August 19, 2025 • 25 mins
What does it take to transform a car-dependent small town into a place where cycling feels safe and accessible? Ruth Lloyd is finding out firsthand in Williams Lake, BC.
As a returning resident to her hometown, Ruth experienced the stark contrast between places where active transportation was normalized, and her pickup-truck dominated community where, as in many small cities or towns, the highway consititutes Main Street. Rather than accepting the status quo, she co-founded Streets for All Williams Lake and began methodically building support for cycling infrastructure through creative advocacy.
Ruth's approach blends journalistic storytelling with strategies such as lending an e-bike to the mayor to bring him onside. Now she's tackling an even bigger obstacle: provincial highways that create barriers within communities.
Find out more about Streets For All Williams Lake HERE.
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The Bike Sense podcast with Peter Ladner is produced by the BC Cycling Coalition – your voice for safer and more accessible cycling and active transportation in British Columbia.
Got feedback or ideas for future episodes? Please drop us an email at admin@bccycling.ca.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcome to Bike Sense , the BC Cycling Coalition's
podcast, where we talk about allthings related to active
transportation advocacy in BC.
I'm your host, Peter Ladner,Chair of the Board of the BC
Cycling Coalition.
I hope you enjoy the show.
We've all heard how smallgroups of dedicated people are
(00:38):
the real agents of change in theworld.
Today's guest, in my opinion,is one of those people.
Ruth Lloyd is a journalist inWilliams Lake who seems to have
unlimited energy to campaign forsafer cycling in her community.
I invited her on the podcastnot just because I too, used to
be a journalist in small town BC, but because I was bowled over
(01:00):
by a few of her initiatives thatreally seemed to be moving the
dial in Williams Lake.
Today we're going to talk aboutthose.
Welcome, Ruth.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Hi Peter, Thanks for having me.
I feel like one of those peopleon the radio, a long-time
listener, first-time caller.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Well, I introduced you as a journalist, but that
doesn't explain to me how yougot into being an activist for
cycling in Williams Lake.
Can you tell us how thathappened, how long have you
lived there and what promptedyou to get active?
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Well, I'm actually from Williams Lake originally.
I grew up here and you know Iwas kind of born into the I
don't know driving culture ofWilliams Lake.
I took it for granted thatdriving was how you had to get
around, though I did spend mychildhood riding my bicycle
around my neighborhood.
That's how I spent my eveningsand I loved it.
(01:54):
And then I got away from it.
And then I just moved away foruniversity, lived other places
and when I came back here itfelt like Williams Lake was on
the right track.
And then I moved away again andI lived in a place where
everything was close.
I was walking and cycling toall my errands and then I moved
(02:17):
back and wondered why can't wedo that here?
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Do you have a vehicle ?
Do you have a F-150?
Do you have a vehicle?
Do you?
Speaker 2 (02:23):
have an F-150?
.
Oh well, we actually.
Yes, I have a vehicle.
I live a little bit out of townfrom the downtown and we have
20 acres, so we have a truck andwe have another vehicle, but I
prefer to bicycle if I can.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Do you bicycle into work?
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yes, I do.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
And then what happened?
Speaker 2 (02:50):
You discovered that it wasn't what it ought to be.
Yeah, there's only a shortstretch of highway that I have
to take and then I can kind ofget on side streets and go
different ways.
But I'd been living these otherplaces where I was just so used
to acting like a car, as you'resupposed to able to move with
traffic and kind of take it forgranted that you could follow
(03:11):
the rules and feel okay doingthat.
But unfortunately here driversaren't used to seeing bikes on
the road and acting in that way,and I had a lot of really
negative experiences that leftme wishing for safer
infrastructure and I foundmyself breaking the rules way
more than I normally would tomake myself feel safer.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
What do you mean by breaking the rules?
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Riding on the sidewalk, having to sometimes
take, yeah, just kind ofchoosing my route in a way that
wouldn't you know, I'm kind ofmaking connections via sidewalks
and some other things thataren't necessarily how you're
supposed to do it.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Well, on a more positive note, you did a program
with some of your counselorswhere you got them onto bikes to
have that same experience.
Tell us how that worked andwhat happened.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Yeah, it was really great.
It was in 2023, and we got agrant from Emotive BC and we do
these electric vehicle grants,and so they opened it up that
year for e-bikes as well.
And so they opened it up thatyear for e-bikes as well and we
thought that it would be reallygreat to try and show people.
It was kind of a combinationyou not only get to show your
(04:36):
elected officials some of theexperience of riding a bike in
your community, but you also getto highlight how much an e-bike
is an advantage in an area likeours.
