Mississauga earns recognition as a bicycle-friendly community

The City of Mississauga has been recognized as a Silver Bicycle Friendly Community by the Share the Road Cycling Coalition. This award recognizes Canadian municipalities that are making significant efforts to build a culture of cycling. Share the Road awarded the Silver designation based on Mississauga’s strong and comprehensive efforts to advance cycling safety, equity-centred project planning, and community engagement through the Cycling Master Plan and Vision Zero Action Plan.

This is the first time Mississauga has achieved the Silver designation from Share the Road, previously holding a bronze designation since 2012. This achievement comes as cycling continues to grow as a popular hobby, fitness activity and mode of transportation for residents to get around Mississauga.

Cycling highlights in Mississauga

• Mississauga has more than 600 km of cycling infrastructure. The City has continued to expand Mississauga’s cycling network by installing cycle tracks, protected bike lanes, multi-use trails, and off-road trails.
• The City has more than 600 bike parking racks available and continues to install more every year. Bike parking is implemented in high-use areas and new transit hubs.
• Cycling routes are maintained through scheduled street sweeping, winter maintenance, and surface repairs to ensure year-round usability. The City prioritizes snow clearing along major corridors and commuter routes, and will be enhancing winter maintenance of cycling lanes starting this season.
• The City’s shared e-bike and e-scooter program allows residents to rent shared vehicles at designated stations across Mississauga. This program allows users to travel throughout Mississauga using a mode of transportation that’s sustainable, convenient and accessible.
• The City has implemented many cycling safety education campaigns through school-based programs, community workshops and communications campaigns focused on etiquette, rules, sharing the trail and protecting vulnerable users. Programs support accessibility, multilingual communication where appropriate, and partnerships that support underserved groups.
• Mississauga continues to promote cycling through outreach events to encourage participation across all demographics. This year, Mississauga hosted 16 community rides from May through October in addition to Bike Fest, bike repair workshops, Bike to Work Day, Bike Month and the Bike Challenge.
• The City collaborates with local organizations to provide repair services and improve access to bicycles, helping residents overcome barriers to cycling.
• The City has four cycling awards administered by the Mississauga Cycling Advisory Committee to recognize outstanding cyclists and cycling organizations.

Learn more about the City’s programs at mississauga.ca/cycling.

Quote

“We are honoured to be recognized by Share the Road Cycling Coalition for our efforts to build a more cycling-friendly city. Mississauga has made significant progress through the Cycling Master Plan and Vision Zero Action Plan, and we look forward to continuing to build a place where residents can choose to cycle for fun, fitness and daily transit.” – Sam Rogers, Commissioner, Transportation and Works

Background

Launched in 2008, Share the Road Cycling Coalition works to advocate for change, unite cycling organizations across the province and work with and on behalf of municipalities to enhance their ability to make their communities more bicycle-friendly.

The Bicycle-Friendly Communities (BFC) Award Program launched in 2010 and helps communities evaluate how bicycle-friendly their community is, celebrate progress, and work toward achieving higher-level awards over time. Cities are assessed in five categories referred to as the five “Es”: Engineering, Education, Encouragement, Evaluation & Planning and Equity and Accessibility. The applications are reviewed by a panel of experts and with the input of citizens. Recognition is awarded and in-depth guidance provided. The award categories are Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum and Diamond.

Learn more about Share the Road: sharetheroad.ca

Tags

• Active Transportation
• Awards and Recognition
• Cycling