50,000 petition signatures - is it possible?

Our Region of Waterloo Bike Share Petition has been quite successful so far. To date, we've garnered over 900 signatures in approximately 2 months, from both students and residents in the Region of Waterloo (and even some support from people in the U.S and Europe). I plan on providing Regional Council with the petition signatures, as well as preparing a presentation on the benefits of cycling and bikesharing. It is my hope that these efforts will show Regional Council that residents are serious about sustainable transportation, and that we expect future investments in cycling infrastructure.

I'll most likely be closing the petition in late November, and presenting to council in December. Therefore, that leaves approximately 5 months to gather as much community support as possible. How many signatures do you think we can get by then? Let's have a look at the numbers:

Total Population of Region of Waterloo (including students): 534,900
Est. Population of University of Waterloo: 25,000+
Est. Population of Wilfrid Laurier University: 15,000+
Est. Population of Contestoga College: 5,000+

From my experiences, most students seem to support cycling, and are enthusiastic towards the idea of a bikeshare system. If we assume that 80% of these students can be reached through Facebook and Twitter, that's 36,000 potential signatures for our petition. Social media allowed us to gather hundreds of signatures in a very short period of time. And since we have plans to reach residents of the Region of Waterloo as well, there's plenty of opportunity. Looking at these numbers, is 50,000 signatures really an unrealistic goal?

Clearly, it depends on a variety of factors. As we move forward with this initiative, we'll have a better idea of a realistic petition goal. Until then, goals will be set incrementally as we continue to work diligently towards this important initiative. Ultimately, we need this to be a community initiative, where people take it upon themselves to spread the word, get involved, and strive for a more sustainable future that involves cycling.


Joshua Joseph
Director, Active and Community Transportation
University of Waterloo Sustainability Project
josephmjosh@gmail.com | 519-897-5394
Josh on LinkedIN