We have a lot of hills.
We're in a valley, so it'sreally advantageous.
Once you have an e-bike, youflatten out those hills and
(04:58):
basically anyone can get aroundwithout, you know, getting too
sweaty and out of breath.
And we actually didn't just docouncillors.
We had our mayor, we had MLALauren Dirksen, our local
provincial representative.
We had some different leadersfrom community groups.
(05:18):
We even had the Citizens onPatrol, community policing
leader, lead our parade.
He does a lot of work at theparade.
Thousands of people come downto watch it and we had him out
there riding around to do hiswork for the parade on e-bike to
show off its advantages.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
So you managed to get an e-bike from somewhere with
this grant and then you offeredit to these people for 48 hours
or something, or how did it work?
Speaker 2 (06:05):
He had it for.
He didn't want to give it backactually, but he had it for over
a week.
He took it to City Hall forCity Hall meetings, parked it
right in the room in thechambers while they were meeting
and he brought it to hisgurdwara for his Sunday at the
temple and then he yeah, he tookit on rides.
We would try and escort them ona ride so that we could film
(06:28):
them.
So at least part of thedemonstration was filming them
riding the bike and then wecould do social media posts
around it to help raiseawareness.
And some counselors or usersjust wanted to have it and then
take some rides and they wantedto do their own videos.
So it varied actually, but weworked in partnership with two
(06:53):
local bike shops and they helpedus out with Lampus.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Were some or most of these people first time e-bike
riders.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
I think it was probably two thirds or so.
We actually did a dozendifferent community leaders on
these bikes, so we had the M.
Our MLA learned Dirksen.
He had it.
That was his first e-bike rideand he had it, for I think he
had that bike for four daysmaybe.
(07:24):
And he had it for I think hehad that bike for four days
maybe.
And yeah, our mayor, he hadn't.
He'd grown up riding a bike inIndia and then he came to
Williams Lake in the 70s when hemoved to Canada and he hadn't
ridden a bike the whole time helived here, and so then he got
on this bike and he said it madehim feel like a kid again.
It was really fun.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Oh, nice to hear it Now.
You have also been very activein promoting I don't know
whether I should say initiatinggetting an active transportation
plan done for Williams Lake.
Tell us about that.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Yeah, I definitely can't take all the credit.
We've had this amazing activetransportation working group
that was formed through the citytransportation working group
that was formed through the city.
We were asking for the city tokind of lead something like an
active transportation committeeor working group.
To look at that, because ourcity had had one in the past and
so we wanted them to revive itand when they got that group
(08:25):
together they were amazing.
Everyone on that group is, youknow, we have this passionate
team and some of those people.
We were out canvassing forpeople to fill out the survey
during all the engagementsessions and we had the most
responses on the survey that thecity had ever seen and just
(08:48):
really worked hard and so muchinput and positive engagement.
It's been really great.
We had, you know, quite a goodturnout for our live in-person
engagement session with theplanners.
It was really positive.
But yeah, we just startedasking for the city to apply for
(09:10):
the provincial funding to do atransportation active
transportation network plan andwe had this great person at the
city who was staff at the time.
She applied.
She's no longer with the city,so then it kind of was on pause.
We kept kind of pushing andthen they hired a consultant to
(09:32):
kind of help move it forwardagain.
And then urban systems came inand did the project and they did
a great job.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
So it was definitely a team effort now you mentioned
an active transportation advisorgroup or council or something,
but when you say we are you partof an association.
Do you have your own cyclingadvocacy society or organization
, or is it just random citizensgetting together?
Speaker 2 (09:58):
So the Active Transportation Working Group is
a group that has a bunch ofdifferent stakeholders and I
personally represent and one ofthe members of that group, but
I'm also a representative fromStreets for All, Williams Lake,
which is the advocacy group thatmy friend and I co-founded.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Streets for All Williams Lake.
So that active transportationplan has passed.
Is it now an official plan?
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Yeah, so the city has adopted it and it is part of
the city's yeah activetransportation.
Well, it is the city's.
They paid for it because it waspartly paid for through a
provincial grant that theyapplied for and then the city
had to check in as well.
So it's the city's activetransportation network plan.
(10:48):
They've adopted it and now theyare currently working on a
official community plan reviewand we're hoping that that will
be integrated into it, so itwill basically be embedded in
ACP going forward.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Now you haven't stopped at Williams Lake because
I know that you've beeninvolved in some way in a motion
from I think it's one of yourcounselors to the North Central
Local Government Associationasking for the Ministry of
Transportation and Transit totake the lead on active
transportation infrastructure onhighway rights-of-way.
