Shifting Gears rolls into spring with big changes

Shifting Gears rolls into spring with big changes

Posted: April 1, 2020

For the last 17 years, Shifting Gears has challenged Peterborough to leave the car at home, and instead make the choice to walk, bike, carpool, take transit, or work from home. This year is different. We are all shifting gears already, in ways we did not expect. So, the Shifting Gears team has decided to do things a bit different this year, too.

As the Peterborough community works together to help flatten the curve by making big changes to the ways we go about daily work, school, play, shop, and travel, through Shifting Gears we will aim to support with tools, tips, and conversations to help navigating new daily norms. Those new norms are varied and changing based on news from government and health officials, so we’ll stay focused on their recommendations over the next couple months.

At the moment, following the recommendations means many of us are spending a lot of time at home. Over the coming weeks we will focus on work from home solutions for employers and employees, and how these tips can help all of us find balance in our days spent at home and social connection with friends and family while we all work on physical distancing.

We also will look at how to build physical activity in for the whole family, while sticking to the suggested practices of our health officials. We can provide guidance on how to get your bike ready for the season, tips on how to build movement breaks into your day, and how to make a safe, active commute when you need to. Our trip tracker, workshops, one-to-ones, and workplace challenge are currently being modified to try to serve our community in a way that fits.

We recognize that many are are still working in essential services and that a navigating a safe commute remains a concern. Our team will aim to share information from our City and City Transit officials on the services that are available.

We look forward to staying connected with you through this and celebrating with you on the other end. Thank you for helping to keep each other safe and healthy.

Yours,

the Shifting Gears team