KITCHENER — Local cycling advocates say the City of Kitchener's "bicycle-friendly community" award and a provincial commitment for $25 million for cycling infrastructure are baby pedals in the right direction.

"They're first steps," said Mike Boos, a member of the Tri-Cities Transportation Action Group. "But the amount of money pledged isn't a huge amount, especially when you consider Waterloo Region wants to spend something on the order of more than $10 million per year on walking and cycling infrastructure over the next 10 years."

Ontario Transportation Minister Glen Murray announced a three-year plan for $10 million for municipal cycling infrastructure and $15 million for cycling space on provincial roads and bridges at the Ontario Bike Summit in Toronto Monday morning.

The Share the Road Cycling Coalition designated the City of Kitchener as a "silver" bicycle-friendly community, citing its plan for the future of cycling and construction of new bike lanes throughout the city. The award puts Kitchener on par with Guelph, Hamilton, Toronto and Pelham, a town of about 17,000 near Welland.

Kitchener cycling advisory committee member Peter Dedes said the award is proof city politicians and staff are warming to the idea of spending money on cycling infrastructure, but the award came too soon.

"I'm a little unsatisfied. I don't think we should have gotten that high of a designation. I understand what they were rewarding us for — the processes we're getting in place."

He said Kitchener has a great plan in place, but needs to build more bike lanes and other cycling infrastructure before it's truly worthy of a "bicycle-friendly" designation.

But the "most important thing we need to get right," according to Dedes, is ensuring the safety of cyclists on car-cluttered city streets.

He would like to see the province implement the one-metre rule, which compels motorists to yield at least one metre of space as they pass a cyclist.

"Hopefully it gets passed," Dedes said of the proposed changes to the Highway Traffic Act, "But if the government falls, that likely won't happen."

But if cities can build bike lanes with some form of built-in separation — a grade or barrier preventing cars from coming into contact with cyclists — the one-metre rule is less important, Boos said.

"If you can design it right into the infrastructure, it's a lot better than trying to socially engineer it in," Boos said.

On Monday afternoon, Premier Kathleen Wynne announced her government's intention to divert $2.9 billion per year in new and existing revenue to fund transit and road expansion throughout the province.

"There's a perception that cycling isn't treated the same way (as roads or transit)," Dedes said, adding it is not yet clear whether cycling infrastructure can be built using the new funds announced Monday.

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