City Cycling Strategies - Project

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Bike Smart. Bike Safe.

With new bike lane infrastructure in the City of Edmonton to support active transportation, this project aims to increase the knowledge, safety awareness and self-efficacy of young Edmonton cyclists. With focussed education and skill development in areas such as road safety, bicycle maintenance and route mapping using existing municipal resources, competence and confidence in cycling as a form of active transportation are gained.

Ever Active Schools works with a network of school and community partners that are keen to support cycling education in the City of Edmonton, including SHAPE AB, Y.I.E.L.D., Bike Edmonton, and the City of Edmonton's Bike Education team. Karly Coleman, Edmonton's only bike traffic reporter, created the cycling education program and our role is to facilitate the delivery of this comprehensive cycling program for Edmonton students.

This project has completed its pilot stage. Organized in a community league hall setting, three clinics hosted 65 student participants from 19 school communities. Schools promoted these free, inclusive, 6-hour cycling programs. Participant and caregiver evaluations guided project revision, and now, through new funding from the Edmonton Community Foundation, this project will be scaled to an additional ten Edmonton communities! This funding will also support the production of a City Cycling Clinic Guide, the exploration of a YEG cycling podcast, and the possibility of a municipal cycling coordinator.

Our hope is to see confident Edmonton students using the city's developing bike network and travelling actively — not just on their daily commutes to school, but whenever they can!

Scaling of the City Cycling Strategies project continued in Spring 2020 when it was adopted by Parkland County and expanded to include mental health awareness and education for clinic participants. Through funding from Achieving Community Together (ACT), three Wheeling for Wellness cycling clinics were planned for 90 youth cyclists. Strong community partnerships with ACT, Family and Community Support Services, Parkland School Division 70, and the Stony Plain Youth FCSS Gears program allowed for Ever Active Schools to implement these clinics in Stony Plain, Wabamun, and Spruce Grove.