We're Concerned about The MOMS Act. We need your help, and your stories.

• Posted on 4 May 2021
• By Ben Cowie
• Posted in Cycling Advocacy
• 0

Help us ensure the future of cargo bikes in Ontario.

MAY 4, 2021

Dear #LdnOntBike, we need your help.

The Ontario Government has introduced a Bill into the Legislature (Bill 282 An Act in respect of various road safety matters), better known by its catchy title “The Moving Ontarians More Safely (MOMS) Act.” The MOMS Act will regulate e-bike and cargo bike use across the province. In some ways, the MOMS Act is an improvement on existing e-bike law, but it’s light on some technical details, and the devil is always in the details.

We’ve been over the Bill with a lot of people who know a lot about different aspects of law and the technical details about bikes, and one way we can interpret what’s written is that the government accidentally made your e-bike or cargo bike illegal. Yes, the law that’s supposed to enable more people to ride e-bikes actually could ban a lot of bikes in a few different ways, depending on the technical knowledge of the person interpreting the law. 

Don’t worry, we’re on it. We’ve done the legwork to propose fixes for the technical language (you can read all about that here), and we’re scheduled to present our recommendations in a Parliamentary Committee (doesn’t that sound fancy?) this week. Our hope is that we can help the Government move things along, so you can keep rolling on your bikes. 

So we know what you’re thinking: how can I help? You can help by contributing your personal story of how an e-bike or a cargo bike has changed your life for the better (or could change it for the better in the future). There are three ways to present these stories, and we’ve ranked them in order of most important to least important. 

1. Make a Submission to the Committee before Monday May 10 at 7PM EDT. Yes, you can do this! We’ve created a template to make it easy for you to submit your story. Please include a photo, and short description about how your e-bike or cargo bike has changed your life for the better. If you don’t already ride an e-bike, you can submit your hopes and dreams, too. Those stories can help paint a picture of how exciting and enabling this technology is for people of all walks of life in our province. Here’s how to submit: 
   
   i ) Modify our template for submitting your story (or make your own).
   Choose “File -> Make a Copy” to edit the document,
   and
   “File -> Download PDF” to save a copy for submission. 
   
   ii) Click this link to access the Committee Submission form for the Ontario Legislature
   
   iii) Choose Bill 282 from the drop down menu, and fill out the submission form before May 10 at 7PM. 
2. Write your MPP an e-mail (find your electoral district here, and your MPP here), and be sure to include the Transport Minister (Hon. MPP Caroline Mulroney, [email protected]) and the Transport Critic (MPP Jennifer French [email protected]) on the message. Tell them that you a) support the new Bill generally, and b) would like to see the Commentary we put forward included, too. E-mails to MPP’s are best when they’re short, a little bit personal (tell your story!), and include a photo of you enjoying your e-bike or cargo bike!
3. Tell your friends. Post your bike and story on social media with the hashtag #ConcernedMOMS_MTO and tag your MPP, Minister Mulroney (@C_Mulroney), and MPP French (@JennKFrench).

Thanks so much for helping us enable more people of All Ages and Abilities to ride more often! We hope that this action is enough to get the regulations right, allowing you to keep rolling carefree through the springtime sunshine.

Questions about this campaign in London and area can be directed to [email protected]