An Engineering Perspective with Matt Pinder

While Jun Nogami may be the only other Toronto based bike blogger today, there is another blog that started in Toronto ten years ago called “Beyond the Automobile”. The blog’s author – Matt Pinder – is a transportation engineer in Ottawa who has been exposed to cycling in the Netherlands, started the BIKE MINDS storytelling series in Toronto and Ottawa, and has been calling for improvements to a suburban development in Ottawa called South Keys. I spoke with Matt on February 9, 2024 to reflect on his advocacy and professional journey over the past decade.

Politically Infused Road Rage

This past week has been one of complete road rage for Toronto’s cycling community. On Thursday, city council voted 24-21 to waste an additional $458 million to save 3% of commuters an average of 52 seconds by rebuilding the eastern portion of the Gardiner Expressway.[1] This is in spite of overwhelming evidence supporting the cheaper boulevard (remove) option, which was supported by the following:

Travel Series - Cycling (and Vices) of the Netherlands

After visiting London, I took my first high speed train ride heading to Amsterdam. Not only do such trains travel at least 300 km/h, the ride is smooth and the trains stop at urban downtowns. This saves the need to travel to airports usually located at the edges of cities. Combined with their smaller ecological footprint, high speed trains make air travel unnecessary for trips of 500 km or less. Unfortunately, Canada is the only G8 country without high speed rail, which they should adopt as soon as possible. Especially along the Québec City – Windsor corridor, where roughly half of Canada’s population resides.

This TGV in Paris is similar to the trains I used to get to Amsterdam

Pack your bags and travel!

If there is one thing I can suggest to improve your political (and civic) health, it's to take every chance you can get to travel! Especially when you are in your twenties and do not have as many obligations to attend to! Not only does it allow you to see new places, learn new languages, or try new things; it's a good way to meet new people and learn from their experiences. Personally, I recently returned from my first ever trip to Europe for two weeks.