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Media Release - For Immediate Release
Toronto Bike Summit 2009
(Toronto, May 28, 2009) On the heels of the City of Toronto's decision to redesign Jarvis Street to include bike lanes and wider sidewalks, the Toronto Coalition for Active Transportation (TCAT) and the Clean Air Partnership (CAP) are co-hosts of the 2009 Bike Summit, a one-day bicycle policy conference. The sold-out event is taking place at the downtown Novotel Toronto Centre at 45 the Esplanade and includes 14 speakers from the USA and the Netherlands as well as some of the city's foremost thinkers who will address the group of 200 international transportation experts, decision-makers and an array of representatives from the not-for-profit, private and public sectors.
"It is exciting for us to be holding this conference in the wake of the city's support for active transportation on Jarvis Street," said Nancy Smith Lea, Program Director for the Toronto Coalition for Active Transportation. "Re-allocating funds and public space formerly designed for cars is critical in order to provide citizens with options for how they move around our city. The more cyclists and pedestrians there are, the fewer cars there are and the safer it is for everybody," Smith Lea further commented.
To help inform part of the conference's discussion, the 2009 Bike Summit is issuing early results from the Transportation Association of Canada's survey "Active Transportation Initiatives Across Canada". The purpose of the survey is to canvass its 250 municipal, regional, provincial and federal members across Canada on the active transportation initiatives taken in each region and to gauge their efficacy. Early results demonstrate that one notable impediment to the city of Toronto to engage in active transportation initiatives is its inability to access gas tax revenue which the City has chosen to earmark for public transportation instead.
The 2009 Bike Summit delegates will participate in discussions focused on strategies to encourage cycling, case studies of bike lane design, and best practices for bicycle transportation funding and planning and will include presentations by Ralph Buehler, Professor at Virginia Tech, Joshua Benson, New York City Department of Transportation and Martijn J. te Lintelo, City of Nijmegen of the Netherlands among others.
The 2009 Bike Summit has been produced with the support from the following organizations:
Platinum: City of Toronto
Gold: Bicycle Trade Association of Canada, Government of Ontario (Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure and Ministry of Transportation), Metrolinx, Transport Canada
Silver: Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, MMM Group, Mountain Equipment Co-Op, Ontario Professional Planners Institute
Bronze: Dale & Lessmann LLP, GO Transit, IBI Group
Other Sponsors: Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals, Clean Air Foundation, Community Bicycle Network, Dufflet Pastries, Global Catalysts Consulting Services, ibiketo.org
For more information, contact:
Nancy Smith Lea, Program Director, Toronto Coalition for Active Transportation (TCAT), Clean Air Partnership (CAP) 416-392-0290, info@torontocat.ca, or visit www.torontocat.ca
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