Vancouver Critical Mass
Free Bike Valet at Fireworks
BEST and the City of Vancouver have teamed up this year to offer free and secure Bike Valet services at the Cigarette Banking Fireworks (the HSBC Celebration of Light). It's a convenient and safe way for cyclists to enjoy the fireworks without risking bike theft or having to fight with the crowds for space for bikes and gear.
This year's fireworks are also a trial for whether the City will continue to support Bike Valet parking at other large events, including the 2010 Olympics. If you are planning on heading down to English Bay or Kitsilano to watch the fireworks on July 26, 30, or August 2nd, please consider using the Bike Valet service. We'd love nothing more than for the tennis courts at Kits Beach and Lost Lagoon to be filled with rows of parked bikes, proving that Bike Valet is more than just a great concept, but also an essential service that will get people out of their cars and riding to events instead.
Locations:
Kitsilano Beach Tennis Courts-Arbutus and Cornwall. 5-11 pm Stanley Park Lagoon Tennis Courts-Robson and South Lagoon: 5-11 pm
Please visit www.best.bc.ca and www.vancouver.ca/cycling for more information on Bike Valet and location maps for the HSBC Celebration of Light.
This year's fireworks are also a trial for whether the City will continue to support Bike Valet parking at other large events, including the 2010 Olympics. If you are planning on heading down to English Bay or Kitsilano to watch the fireworks on July 26, 30, or August 2nd, please consider using the Bike Valet service. We'd love nothing more than for the tennis courts at Kits Beach and Lost Lagoon to be filled with rows of parked bikes, proving that Bike Valet is more than just a great concept, but also an essential service that will get people out of their cars and riding to events instead.
Locations:
Kitsilano Beach Tennis Courts-Arbutus and Cornwall. 5-11 pm Stanley Park Lagoon Tennis Courts-Robson and South Lagoon: 5-11 pm
Please visit www.best.bc.ca and www.vancouver.ca/cycling for more information on Bike Valet and location maps for the HSBC Celebration of Light.
Labels: bike parking
posted by Cameron Reed @ 7/29/2008 02:14:00 pm
1 Comments:
At 3:04 pm, July 29, 2008,
VanCM Blogger said…
Personally I think the best place for this would be the big high profile Hockey Games or such like Stadium events. Though the Nat Bailey Bike Parking has only had limited success - and the fireworks are more of a natural place to ride your bike too... I don't think that's the key issue: We shouldn't be just going to things where there are already bikes but going to things where bike parking is hard. That is the most logical. Downtown stadium with lots of drunk rowdies and not friendly bike parking is a natural. It could be a business if it caught on. They could advertise it on the big corporate radio that advertises the game. Also as a form of social change that would be more dramatic. Contrast that with Nat Bailey games. It is already easy to ride there and bike parking there is already fine. I found that some cyclists attending didn't want to bother with the valet and just used the racks. Therefore the advertising of free bike parking at Nat Bailey isn't much of a draw. Something like a hockey game it would be - because it would be different.
I wonder about the Fireworks. In a way it could work very well because it is different... in the security aspect. Yet the best part of biking to the fireworks maybe having your bike with you to not have to go to the central hubs only (like Kits beach which bus users or drivers may have as a set destination) --- on a bike you can wander and roll to a less busy place and find a seat even later on... What I'm saying is it might not catch on because too many (certainly myself) would not want to lock up the bike at some place far from the actual thing and then have to walk to find a spot - we'd rather use the bike to get quickly to the spot. It is a little bit hard to navigate a bike in the busy crowds but unless it is shoulder to shoulder (and you can choose to avoid that) you can still go faster on wheels than foot.
Just my 2 cents. It's a good thing to have happen in any case - kudos!
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