Victoria
Your city and your health are more connected than you think.
Cities across Canada are making major investments in new infrastructure, like better transit and new bike networks, to make it easier for people to get around without a car. These investments are designed to reduce traffic congestion and make city life more sustainable. But they could also shape our health and well-being. With over 80% of Canadians living in urban areas, the potential impact is huge. But there is a lot we still don’t know. Can building better infrastructure actually increase physical activity, well-being, and social connectedness? Does everyone benefit, or are some residents being left out?
Help us learn how to build healthy, happy, and connected cities.
INTERACT is bringing together thousands of people in cities across Canada to evaluate the health impacts of sustainable transportation infrastructure. In Victoria, our team at UVic and SFU are inviting a diverse mix of residents who bike in the city to help us study the use and benefits of the city’s growing cycling network. With over 36 km of safe and comfortable bike routes in the city, we’re interested in knowing who is using them and how. Participation is easy and an opportunity to add your voice to innovative local research that aims to guide healthy and equitable community design in Victoria, and beyond.
Join the ride!
Victoria’s expanding cycling network provides safe and comfortable routes for biking around the city. Can it also make us healthier and happier? Who uses the bike infrastructure, and who benefits? We’re uniting hundreds of people who bike in Victoria to find out.
Welcome back!
If you participated in a previous wave of data collection (in 2017, 2019, or 2021), welcome back! We want to know what’s changed. Sharing your data over time is powerful because it allows us to study cause and effects.
Ready for the next round? Click below to sign-in to our survey portal with the email you used last time.
What will I do?
Read the consent form
Review the study details and answer a few questions to confirm you are eligible for the study.
Complete a short survey
The online 20-minute survey will cover your transportation habits, health, and neighbourhood. If you don’t have access to a computer or a smartphone, our team can ask you the questions over the phone or in person.
Be entered into a prize draw
You will automatically be entered for a chance to win one of five $100 gift cards or our grand prize—a $500 gift card—both to a retailer of your choice.
Optional activities
- Refer friends and receive up to $20 in e-gift cards as a thank you. When your friend and you complete the Health survey (that’s the one after we determine your eligibility), we’ll send you a $10 e-gift card. You can refer as many people as you like, you’ll receive a maximum of $20 in e-gift cards for helping us spread the word!
- Join the study’s bonus activities. You can choose to complete an extra survey about the places you visit, download an app to share travel and physical activity data through your mobile phone for 30 days or wear a sensor for 10 days that collects trip and physical intensity data. This part is totally optional. There’s no data plan required. For every extra activity you complete, you will receive a bonus entry for the prize draw.
What are the benefits?
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Contribute data that can help the City of Victoria make its next planning decisions
- Join thousands of people across Canada who are sharing how changes in their neighbourhood impacts their day-to-day routines and overall health and well-being
- By joining, you will automatically be entered into a prize draw for one of five $100 gift cards or the grand prize of a $500 gift card, each to a retailer of your choice
- Choose how much data you want to share. Participation is easy and flexible
Who can participate?
We’re looking to hear from all kinds of people who bike, from casual cruisers to daily commuters. To be eligible:
- You are an adult (18+) living in the Capital Regional District (CRD)
- You bike at least once a month in the City of Victoria
- You understand English well enough to complete a 20-minute survey
To get the full picture of who is using and benefiting from the City’s bike network, our research needs to include as many different voices as possible. We welcome participation from people who have been historically left out of research and city planning, including Indigenous people, people of colour, newcomers, residents living on lower incomes, and persons with disabilities.
If you would like to join the study but face barriers to participating, please contact us.
Need more information?
- Reach out to our study coordinator Moreno at victoria@teaminteract.ca
- Learn more about INTERACT
- Find out about the City of Victoria’s cycling network
- Check out our FAQ for participants
Funding and partners: This research is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. We partner with the City of Victoria and Island Health to maximize the impact of our work.
%
of our cohort had heard about the AAA Cycling Network
%
think it’s a very good idea
%
of participants bicycle with children
About Victoria’s Cycling Network
The City of Victoria has built 36 km of safe cycling routes that make up the All Ages and Abilities (AAA) cycling network. With this network, 95% of the municipality is within 500m of a safe cycling route. Victoria’s not stopping there, and has plans to keep expanding the network to increase access and comfort for. Victoria’s $7.75M commitment to the cycling network is an important step in its bold journey to become one of the best small cities for cycling in the world.