(11:29):
First of all, what is the NorthCentral Local Government
Association?
Speaker 2 (11:37):
So the local governments in the province have
different groups and NorthCentral Local Government
Association is the grouprepresenting local governments
within the kind of northern half.
In fact, geographicallyWilliams Lake is not actually
(11:57):
quite in the north butdefinitely fit into that
demographic.
So the North Central LocalGovernment Association gets
together and has a summit everyyear.
Local leaders get together,talk about issues in the north
and then a lot of those issueswill then be brought forward to
(12:20):
the Union of BC MunicipalitiesConference which happens every
year in the fall.
So that's all of the localgovernment leaders meeting with
provincial leaders every year.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
And you brought a motion.
Tell us what the motion is.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
So one of the big barriers in a lot of communities
, and absolutely especially inthe north and central parts of
the province, is the highwayinfrastructure, and so these
highways comprise majorthroughfares.
Sometimes they're the mainstreets of town, sometimes they
(13:01):
create.
In Williams Lake, we haveHighway 20 and Highway 97, which
divide different sections ofour community and because those
are provincial infrastructure,they cannot be changed by the
municipality.
So, even though we've got thisactive transportation network
plan, we want to create a moresafe, connected active
(13:25):
transportation network that'sgoing to help everyone get
around, safely access all theamazing things we have, like our
crazy, awesome mountain biketrails.
But unfortunately they're alldivided by these highways and
the highways create majorbarriers, like in Williams Lake.
Highway 20 is a separationbetween the west side of the
(13:52):
community and the main downtownand the north side, so we've got
mountain bike networks on thewest side and the south side
that you would need to useHighway 20 to get to if you were
going to get there by bicycle,but most people feel very unsafe
using that and unfortunatelythe city can't change that.
(14:13):
The province has to leave that.
We're asking for the provinceto take the lead on putting in
active transportationinfrastructure within those
highway right-of-ways withinmunicipalities have you tried a
direct ask to the regionalministry official saying let's
(14:34):
do this?
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Do they have the power to put some active
transportation infrastructurealongside or related to the
highway right away?
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Well, theoretically that would be who would do it,
but they're not doing and Idon't know why it's not being
implemented.
In terms of previously, theprovince had set a mandate the
ministry of transportation itwas the ministry of
(15:08):
transportation infrastructure atthe time for active
transportation infrastructure tobe a priority, but regionally
we didn't really see that playout and there wasn't any
follow-through in terms ofcreating, you know, ensuring
that paving is happening, thatensures good, wide shoulders
(15:31):
that are kept clean for activetransportation, just minor
things that would really enableit.
But the counselor at themeeting with the city had just
been discussing the activetransportation network plan.
The city was saying you know,we put all this money into it.
This councillor said we've gotthis plan.
(15:53):
How are we going to make surethat, you know, these highways
don't continue to be this majorobstacle for us?
And maybe we should put aresolution forward, and so she
drafted this resolution.
It's Councillor Joan Flasspullerand she drafted this resolution
.
She's talked to the localrepresentatives and so she has a
better understanding of whatthe local ministry of
(16:16):
transportation representativescan and can't do, what their
barriers are, and so I think shewas hoping to try and get that
kind of push from the province,provincial level, to try and get
everyone to say, look, theseare basically our main streets.
You know, you've got TownsendBurns, like we've got 14 June,
(16:36):
you've got Houston, you've gotall these.
You know, chatwin, these areplaces where the highway is
straight through the communityand, you know, creates this
major obstacle that reallylimits people in feeling safe,
this major obstacle that reallylimits people in feeling safe.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
So you came to the conclusion that it would much
help your local manager to havedirection from on high to make
this happen, and I wouldconfidently say that this is the
feeling of many, manycommunities in BC who feel
frustrated.
Some of them seem to depend onthe passion of that local
manager for cycling or not forcycling, which is a kind of a
flimsy basis for building out ATinfrastructure around the
(17:23):
province.
And we often hear that ifthere's a passion from the
minister or the senior officialsin the ministry that send down
the ranks, that it will enablepeople to do this a lot more.
So good luck with that and Ihope it gets to the UBCM which I
think is in September inVictoria this year, and the BC
(17:45):
Cycling Coalition would like tobe there.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Yeah, the City of Williams Lake is going to put
that resolution, a resolutionforward that basically asks the
province to take the leap andhelp make sure that active
transportation infrastructure isbeing integrated into these
municipalities.
