Pathways to Mobility: Connecting Older Adults to Cycling
Cycle Toronto received federal funding from the Active Transportation Fund, as well as from the Echo Foundation, to develop Pathways to Mobility, a project focused on promoting age-friendly cycling practices among older adults. This grant represents a co-creative and collaborative effort involving many individuals, including the founders of Cycle 55+, Jacky Kennedy, Holly Reid, and Marjorie Nichol. The project connects qualitative research and community engagement to build awareness of the benefits of cycling. The insights and findings gained throughout the project will inform City strategies and programs aimed at supporting older adults in maintaining active and socially connected lives through cycling.
Toronto’s public spaces are not designed to meet the needs of seniors. Seniors are overrepresented in road injuries and deaths. Older Torontonians often have diverse, evolving, and complex health needs, including chronic diseases, injuries, and disabilities, which can contribute to social isolation and loneliness. These issues are further compounded by income inequities that affect the health of older adults. In May 2024, Toronto Public Health published a report on Healthy Aging in Toronto, which outlined that, in 2019, 20% of adults aged 65 years and older in Toronto were living below the low-income measure threshold. In 2023, more seniors were relying on food banks to meet their basic needs. Lower-income older adults are concentrated in the northeast and northwest areas of the city, where there is also an inequitable distribution of access to community spaces, greater distances between transit stops, and a generally hostile pedestrian and cycling environment.
Over the past three months, Cycle Toronto hosted a series of four workshops in Scarborough that centered on introducing a team of Older Adult Cycling Facilitators, who shared their experiences cycling in Scarborough. They spoke about how biking helps them stay active, engaged, and socially connected in their communities. The workshops also included small-group discussions around our cycling survey to gather insights and data on the experiences and barriers faced by participants. Attendees were then given the opportunity to try biking for themselves. Bike Share Toronto supported the workshops by providing e-bikes and acoustic bikes. We also had an e-cargo trike, which proved to be very popular because it offered a safe way for participants to gain confidence on a bike.
Many of the workshop participants are immigrants and expressed that biking was part of their Canadian dream. They left the workshops empowered, having discovered they had the strength and ability to bike. It was inspiring to watch older men and women experience the joy of biking for the first time, with the same excitement children display when they first learn to ride.
We would like to acknowledge and thank our team of volunteer Older Adult Cycling Educators: Rhoda Potter, Douglas Yardley, Shahnaz Stri, Peter Low, Steve Glassman, and Bryce Bates, as well as our community partners, AccessPoint on the Danforth and The Malvern Family Resource Centre, for welcoming us into their communities and spaces. We would also like to thank Councillor Mantas for helping us secure space at the L’Amoreaux Community Centre.
Save the Date & Mark Your Calendars: January 20th, 2025, 11:30 am – 1:00 pm
We will be hosting a special event at the Malvern Family Resource Centre to share the results of our Pathways to Mobility project, followed by a catered lunch.
Details will be announced in the New Year.
Want to help us continue work like this? Donate to Cycle Toronto:
(The Cycle Toronto team of Older Adult Cycling Facilitators with Bike Share Toronto pose at AccessPoint on Danforth.)
(Three happy women participants who had never biked before, who now want to bike more after discovering how fun and easy biking can be.)
(A happy woman who hadn’t biked in a very long time tries the e-trike to get re-familiarized with biking before moving to a Bike Share bike, at the L’Amoreaux Community Recreation Centre.)
