Vancity Bike Share Launch

Vancity Bike Share: Take it.  Ride it.  Pass it on.

This morning, Roland, Karen and I went to the launch of Vancity Bike Share, to wait in line and eat pancakes served by Libby Davies, Gregor Robertson, and Shane Simpson, all BC MLA and pick up my shiny red, Vancity logo-emblazoned one-speed cruiser plus non-branded red bike lock and non-branded red helmet. And a Vancity logo-emblazoned red t-shirt. Pretty good score for writing a 98-word blog post. After three weeks of going who-knows-where with the bike, I'll be handing it off, likely to Karen. Photos forthcoming from me, but Roland already has a set on Flickr. This will be my first ever bike ride home from work, so I'll have to dig deep for my signals and etiquette, having lived in the Lower Mainland for 10 years but having ridden a bike two times at most in that timespan.

I'm already a Vancity member, so they're not winning a convert out of me. As far as PR campaigns go, "releasing" bikes to share then donating them to PEDAL could be a lot worse.

Comments

An hour later and ... well, it takes me an hour to get home I guess! At least twice I had to dismount and walk the bike up an insurmountable hill: I can safely eliminate a one-speed when the time comes to purchase. Also, now I know which way I'm going next time: Rosser, not Willingdon, and Columbia, not Campbell. Also, I might take the bike on a bus, but I don't know when that might be.

I think the bike promo is a great idea but a didn't sign-up thinking a one-speed is a tough slog for anyone living in north van! Taking your bike on the bus is tricky the first time, but once you know the crux move of picking up your bike (grab front fork and rear seat stay for best results with heavy bike) and sliding it into the grooves, it gets much easier ;-) - just don't forget to take the bike off when you get to your stop!