The Worst Place To Bike (Pender Island) FINALLY Gets A Bike Path!

A two-km trail doesn't sound like much, until you learn what it replaced: a narrow, shoulder-less road where kids couldn't safely walk or bike to school. Older residents had given up on getting around without a car.

In this episode, we sit down with Rob Fawcett, the community builder behind Pender Island's brand-new Schooner Way Trail. We talk about how a small island with no municipal government turned a dangerous pinch point into a thriving shared-use active transportation corridor that feels like a linear park. Rob breaks down how the community raised $150,000 in pledges to unlock a BC Active Transportation grant—and what it really takes to deliver active transportation infrastructure when your roads belong to the Ministry of Transportation and big capital projects almost never happen.

We also zoom out to the bigger Gulf Islands vision: a connected network of off-road, multi-use trails that could transform how residents and visitors get around by bike, on foot, or by e-bike.

And yes, we talk about what happens next now that provincial active transportation funding is effectively 'on pause.'" Please tune in!

March 25, 2026: CRD announces official opening of Schooner Way Trail! Click HERE for details.

Read about the Trail in The Pender Post 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. Membership in the BCCC is now FREE! The future of this podcast depends on people like you becoming members at BCCycling.ca. Please join us.

Got feedback or ideas for future episodes? Please drop us an email at [e-mail].

Bike Sense podcast technical direction and production by Carmen Mills.