When you've got the highwaygoing through town going through
(18:09):
a pandemic.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
But you obviously felt that having that request
amplified by support from allthe other municipalities in that
local government associationwould be helpful.
So you've done that interimstep.
Has it gone to that association?
Have they approved it?
Speaker 2 (18:25):
My understanding is it was passed and now and that's
hopefully going to spursomething in the province.
But you can only try andhopefully the province will
start to listen.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
So you've been doing this for several years?
How many years now in WilliamsLake?
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Well, I moved back here in 2020.
And I guess we started now.
I think we might have startedSpace for L Williams Lake in
2022.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
So let's say you've been doing this for three years.
How are you feeling?
Are you making you feel likeyou're making progress, that
it's worth it, that you're goingto get somewhere in the end?
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Oh, this is such a good question.
I mean, what advocate doesn'thave days where they're what am
I doing?
Is this even making anydifference?
And other days you think, ohman, this is so exciting.
I mean, there's been great,great community building that's
resulted, and I think that thatmatters.
(19:31):
We might not have seen anyactual difference in terms of
there's no bike lanes happeningyet, but we have.
You know, we we've done a lotof things that I think have
helped up the profile.
I think that the response thecommunity gave to the city you
(19:52):
know we had over 700 peoplerespond to our serving and that
was the most the city's ever hadso, um, it was, yeah, really
satisfying to see that happen,and I think that the city's now
has heard that this is somethingpeople want to see, especially
with the mountain biking culture.
(20:14):
Young people are out riding thetrails and then parents want to
know that if their kid wants togo for a mountain bike ride and
they drop them off at the topof the trail, they can ride back
to their house safely.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
So have you been working with the mountain?
Does the mountain biking peoplehave their own association?
Speaker 2 (20:36):
They do.
They're the Williams LakeCycling Club and yeah, they.
You know we've tried to try andcommunicate and support what
they're doing and they've triedto support some of what we're
doing.
And you know we have definitelya parallel interest on that and
you know we have definitely aparallel interest on that.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Well, speaking of parallel interest, you are
coming to our Regional ActiveTransportation Summit in
Kimberley on September 11th and12th and you're going to be
(21:15):
having an opportunity there forpeople who want to talk about
getting their communities moremotivated.
So do you have any thoughts?
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Can you share any more about that and what you
hope to come out of that?
Yeah well, I'm really excited toget down there and get together
again with all the people whoare excited about active
transportation.
It's really just so rewarding toshare knowledge and meet people
who are doing the same thingsor similar things and share
(21:43):
information.
And when I went to the one thatwas last year, it was that New
West it was amazing, it was sogreat.
But I really felt like I wantedto be able to connect more with
other advocates, because wejust started this group in
(22:03):
williams lake, we didn'tnecessarily know what we're
doing.
We just wanted to try andsupport safer cycling and safer
active transportation foreveryone, and I guess I was
hoping to to try and connectwith with more advocates, and so
we wanted to create a anopportunity at this summit to
(22:25):
just share some of what peoplehave have done, what they've
learned, their successes, theirchallenges and how we can kind
of support each other to amplifyour messages.
When we're doing things likethis Maybe CM resolution, for
example, and other ECCC you knowinitiatives that they're trying
(22:47):
to do on a provincial level howcan we all kind of work
together to that ship?
Speaker 1 (22:53):
well, that's a pretty good question and I don't think
we're going to answer rightaway, except if you can make it.
I'm speaking now to peoplelistening.
If they can make it to theconference september 11th, you
can sign up at the bc cyclingcoalition website.
Our early bird tickets forthose listening to this podcast
in July may still be available.
(23:14):
Ruth, thank you so much fordoing the podcast and for the
work you're doing and setting anexample, if I might say, for
others to emulate and maybe getan AT plan in their community,
maybe get an actual expandedcontinuous bike route network.
That will light up thecommunity and let people have
(23:37):
fun and have more choices of howthey get around other than that
wonderful pickup truck that youown.
Thanks, ruth.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
Oh, now I'm pegged as the pickup truck owner.
Well, guess what?
Speaker 1 (23:48):
I own a vehicle too, so that's fine.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
Well and it's one of those things.
We you know, so many of us, Ithink grew up riding our bikes
in our neighborhoods, and youjust see less and less of that
in North America now, and itwould be so lovely to ensure
that you know youngergenerations are going to be able
to have that choice and havethat opportunity, because I
(24:12):
think it's very transformative.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
We're all working on that.
