Commute changes work, life perspectives on getting to and fro

BY WENDY ELLIOTT

Kings County Register

Harrison Wright has been using his bike to get to work at the agricultural centre in Kentville for a few years now. With trips to his parents' place in Pereau, he estimates he averages close to 200 kilometres a week on his bike, eight months of the year. In winter, he tends to rely on his trusty, old car. "Snowbanks are dangerous," he says, "but I enjoy it. “Cycling saves money, it's good for the environment and I don't have to go to the gym after work."

Wright’s ride takes between 22 and 25 minutes, 12 kms each way. He did give up the bicycle he’d had as a teenager, investing in a decent road bike.

A few people each week honk at him when the road is narrow, so Wright tends to worry about nearby cars. Traffic fumes are also noticeable, particularly in New Minas. "The lanes are not very good. The side, at times, breaks up. It could definitely be better - more of a bike lane. There's room for improvement."

Wright adds there aren't enough parking spots for bikes, either, where cyclists are safely lock up their transportation. "The number of bikers is up, and they could easily go there."

Sustainable transportation for all

Wright often passes a woman cyclist in the morning near Greenwich, with her small child in tow in a little trailer. “I’ve always assumed she is off to work and is dropping her child off at a daycare in Wolfville. I find children are a real barrier to getting outside the vehicle for most people. It seems most people believe that, if you have a child, nothing less than getting a SUV and strapping them securely in the back of it for even the shortest of distances is appropriate. “I always admire this woman.”

Both Wright and Wolfville resident Andrew Steeves, another bike commuter, feel more in touch with nature while cycling to work.

Steeves, who rides year-round, often takes his camera and finds alternative routes. He began cycling daily when a colleague teaching in the Netherlands described that population’s use of bikes. Steeves took up the challenge: the first month was painful, but his stamina increased.

Like Minas Basin sailors, Wright now finds he is in tune with the environment. “I always notice the wind: how strong it is and the direction it’s coming from, even when not biking.”

Cost of transportation vs the pay off

If gas hit $5 a litre, Wright wonders how fast the ranks of bikers and walkers would swell. “You might see the train again put down tracks to Kingsport, Digby; some people might even see the sense in waiting for a bus or a boat.” “There’d be hard times, grumbling, headaches involved with some transitions but, when the dust settled, it would be hard for me to imagine people being that much worse off.”

Community services director for Wolfville, Andrew Fry has been commuting from Port Williams for three years. When he moved across the river, he decided it would be a “good opportunity to help the environment. “We’d only need one car and I’d get to exercise daily.”

He allows himself about half an hour, winter and summer, to make the trip. Twice, Fry has had encounters with cars that might have injured him seriously,but, luckily, didn’t. The first was in mid-winter: a young driver who hadn’t sufficiently cleaned off his windshield turned in front of Fry on Main St. “He had a little hole to see out of. I saw him coming in slow motion. Fortunately, it was a low sports car and I rolled over the top. The women came out of Hair News screaming, but I was fine. I ended up on my feet.”

A scarier incident occurred close to dusk, when Fry was heading home along Main St. A female driver pulled out of the Acadia Arena lot without stopping. He had on a white helmet, with reflectors on his bike. “She didn’t see me and I was right there. I got pushed into on-coming traffic. Later on down the road, she stopped, put down the window and told me off.”

Despite these two incidents, Fry is a firm believer in commuting by bike. As a community recreation leader, he’d like to see mandatory bike lanes. “In Greenwich, it looks like a bike lane on one side, but it’s really called a snow lane.”

When the road was repaved, Fry says, he couldn’t believe bike lanes weren’t created.

Road lanes for bikes would be plowed 12 months of the year, useable year round. “Otherwise, commuting is a novelty,” he says. “It would be possible to not even own a car - entirely possible in Nova Scotia. The road is cool and dry and clear, all but 10 or 15 days a year.”

Fry is encouraged the province has hired an active transportation engineer as a resource. Some day, he dreams scenic roadways, like the Cabot Trail or Aspotogan Penninsula, may boast bike lanes.

Putting bucks into public transport

A motion put forward by Wolfville was approved unanimously at the recent conference of Nova Scotia municipalities.

The Union of Nova Scotia Municipalities will now urge the provincial government to re-engage in public transit issues and work with the municipalities to develop a public transit strategy for the province.

The motion also calls on the province to match the operating contributions made by municipalities to public transit systems across Nova Scotia.

Wolfville councillors were initially concerned about energy prices and carbon emissions, leading to increasing demands on public transit systems. They indicated Nova Scotia’s aging population is searching for alternate transportation, and rural areas are seriously affected: existing public transit aid to municipalities was made under vastly different circumstances, and needs to be reviewed.

Councillor Bill Zimmerman has even suggested Wolfville hire local taxis to provide public transportation with town limits. “We could arrange for them morning and evening to get people work and back. We could work together.”

While the motion was being debated, the Municipality of East Hants indicated it wanted to approach Kings Transit to offer bus service from Brooklyn to Lower Sackville.