Posts Tagged ‘bike’

It’s Bikes Baby!

Well as promised by the Mayor, here comes the Burrard Bridge bike lane! It’s great seeing the year over year improvement in terms of greening our city and encouraging awareness of alternative transportation.

We’ll see how this bike lane experiment pans out, but this coupled with BCAA’s fairly recent announcement of providing Roadside Assistance to cyclists are two definite strides in the right direction for cyclists I think.

These two things will hopefully encourage more riders and less drivers. Especially in the downtown core.

How BCAA “Bike Assist” works as quoted from their site:

  • The cyclist must have experienced a mechanical breakdown, which includes any issue that makes the bike inoperable during a rider’s commute, such as a broken chain or flat tire. No assistance will be provided to cyclists looking to avoid challenging terrain or inclement weather.
  • Service technicians will do their best to get the cyclist on the go, but if the repair cannot be made at the site of the breakdown, the technician will transport the cyclist and their bicycle to their destination, home or nearest bike shop. The kilometer allotment will be consistent with the member’s current level of membership (e.g. a basic member is entitled to a five kilometre tow).
  • Only two cyclists can be accommodated at a time.
  • BCAA cannot break bike locks, as bike ownership cannot be easily identified.

The Vancouver Sun currently has a more thorough view/opinion piece on the Burrard Bridge bike lane trial.

Bike to Work Week



Bike to Work Week, originally uploaded by Rob Baxter.

Metblogs acknowledges those brave souls who have got on their bikes for their first commute ride this week. Vancouver does make some efforts to try and give cyclists are reasonable route choice, but in my recent experience there are still way too many drivers who regard cyclists as legitimate targets. While the rest just don’t see cyclists, though this outfit should draw some attention.

Which, by the way, is why you need a helmet. Falling from a bike is unlikely to result in a head injury for a commuter. Being hit by a motor vehicle is.

Terms of use | Privacy Policy | Content: Creative Commons | Site and Design © 2009 | Metroblogging ® and Metblogs ® are registered trademarks of Bode Media, Inc.