Thanks, Ruth.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
You've been listening to Bike Sense, an original
podcast from the BC CyclingCoalition.
If you like the podcast, we'dbe grateful if you could leave
us a rating.
On whatever platform you use,you can also subscribe, so you
don't miss future episodes.
If you have comments orsuggestions for future episodes,
(24:47):
email me at peterladner atbccyclingca.
At peterladner at bccyclingca,you can help us amplify BC
Cycling Coalition's voice bysimply becoming a free member.
Thank you.
Welcome to Bike Sense , the BC Cycling Coalition's
podcast, where we talk about allthings related to active
transportation advocacy in BC.
I'm your host, Peter Ladner,Chair of the Board of the BC
Cycling Coalition.
I hope you enjoy the show.
We've all heard how smallgroups of dedicated people are
(00:38):
the real agents of change in theworld.
Today's guest, in my opinion,is one of those people.
Ruth Lloyd is a journalist inWilliams Lake who seems to have
unlimited energy to campaign forsafer cycling in her community.
I invited her on the podcastnot just because I too, used to
be a journalist in small town BC, but because I was bowled over
(01:00):
by a few of her initiatives thatreally seemed to be moving the
dial in Williams Lake.
Today we're going to talk aboutthose.
Welcome, Ruth.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Hi Peter, Thanks for having me.
I feel like one of those peopleon the radio, a long-time
listener, first-time caller.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Well, I introduced you as a journalist, but that
doesn't explain to me how yougot into being an activist for
cycling in Williams Lake.
Can you tell us how thathappened, how long have you
lived there and what promptedyou to get active?
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Well, I'm actually from Williams Lake originally.
I grew up here and you know Iwas kind of born into the I
don't know driving culture ofWilliams Lake.
I took it for granted thatdriving was how you had to get
around, though I did spend mychildhood riding my bicycle
around my neighborhood.
That's how I spent my eveningsand I loved it.
(01:54):
And then I got away from it.
And then I just moved away foruniversity, lived other places
and when I came back here itfelt like Williams Lake was on
the right track.
And then I moved away again andI lived in a place where
everything was close.
I was walking and cycling toall my errands and then I moved
(02:17):
back and wondered why can't wedo that here?
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Do you have a vehicle ?
Do you have a F-150?
Do you have a vehicle?
Do you?
Speaker 2 (02:23):
have an F-150?
.
Oh well, we actually.
Yes, I have a vehicle.
I live a little bit out of townfrom the downtown and we have
20 acres, so we have a truck andwe have another vehicle, but I
prefer to bicycle if I can.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Do you bicycle into work?
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yes, I do.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
And then what happened?
Speaker 2 (02:50):
You discovered that it wasn't what it ought to be.
Yeah, there's only a shortstretch of highway that I have
to take and then I can kind ofget on side streets and go
different ways.
But I'd been living these otherplaces where I was just so used
to acting like a car, as you'resupposed to able to move with
traffic and kind of take it forgranted that you could follow
(03:11):
the rules and feel okay doingthat.
But unfortunately here driversaren't used to seeing bikes on
the road and acting in that way,and I had a lot of really
negative experiences that leftme wishing for safer
infrastructure and I foundmyself breaking the rules way
more than I normally would tomake myself feel safer.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
What do you mean by breaking the rules?
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Riding on the sidewalk, having to sometimes
take, yeah, just kind ofchoosing my route in a way that
wouldn't you know, I'm kind ofmaking connections via sidewalks
and some other things thataren't necessarily how you're
supposed to do it.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Well, on a more positive note, you did a program
with some of your counselorswhere you got them onto bikes to
have that same experience.
Tell us how that worked andwhat happened.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Yeah, it was really great.
It was in 2023, and we got agrant from Emotive BC and we do
these electric vehicle grants,and so they opened it up that
year for e-bikes as well.
And so they opened it up thatyear for e-bikes as well and we
thought that it would be reallygreat to try and show people.
It was kind of a combinationyou not only get to show your
(04:36):
elected officials some of theexperience of riding a bike in
your community, but you also getto highlight how much an e-bike
is an advantage in an area likeours.
We have a lot of hills.
We're in a valley, so it'sreally advantageous.
Once you have an e-bike, youflatten out those hills and
(04:58):
basically anyone can get aroundwithout, you know, getting too
sweaty and out of breath.
And we actually didn't just docouncillors.
We had our mayor, we had MLALauren Dirksen, our local
provincial representative.
We had some different leadersfrom community groups.
(05:18):
We even had the Citizens onPatrol, community policing
leader, lead our parade.
