It's been over a month now since a 22-year-old Osborne Village resident sat down one Saturday morning and dashed off an e-mail describing how she and her bike were almost run over by a bus.

"Hit and Run Transit driver," the subject line read.

The letter from Ainsley Hutchings went on to explain that at about 3:45 p.m. on Friday, March 16, she had been cycling south on Osborne when she stopped at Broadway for a red light.

Ainsley was in the diamond lane that's reserved for transit buses.

And, yes, bicycles.

In fact there was a big orange bus stopped right behind her.

Ainsley picks up this story from here.

"When the light turned green, I proceeded across the intersection. The bus came very close to me; I was less than a foot from the curb. Because of the lack of space, I couldn't even turn my handlebars to get up on the curb.

"I was trapped."

Then she felt the passing bus make contact.

And she fell, screaming.

Instinctively, Ainsley tucked her head in to protect it. She could see the bus's back wheels coming toward her.

"I remember thinking, 'This is the worst way to die, I won't see my family or friends anymore.' "

The next thing she saw was the bus driving off up Osborne. "I was expecting the driver to stop, but he didn't."

She struggled to her feet and screamed for help.

There were witnesses who managed to help her and to get the number of the bus. Ainsley wound up in hospital where her wounds were cleaned and she was released.

"Luckily," she wrote, "I had no life-threatening injuries. However, if the bus had been an inch or two closer to me, my parents could have been planning my funeral today."

Ainsley went on to say the experience reminded her that not everyone is accepting of cyclists sharing the road.

"There is an enormous power differential between a cyclist and a bus driver," she wrote. "In this situation, the driver's lack of respect for my vulnerability could have cost me my life."

At last report, police hadn't completed their investigation.

Meanwhile, a transit official informed her they had taken "action" against the driver. They wouldn't say what.

Transit did tell her this: The driver acknowledged seeing someone on the bike, but lost track of the cyclist while passing. Of course, what happened to Ainsley points to the larger issue, which she addressed in her own way:

"With all of the controversy regarding climate change and the emphasis on reducing emissions, people need to feel that choosing cycling is a positive option, not a dangerous one."

That reminds me. It's all very family friendly to build suburban bike paths to, through and around parks. But as the green age dawns, it's time for Winnipeg to start planning and building networks of bicycles lanes. Emission-free, exercise-inviting, safe passage on our major arteries.

Last summer, Free Press editor Bob Cox wrote from personal cycling experience about riding his bike to work in Ottawa, Toronto and even Edmonton, which all have central arteries designated for bikes and pedestrians.

Cox concluded: "Many of our wide streets could easily accommodate bike-only paths, if we sacrifice some room now devoted to motor vehicles."

All we need, I submit, is a mayor to steer us into the urban transit future.

That would be the slow lane.

For bikes only.

Mind you, that last city councillor to champion bike lanes was Donald Benham. And you know what happened to him during the last election. The mayor borrowed a Big Blue bus from the provincial Tory machine shop.

And ran him over.