerging cycling hot spots across BC.
This work, in a nutshell, is advocacy. And it has all been funded by you (or people just like you) through donations, membership dues, and volunteer hours, which have helped keep this small organization pushing forward.
These are the resources we’ve needed to find, read, expand on, and share this important information, and they’re also the resources used to encourage levels of government to do better work on safe, accessible and equitable mobility…and to do it fast.
And because we can't count on government to invest in advocacy, we also run programs that can reach more people in more places.
Programs like Bike Sense, which contains important information for people of all ages and cycling ability:
What is cycling about today, and how has it changed from the past?
Who's cycling, why, and what are your options?
Where can you ride your bicycle, and how can you remain safe?
This is what Bike Sense is all about.
The next edition of Bike Sense will also cover changes to BC’s physical and legislative conditions for cycling since our last edition in 2013:
New bike infrastructure, signs, and security measures.
Changes to e-bike regulations and incentives, and the BC Motor Vehicle Act.
Updates to local and regional transportation plans, programs, education and events.
Lastly, Bike Sense will attempt to answer some of the many tough questions which every British Columbian deserves an answer to…before they head out on the road, such as:
What does the law say, and what's practical?
How will ICBC protect you, and how can you protect yourself?
What are the rules, and what are the possibilities?
This is what Bike Sense is all about. And it’s not something the provincial government does.
Just before the holidays, we learned the BC Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure will not sponsor the 7th edition of Bike Sense.
We're moving forward anyways — we won't stop this important work.
But being $50,000 short of our goal will force us to change our plans; we can no longer hire temporary staff to work on Bike Sense. Existing staff and volunteers — who would otherwise be working on core advocacy issues — will now be needed to work on Bike Sense. It's all hands on-deck.
So I'm asking you to consider investing $100 in Bike Sense. Your contribution will help us reach tens of thousands of British Columbians in 2021 with information about how to bike better, and bike safely, in BC.
In recognition for your contribution, your name will appear in the Bike Sense credits as a Bronze Sponsor, alongside our coalition members.
We need 500 of you to make this commitment.
It's a tall order, but if you believe in our vision, and you see Bike Sense as important to our mission, then there may be no better way for you to express your shared commitment than by including your name in our list of sponsors when the 7th edition comes out in the spring of 2021.
It's an investment in better, safer cycling. It's an investment in the vision of a CleanBC.
And it's a demonstration — to your family, your friends, your community, and to the provincial government — of your investment in BC's future.