He does a lot of work at theparade.
Thousands of people come downto watch it and we had him out
there riding around to do hiswork for the parade on e-bike to
show off its advantages.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
So you managed to get an e-bike from somewhere with
this grant and then you offeredit to these people for 48 hours
or something, or how did it work?
Speaker 2 (06:05):
He had it for.
He didn't want to give it backactually, but he had it for over
a week.
He took it to City Hall forCity Hall meetings, parked it
right in the room in thechambers while they were meeting
and he brought it to hisgurdwara for his Sunday at the
temple and then he yeah, he tookit on rides.
We would try and escort them ona ride so that we could film
(06:28):
them.
So at least part of thedemonstration was filming them
riding the bike and then wecould do social media posts
around it to help raiseawareness.
And some counselors or usersjust wanted to have it and then
take some rides and they wantedto do their own videos.
So it varied actually, but weworked in partnership with two
(06:53):
local bike shops and they helpedus out with Lampus.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Were some or most of these people first time e-bike
riders.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
I think it was probably two thirds or so.
We actually did a dozendifferent community leaders on
these bikes, so we had the M.
Our MLA learned Dirksen.
He had it.
That was his first e-bike rideand he had it, for I think he
had that bike for four daysmaybe.
(07:24):
And he had it for I think hehad that bike for four days
maybe.
And yeah, our mayor, he hadn't.
He'd grown up riding a bike inIndia and then he came to
Williams Lake in the 70s when hemoved to Canada and he hadn't
ridden a bike the whole time helived here, and so then he got
on this bike and he said it madehim feel like a kid again.
It was really fun.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Oh, nice to hear it Now.
You have also been very activein promoting I don't know
whether I should say initiatinggetting an active transportation
plan done for Williams Lake.
Tell us about that.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Yeah, I definitely can't take all the credit.
We've had this amazing activetransportation working group
that was formed through the citytransportation working group
that was formed through the city.
We were asking for the city tokind of lead something like an
active transportation committeeor working group.
To look at that, because ourcity had had one in the past and
so we wanted them to revive itand when they got that group
(08:25):
together they were amazing.
Everyone on that group is, youknow, we have this passionate
team and some of those people.
We were out canvassing forpeople to fill out the survey
during all the engagementsessions and we had the most
responses on the survey that thecity had ever seen and just
(08:48):
really worked hard and so muchinput and positive engagement.
It's been really great.
We had, you know, quite a goodturnout for our live in-person
engagement session with theplanners.
It was really positive.
But yeah, we just startedasking for the city to apply for
(09:10):
the provincial funding to do atransportation active
transportation network plan andwe had this great person at the
city who was staff at the time.
She applied.
She's no longer with the city,so then it kind of was on pause.
We kept kind of pushing andthen they hired a consultant to
(09:32):
kind of help move it forwardagain.
And then urban systems came inand did the project and they did
a great job.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
So it was definitely a team effort now you mentioned
an active transportation advisorgroup or council or something,
but when you say we are you partof an association.
Do you have your own cyclingadvocacy society or organization
, or is it just random citizensgetting together?
Speaker 2 (09:58):
So the Active Transportation Working Group is
a group that has a bunch ofdifferent stakeholders and I
personally represent and one ofthe members of that group, but
I'm also a representative fromStreets for All, Williams Lake,
which is the advocacy group thatmy friend and I co-founded.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Streets for All Williams Lake.
So that active transportationplan has passed.
Is it now an official plan?
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Yeah, so the city has adopted it and it is part of
the city's yeah activetransportation.
Well, it is the city's.
They paid for it because it waspartly paid for through a
provincial grant that theyapplied for and then the city
had to check in as well.
So it's the city's activetransportation network plan.
(10:48):
They've adopted it and now theyare currently working on a
official community plan reviewand we're hoping that that will
be integrated into it, so itwill basically be embedded in
ACP going forward.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Now you haven't stopped at Williams Lake because
I know that you've beeninvolved in some way in a motion
from I think it's one of yourcounselors to the North Central
Local Government Associationasking for the Ministry of
Transportation and Transit totake the lead on active
transportation infrastructure onhighway rights-of-way.
(11:29):
First of all, what is the NorthCentral Local Government
Association?
Speaker 2 (11:37):
So the local governments in the province have
different groups and NorthCentral Local Government
Association is the grouprepresenting local governments
within the kind of northern half.
In fact, geographicallyWilliams Lake is not actually
(11:57):
quite in the north butdefinitely fit into that
demographic.
