The Sunday Magazine

'The spirit of living creatures was in the wheels': Blessing bicycles, plus listener mail

Listeners respond to our interview with former New York City transportation commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, and we listen in at the annual "Blessing of the Bikes" at Trinity St. Paul's United Church in downtown Toronto.
(CBC )

When Janette Sadik-Khan was transportation commissioner for New York City, she installed hundreds of kilometres of bike lanes. On last week's program, she told us she sees bike lanes as a core part of an urban revolution, even if they may lead to a "bikelash." 

A lot of people have trouble breaking the bike-brain barrier — the notion that our streets can be used for anything other than cars.- Janette Sadik-Khan, former NYC transportation commissioner

We received a number of responses to that interview. One of our listeners, Mark Wolfgram, wrote to suggest that listeners look at the Cycling Embassy of Denmark's "Collection of Cycle Concepts" to find ideas to implement in their own cities. 

We also stopped by the seventh annual "blessing of the bikes" at Trinity St. Paul's United Church in downtown Toronto to witness the proceedings. 

Click the button above to hear listener mail and the "blessing of the bikes."