Madeleine Bonsma-Fisher, PhD

@mbonsma
3.6K Followers
788 Following
1.5K Posts

University of Toronto postdoc (bikes + data), biophysics PhD, mom. I post about bikes and safe streets, local politics, and sometimes science. She/her.

#DataScience #BikeTooter #OttBike #BikeTO #ActiveTravel #Transportation #UrbanPlanning #CargoBike #eBike #biking #maps #science #Python #cats #fedi22

LocationToronto
Websitehttps://madeleinebonsma.com/contact
Blueskymbonsma.bsky.social
Bluesky cross-posting accounthttps://mastodon.social/@mbonsma.bsky.[email protected]
Madeleine Bonsma-Fisher, PhDApr 6

Curious about cargo bikes or biking with kids? Seasoned pro interested in meeting bike friends? Come to our cargo bike meetup on April 18 @ Withrow Park!
#BikeTO #CarryShitOlympics

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cargo-bike-meet-up-test-ride-tickets-1986679250117?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=wsa&aff=ebdsshwebmobile

Madeleine Bonsma-Fisher, PhDFeb 11
Show threadMadeleine Bonsma-Fisher, PhDFeb 6
Transportation planning has an unfortunate history of caring more about "choice riders" (of e.g. public transit) than people who use it out of necessity. Non-choice riders are forced to use the system no matter how bad, so there's no rush to improve it. This is wrong, both morally and scientifically
Madeleine Bonsma-Fisher, PhDFeb 3
Madeleine Bonsma-Fisher, PhDFeb 3
This past summer, my family completed our third week-long bike camping trip. We tackled the Simcoe Loop Trail, a beautiful network of rail trails extending from the shores of Lake Simcoe to Lake Huron. Here’s a thread about our trip! #ONbike
Madeleine Bonsma-Fisher, PhDOct 21
Madeleine Bonsma-Fisher, PhDOct 21
I polled 100+ attendees of my talk about which modes of transportation they use most and which they would *like* to use most. The results are pretty striking: most people travel most often by car, but their preferences are nearly the opposite. 87 use cars most, but only 20 *want* to! #CIRPA2025
Madeleine Bonsma-Fisher, PhDOct 18, 2025
Today at a kid extracurricular another parent said, "we were so excited to come last week and we got in the car and one of the tires was flat! So we couldn't make it." So I'm reflecting once again on how car dependency reduces options even for people with cars. Taxis, car share, and transit exist and make great backups for car trouble, but many people never even consider them.
Madeleine Bonsma-Fisher, PhDOct 11, 2025
The workers redoing our building's fence were in awe of our cargo bike. As I was passing they stopped to stare and one of them called out, "I would have saved my allowance to ride in that!"
Madeleine Bonsma-Fisher, PhDOct 3, 2025

Adapted from public health, the safe systems pyramid for road safety places population-level changes like land use and infrastructure design at the bottom, having the most impact. At the very top are individual-level measures like education and enforcement.

https://visionzeronetwork.org/applying-the-health-impact-pyramid-to-roadway-safety/

Show threadMadeleine Bonsma-Fisher, PhDOct 3, 2025
Olivia Chow is a smart politician who knows how to say things in the right way to work with obtuse people like the Ford government, so I don't fault her for angling for compromise. It's just, so weird to be having this fight at all.
Show threadMadeleine Bonsma-Fisher, PhDOct 3, 2025
Like, either accept that speed limits don't influence operating speeds and design roads so that natural operating speeds are safe, or be consistent with believing the law means something!
Madeleine Bonsma-Fisher, PhDOct 3, 2025

This makes me feel crazy. Being aware of the speed limit is like step 1 for driving! "Stealing is illegal, sure, but how are people supposed to know which stores they can steal from without getting caught if the stores with anti-stealing cameras don't have giant 'NO STEALING' signs outside??"

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/20-plus-mayors-urge-doug-ford-to-compromise-on-speed-camera-ban/article_1b50e9eb-36b7-4e34-b0af-175dcb1664b2.html