4,000 people made the bicycle a part of their life during Fall Bike to Work Week

Last week (September 28th - October 4th), Bike to Work Week presented by MEC return a month earlier than usual to the bike lanes of Metro Vancouver. The event kicked off with a sunny start with perfect early-fall riding conditions. The event series aims to celebrate cycling in Metro Vancouver, and encourage riders both new and returning to consider cycling as one of their transport modes of choice. 

Thousands of participants logged trips and hundreds more took part in the Fall Bike to Work Week:

Success by Numbers: 

• 3,995 people registered to participate
• 1,064 people were new to bike commuting
• 6,600 people cycled by our 23 Knowledge HUBs
• 63,204 KGs of greenhouse gases saved 
• 291,479 total km's cycled 
• 270 people registered to take part in our lunchtime webinar series 

Bike to Work Week officially launched on #worldcarfree day (September 22nd) when HUB Cycling challenged 10 local leaders to spend up to an hour of their day on their bike. “Recognizing that the pandemic has presented an unusual work-life balance for most, the goal of the ride hour challenge is to showcase how anybody can use up to an hour of their day to get out on their bike” explains Rowena Farr, HUB Cycling’s Bike to Work Week Manager. 

Building on the successes of our digital ‘Go by Bike’ event in May, our early Fall event took a ‘‘hybrid’ format with both an outside ‘physical’ and digital event series. The ‘physical’ event series included carefully curated knowledge hubs (formerly celebration stations), offering free bike tune ups, Clif bars, Translink facemasks, cycling information and great vibes. The digital schedule included lunchtime webinars, livestream Q&As plus heaps of great prizes!  

We were excited to see the bike lanes busier than ever. We encourage participants to continue using their bikes into Fall! If you need some guidance on transitioning into fall commuting, check out MEC's article here.