So the North Central LocalGovernment Association gets
together and has a summit everyyear.
Local leaders get together,talk about issues in the north
and then a lot of those issueswill then be brought forward to
(12:20):
the Union of BC MunicipalitiesConference which happens every
year in the fall.
So that's all of the localgovernment leaders meeting with
provincial leaders every year.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
And you brought a motion.
Tell us what the motion is.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
So one of the big barriers in a lot of communities
, and absolutely especially inthe north and central parts of
the province, is the highwayinfrastructure, and so these
highways comprise majorthroughfares.
Sometimes they're the mainstreets of town, sometimes they
(13:01):
create.
In Williams Lake, we haveHighway 20 and Highway 97, which
divide different sections ofour community and because those
are provincial infrastructure,they cannot be changed by the
municipality.
So, even though we've got thisactive transportation network
plan, we want to create a moresafe, connected active
(13:25):
transportation network that'sgoing to help everyone get
around, safely access all theamazing things we have, like our
crazy, awesome mountain biketrails.
But unfortunately they're alldivided by these highways and
the highways create majorbarriers, like in Williams Lake.
Highway 20 is a separationbetween the west side of the
(13:52):
community and the main downtownand the north side, so we've got
mountain bike networks on thewest side and the south side
that you would need to useHighway 20 to get to if you were
going to get there by bicycle,but most people feel very unsafe
using that and unfortunatelythe city can't change that.
(14:13):
The province has to leave that.
We're asking for the provinceto take the lead on putting in
active transportationinfrastructure within those
highway right-of-ways withinmunicipalities have you tried a
direct ask to the regionalministry official saying let's
(14:34):
do this?
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Do they have the power to put some active
transportation infrastructurealongside or related to the
highway right away?
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Well, theoretically that would be who would do it,
but they're not doing and Idon't know why it's not being
implemented.
In terms of previously, theprovince had set a mandate the
ministry of transportation itwas the ministry of
(15:08):
transportation infrastructure atthe time for active
transportation infrastructure tobe a priority, but regionally
we didn't really see that playout and there wasn't any
follow-through in terms ofcreating, you know, ensuring
that paving is happening, thatensures good, wide shoulders
(15:31):
that are kept clean for activetransportation, just minor
things that would really enableit.
But the counselor at themeeting with the city had just
been discussing the activetransportation network plan.
The city was saying you know,we put all this money into it.
This councillor said we've gotthis plan.
(15:53):
How are we going to make surethat, you know, these highways
don't continue to be this majorobstacle for us?
And maybe we should put aresolution forward, and so she
drafted this resolution.
It's Councillor Joan Flasspullerand she drafted this resolution
.
She's talked to the localrepresentatives and so she has a
better understanding of whatthe local ministry of
(16:16):
transportation representativescan and can't do, what their
barriers are, and so I think shewas hoping to try and get that
kind of push from the province,provincial level, to try and get
everyone to say, look, theseare basically our main streets.
You know, you've got TownsendBurns, like we've got 14 June,
(16:36):
you've got Houston, you've gotall these.
You know, chatwin, these areplaces where the highway is
straight through the communityand, you know, creates this
major obstacle that reallylimits people in feeling safe,
this major obstacle that reallylimits people in feeling safe.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
So you came to the conclusion that it would much
help your local manager to havedirection from on high to make
this happen, and I wouldconfidently say that this is the
feeling of many, manycommunities in BC who feel
frustrated.
Some of them seem to depend onthe passion of that local
manager for cycling or not forcycling, which is a kind of a
flimsy basis for building out ATinfrastructure around the
(17:23):
province.
And we often hear that ifthere's a passion from the
minister or the senior officialsin the ministry that send down
the ranks, that it will enablepeople to do this a lot more.
So good luck with that and Ihope it gets to the UBCM which I
think is in September inVictoria this year, and the BC
(17:45):
Cycling Coalition would like tobe there.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Yeah, the City of Williams Lake is going to put
that resolution, a resolutionforward that basically asks the
province to take the leap andhelp make sure that active
transportation infrastructure isbeing integrated into these
municipalities.
When you've got the highwaygoing through town going through
(18:09):
a pandemic.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
But you obviously felt that having that request
amplified by support from allthe other municipalities in that
local government associationwould be helpful.
So you've done that interimstep.
Has it gone to that association?
Have they approved it?
Speaker 2 (18:25):
My understanding is it was passed and now and that's
hopefully going to spursomething in the province.
But you can only try andhopefully the province will
start to listen.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
So you've been doing this for several years?
