Update: the event will be taking place inside due to the somewhat unpredictable weather forecasts.
Our next BIKE MINDS event is on June 19, 2025. Once again, we’ll be meeting at the Ottawa Bike Café on 79 Sparks Street in Ottawa.
This month’s theme is:
BIKE MINDS + Career
This month BIKE MINDS is collaborating with the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals (APBP) to put on BIKE MINDS + Career. The event will feature four people who have made a profession of working on bicycle facilities, programs, or in some other capacity advancing the state of the bicyclosphere.
BIKE MINDS + Career is a place to hear how some have built their career with the help of bikes and how others have used their life experiences to improve active transportation for the next generation.
Each story will be allocated approximately 8-10 minutes. At the end of the storytelling, there will be an open question period, where members of the audience and storytellers will be able to ask you questions.
Schedule of the evening
Note: We are starting at 7 pm instead of 6:30 pm (below is the new schedule)
6:30 pm – doors open for our event. This is the time to buy your food and drinks if desired
7:00 pm – stories start
8:00 pm – stories end/mingling time
8:15 pm – café doors close
The Speakers
Farid Mullally
Nature enjoyer, violinist, transportation engineer
In high school, I had to write a primary research essay on something. I chose the benefits of segregated cycling infrastructure. Little did I know that it would get me my first co-op in civil engineering, and would send my career into the world of transportation planning and design.
Farid grew up in Ottawa and graduated from University of Waterloo in civil engineering. He works in the field of planning and designing our transportation systems to be more sustainable in everyway, which includes bikes. Farid is fascinated with the decisions we make that shape our built environment and affect the way we act as humans. He loves to be a part of forming vibrant communities and transforming society for the better. He also enjoys staying active outdoors in all seasons and sharing the joy of music with others.
Erin Blay
Multimodal Mama
As a transit planner and lifelong “fair-weather” cyclist, I explore how cycling has shaped my personal journey and deepened my belief that no one is one mode—and that resilient cities are built through intentional choices that center human movement and the lived experience.
Erin is a transportation planner with over fourteen years of experience making it easier for people to get where they need to go. She’s worked with cities, towns, Indigenous communities, and regional agencies to improve transit service, support rural and intercommunity travel, and design infrastructure that works for everyone. Alongside her transit work, Erin champions cycling and other active transportation options as part of a more connected, inclusive, and sustainable transportation system. A Registered Professional Planner and member of the Canadian Institute of Planners, Erin is passionate about creating practical, people-first solutions that support mobility, equity, and resilience in communities of all sizes.
François Pirart
Active Mobility Advocate, Strategic Thinker, Happy Father
François Pirart is originally from Belgium. He studied geography and environmental planning in Belgium, England and the Netherlands. He came to live in the National Capital Region in 2010. Since his arrival, he has been involved in numerous sustainable transportation projects, including leading the City of Gatineau’s “Plan directeur du réseau cyclable”. He is now Senior Transportation Planner at the NCC where he leads long-term planning projects, such as the Parkways Planning and Design Guidelines.
Melcsi Tasnádi
Ocean, autumn, Magyar Mum
Melcsi has been riding a bike since they were a child. Taking transit to school or hopping on their bike to get to their kayak trainings alone from the age of 11 provided a sense of freedom, fun, and adventure. Outside of work, Melcsi enjoys travelling, swimming in the Balaton, gardening (though right now it is confined to house plants in a flat), and spending time with family and friends. Melcsi’s favourite way of exploring new places are by foot, transit/train, and bike.
Melcsi was born and raised in Budapest, Hungary. Melcsi’s vault into planning walkable/cycleable and child-friendly cities, and carving out a specialization in mobility planning was sparked by the lack of options, disjointed and unsafe walking and cycling network while living in downtown Toronto. Melcsi decided to pursue a degree in urban planning from the University of Waterloo. Melcsi has previously worked for the City of Ottawa as a co-op student, and currently works in the private sector as a mobility planner. Melcsi thrives on making cities more child-oriented, green, and fun where walking, cycling and transit are intuitive, reliable, convenient, and ordinary.
Robin Bennett
adventurous, urban cycling advocate, urban planner
I emigrated from England as an infant to Eastern Ontario and lived in rural villages due to father’s career as a large animal veterinarian. Started cycling early in life for pleasure and to get to activity places like beaches or the local city, which was Cornwall, 30 km away. I became more aware of the efficiency of bikes for transportation when I borrowed my cousin’s bike in England and delivered it to his summer home in Belgium via Netherlands and Germany in my late 20’s.
After this experience, I have used bikes whenever possible to explore many cities for fun and as part of my career as a bicycle transportation planner. During my 20s, I worked three years in the Arctic, followed by four years of backpacking around the world, using bikes wherever convenient.
I gained my Master of Urban Planning at McGill by the late 1980’s and ended up in Ottawa in the mid 1990s. After several years volunteering and eventually chairing the former Regional Cycling Advisory Group, I was hired as the city’s first Cycling Facilities Coordinator, starting in January 2000 and retiring as a Project Manager within the Active Transportation Planning unit in March 2025.
I remain passionate about urban transportation cycling in Ottawa and the potential to address a multitude of urban problems through significantly increasing the number of residents who choose it as a means of transportation.
Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals is a community of practitioners working to create more walkable, bikeable places. We foster peer knowledge sharing, advance technical expertise, and support the professional development of our members who work in government, consulting firms, and in non-profit organizations in the fields of transportation planning and engineering, urban design and planning, public health and active living.
Reserve your spot today
As usual, you can sign up at our Eventbrite site now. There is space for about 100 people as we are aiming to do the event outside this time (Weather permitting). Entrance is free, but please cancel your reservation if you decide not to go after all. If it is fully booked, don’t hesitate to sign up on the waiting list. If you are in luck, someone cancels and you might get a notification that places are opening up again.
BIKE MINDS 