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

Support the show

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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 admin@bccycling.ca.

Bike Sense podcast technical direction and production by Carmen Mills.

Cycling culture doesn’t magically appear when you paint a bike lane. It shows up when someone learns how to balance, brake, scan, signal, and ride with confidence in the real world.

Alexis Thibeault, StreetWise Manager at HUB Cycling, joins Peter to dig into what cycling education looks like in British Columbia right now and what’s still missing. We talk about the earliest building blocks of learning to ride, and how structured coaching creates a safer path for adults who didn’t grow up biking.

What would it take to make cycling safety education as normal as driver training or swim lessons?

Find out more about HUB's Bike Education initiatives HERE.

Support the show

***********************************************

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 admin@bccycling.ca.

Bike Sense podcast technical direction and production by Carmen Mills.

A city once redlined by a plan that literally read 'No Bike Routes Downtown' now leads Canada in cycling mode share, and ranks among North America’s best cycling cities. We sit down with Tim Hewett, Senior Transportation Planner and Streetscape Designer for Victoria, BC, to unpack how a compact capital stitched regional trails into a safe, welcoming urban network that people actually use daily.

We start with the pivotal gap: regional corridors like the Galloping Goose and Lochside once ended at the edge of the core, leaving riders to fend for themselves. The new Johnson Street Bridge and the first protected corridor on Pandora changed all that, and there's much more to come.

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A couple of GREAT videos:

Rolling in the City: a Video Tour of Victoria with Nic Laporte
Oh The Urbanity! How This Small City Tripled Its Cycling In Just 11 Years

Find out what's going down at:
Capital Bike Victoria: Advocate. Educate. Celebrate

Support the show

***********************************************

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 admin@bccycling.ca.

Bike Sense podcast technical direction and production by Carmen Mills.