How many years now in WilliamsLake?
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Well, I moved back here in 2020.
And I guess we started now.
I think we might have startedSpace for L Williams Lake in
2022.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
So let's say you've been doing this for three years.
How are you feeling?
Are you making you feel likeyou're making progress, that
it's worth it, that you're goingto get somewhere in the end?
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Oh, this is such a good question.
I mean, what advocate doesn'thave days where they're what am
I doing?
Is this even making anydifference?
And other days you think, ohman, this is so exciting.
I mean, there's been great,great community building that's
resulted, and I think that thatmatters.
(19:31):
We might not have seen anyactual difference in terms of
there's no bike lanes happeningyet, but we have.
You know, we we've done a lotof things that I think have
helped up the profile.
I think that the response thecommunity gave to the city you
(19:52):
know we had over 700 peoplerespond to our serving and that
was the most the city's ever hadso, um, it was, yeah, really
satisfying to see that happen,and I think that the city's now
has heard that this is somethingpeople want to see, especially
with the mountain biking culture.
(20:14):
Young people are out riding thetrails and then parents want to
know that if their kid wants togo for a mountain bike ride and
they drop them off at the topof the trail, they can ride back
to their house safely.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
So have you been working with the mountain?
Does the mountain biking peoplehave their own association?
Speaker 2 (20:36):
They do.
They're the Williams LakeCycling Club and yeah, they.
You know we've tried to try andcommunicate and support what
they're doing and they've triedto support some of what we're
doing.
And you know we have definitelya parallel interest on that and
you know we have definitely aparallel interest on that.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Well, speaking of parallel interest, you are
coming to our Regional ActiveTransportation Summit in
Kimberley on September 11th and12th and you're going to be
(21:15):
having an opportunity there forpeople who want to talk about
getting their communities moremotivated.
So do you have any thoughts?
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Can you share any more about that and what you
hope to come out of that?
Yeah well, I'm really excited toget down there and get together
again with all the people whoare excited about active
transportation.
It's really just so rewarding toshare knowledge and meet people
who are doing the same thingsor similar things and share
(21:43):
information.
And when I went to the one thatwas last year, it was that New
West it was amazing, it was sogreat.
But I really felt like I wantedto be able to connect more with
other advocates, because wejust started this group in
(22:03):
williams lake, we didn'tnecessarily know what we're
doing.
We just wanted to try andsupport safer cycling and safer
active transportation foreveryone, and I guess I was
hoping to to try and connectwith with more advocates, and so
we wanted to create a anopportunity at this summit to
(22:25):
just share some of what peoplehave have done, what they've
learned, their successes, theirchallenges and how we can kind
of support each other to amplifyour messages.
When we're doing things likethis Maybe CM resolution, for
example, and other ECCC you knowinitiatives that they're trying
(22:47):
to do on a provincial level howcan we all kind of work
together to that ship?
Speaker 1 (22:53):
well, that's a pretty good question and I don't think
we're going to answer rightaway, except if you can make it.
I'm speaking now to peoplelistening.
If they can make it to theconference september 11th, you
can sign up at the bc cyclingcoalition website.
Our early bird tickets forthose listening to this podcast
in July may still be available.
(23:14):
Ruth, thank you so much fordoing the podcast and for the
work you're doing and setting anexample, if I might say, for
others to emulate and maybe getan AT plan in their community,
maybe get an actual expandedcontinuous bike route network.
That will light up thecommunity and let people have
(23:37):
fun and have more choices of howthey get around other than that
wonderful pickup truck that youown.
Thanks, ruth.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
Oh, now I'm pegged as the pickup truck owner.
Well, guess what?
Speaker 1 (23:48):
I own a vehicle too, so that's fine.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
Well and it's one of those things.
We you know, so many of us, Ithink grew up riding our bikes
in our neighborhoods, and youjust see less and less of that
in North America now, and itwould be so lovely to ensure
that you know youngergenerations are going to be able
to have that choice and havethat opportunity, because I
(24:12):
think it's very transformative.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
We're all working on that.
Thanks, Ruth.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
You've been listening to Bike Sense, an original
podcast from the BC CyclingCoalition.
If you like the podcast, we'dbe grateful if you could leave
us a rating.
On whatever platform you use,you can also subscribe, so you
don't miss future episodes.
If you have comments orsuggestions for future episodes,
(24:47):
email me at peterladner atbccyclingca.
At peterladner at bccyclingca,you can help us amplify BC
Cycling Coalition's voice bysimply becoming a free member.
Thank you.
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