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Looking to improve commuter options at your workplace?

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Attend a Creative Commuting Ambassador workshop. It’s free!

Upcoming Events

Lindsay Gauld’s One Millionth KM at The Forks

February 2, 2013

BTTF Fundraiser Concert

February 2, 2013

Jack Frost Challenge

February 9-15, 2013

Snow Trek

Sunday, Feb. 10

Creative Commuting Ambassador Training

Thursday, Feb. 14

Winter Bike to Work Day

Friday, Feb. 15, Winnipeg

Ice It To Work Day

Friday, Feb. 15

Actif Epica

Saturday, Feb. 16

Snow Trek

Sunday, Feb. 24

Commuter Challenge

June 2-8, 2013


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Call for Nominations:

2013 Commuter Friendly Workplace Awards

Does your workplace make it easy, convenient and affordable to bus, carpool, bike, walk or telecommute? Have improvements been introduced that merit recognition? If so, consider applying for the 2013 Commuter Friendly Workplace Award. The application form also acts as a handy idea list for possible projects to improve commuting options at your workplace. Check out what Assiniboine Credit Union, last year’s winner, accomplished here.

Sign up your team for The Jack Frost Challenge!Winter offers a whole new array of active ways to get around (besides our favourites of walking and cycling) – snowshoeing, skating, x-country skiing. Try ’em all during The Jack Frost Challenge, Feb. 9-15, 2013. Sign up your team of 1-5 participants with the goal of logging 130 km that week. Last year, 10,372 total km were completed by 67 teams, such as the Three Abominable Snowmen, The Fast and Flurriest, and the West End Winter Woolies to name a few. Sign up co-workers, classmates, friends or family. Prizes and bragging rights are up for grabs!

Become a Creative Commuting Ambassador

You are invited to a FREE, half-day interactive workshop on becoming a Creative Commuting Ambassador at your workplace! Get the tools and guidance to help improve commuter options on-site and support your coworkers to get the most out of their commutes. Receive training in bike route planning, Winnipeg Transit Tools, evaluating your workplace, and planning your own simple project. Thurs, February 14, 2013, from 12:45-4:00 p.m. Sign up here

Cycling in Winterpeg

Ever been to Oulu, Finland? Probably not. Neither has Anders Swanson but that will change when he attends the first international Winter Cycling Congress taking place on Feb 13 & 14, 2013. It’s certainly a fitting location given that cycling accounts for 12% of all trips made in winter in Oulu (23% in summer). Anders will be presenting Winnipeg as a city  where winter cycling is or can be “for everyone”. Afterward, he will return to Winnipeg to share empirical, anecdotal and visual proof that this is, in fact, the case! Learn more here. On a related note, a group of Manitoba Hydro employees prove that 360 Portage Avenue is the place to ride, even in winter.

Walkable Communities

If you’re interested in living in a more walkable community (and who isn’t?), search the new online guide from America Walks and Sam Schwartz: Steps to a Walkable Community. The guide has case studies from across North America, and is organized in categories such as advocacy, policy, land use, and encouragement & education.

New Technologies: Heated Roads and Smart Cards

The Dutch, once again, are leading the way in terms of new technology for cycle commuting. To improve biking in winter, they are using reflective crystals to increase the visibility of lane markings and underground heating on some roads. See the BBC video report.

Here in Winnipeg, Transit will begin updating its fare collection system in February 2013. The spiffy new fareboxes will have an electronic display and automatic coin counter. They will also print a coded transfer slip that will be electronically read when you get back on the bus. Later in the year, transit will introduce a Smart Card to replace its paper tickets and passes. Riders will be able to preload cash or a variety of passes onto their card, and the scanner on the farebox will deduct the correct amount just by tapping the card to the box. Sweet!

Saving Money and Making Friends: Ridesharing

Imagine saving $100,000 pounds (that’s $158,000 to us Canadians) by sharing your commute with friends. That’s why this story caught our eye. Five fellows in the UK have shared their daily commute for over 20 years and become fast friends. In addition to saving a ton of money, they slashed their individual commuting emissions and found a way to take turns snoozing on the ride home to boot.