Bike to Shop aims to support bike friendly businesses and make it easier and more enjoyable for people to bike and shop locally.  By participating, you help HUB Cycling gain valuable data that we can share with local businesses and decision-makers as we push for better infrastructure.

The goals of Bike to Shop are:

1. Encourage people to explore their local businesses and areas by bike
2. Showcase and strengthen the relationship between bikes and businesses

August 17 - 23: Bike to Shop Campaign. We shared tips and tricks to make shopping by bike easier. We showcased the best patios, plazas and shops to bike to this summer. 

August 24 - 28: Shop Local Challenge. Loads of great local businesses in Vancouver and Richmond joined forces to offer goodies to our participants. All participants had to do was bike by, show their registration, and they were granted a free bike safety check, ice cream, drink specials, and more! 

From Monday August 24 - Friday August 28, great local businesses in the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association, Quebec and 1st neighbourhood, and the City of Richmond offered goodies to those registered. 

You can see the businesses that participated on our Shop Local Challenge Schedule so you don't miss out!

Businesses that took part:

Last updated: August 20 2020

Bike Shops

• MEC are setting up a bike fixie station to look over your bike (Vancouver Store)
• Velofix and Our Community Bikes will be at Science World for quick fixes
• Cycle City Tours are doing free bike safety checks, plus enter to win a prize worth $50

Coffee Shops / Bakeries

• Swiss Bakery will be handing out free bike cookies plus get 10% off the rest of your order
• SMAK Healthy Foods are giving free coffee at all three of their Downtown Vancouver locations
• Bonus Bakery are offering a free small coffee and cookie each day

Food and Drink

• Earnest Ice Cream are offering 200 ice creams at ther Quebec St store (1829 Quebec St, Vancouver, BC V5T 2Z3)
• Buy two mains at BREWHALL and receive a free order or their Famous Fried Pickles or Soft Baked Pretzel
• Hydra Vancouver will offer up a 2 for 1 happy hour feature cocktail and 15% off lunch
• Twin Island Market are giving a free soda and bag of chips to 200 people
• Stanley Park Brewing are offering a free snack when you purchase a growler. 
• Donnellan’s Irish Pub is offering free fries when you purchase two drinks! For our participants, they are offering Granville Island Brewing cans for $5 or 10oz glasses for $3.
• Oddity Kombucha x Faculty Brewing are offering free Kombucha and discounts on their buch packs.
• Lot185 Café & Wine Bar are offering $4 beers (355ml) and $5 glasses (6oz) of wine
• The Body Energy Club on Robson Street are offering 50 mini juices, 50 mini smoothies and 100 small waters with an EnerC packet (428 Robson St, Vancouver, BC V6B 0H3)
• Clif bar are offering free Clif bars

Shop Local

• The Vancouver Art Gallery are giving a free drink when you order a dinner entree at their 1931 Gallery Bistro, free art postcards at their Gallery Store, and loads of discounts to their tickets, art rentals, and more. 
• Kwantlen Farmer's Market will give a refreshing beverage & a treat from one of their artisan bakers
• The Vancouver Farmers Market - Main Street are giving away a free fruit or veggie to any cyclist that comes and asks at the entrance, while supplies last.

Sponsor Bike to Shop

Bicycles and local businesses make a great match. People that shop by bike choose businesses closer to home, shop more frequently and often spend more money over time than those who drive.

Want us to showcase your bike friendly business during Bike to Shop? Email us at events@bikehub.ca.

Watch our social channels and webpage for tips on how to get more bikes to your business! 

If you support biking and bike infrastructure, we encourage you to become a HUB Cycling Organization Member. In addition to knowing that your contribution helps to make cycling better in Metro Vancouver, your organization will receive great promotional benefits and VIP invites to HUB social and networking events. More info about the benefits here. You can sign up directly here or email events@bikehub.ca for more info.

Support our event

We rely on generous donations of drinks, food, prizes, and activations in order to run our events. If you would like to support Bike to Shop, email events@bikehub.ca.

Spread the word

Help people get on their bike to shop! Share ways that you like to bike to shop, products that make it easy to do so or your favourite bike friendly businesses! #BikeToShop

Thanks to our incredible sponsors City of Vancouver, Vancity, Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association and TransLink for making these videos possible! 

Check out more tips on carrying items by bike:

Read our guide for some helpful reminders to keep you biking to shop all year round.

How to Bike to Shop

Momentum Weekly Article on Biking to Shop, Cargo Bikes and more! 

Things to Consider Before Purchasing a Cargo Bike

Cargo Bike Buyers Guide

Find our more about the relationship between bikes and business:

Small Businesses are Learning to Love Bike Lanes

Are Bike Lanes Good for Small Business

'Part of an evolution': Downtown business partners with cycling group

Park your bike near your closest bus stop or station, at a bike parkade or bring it with you (100% of TransLink's fleet is accessible to bikes). Three different types of bike parking are available at SkyTrain stations, bus exchanges, and West Coast Express stations throughout Metro Vancouver.

1. Bike Lockers

Reserved locker for your bike. Available at most SkyTrain stations and some bus exchanges.

2. Bike Racks

Standard outdoor racks for locking your bike up. Available at all SkyTrain stations and most bus exchanges.

3. Bike Parkades

To make shopping by bike even easier, TransLink has built bike parkades so now you can park your bike and hop on the SkyTrain! Located at Main Street–Science World, King Edward, Metrotown, Commercial-Broadway, Jocye-Collingwood and King George SkyTrain stations. Bike Parkades are indoor parking facilities where customers can lock up their bike for the day. More bike parkades will be under construction soon along the Evergreen Extension and the Westcoast Express.

The glass-walled facilities are lit 24 hours per day and are equipped with video cameras and convenient access 7 days a week. Only customers who enroll to use Bike Parkades can access the facilities. 

How to Enroll

- If you don't already have one, get a Compass Card and register it on compasscard.ca.

- At the bottom of the “My Cards” tab under “My Programs,” click enroll in Bike Parkade.

Cost

- When you enroll, your credit card will be charged $8, which will be added as Stored Value to your Compass Card. You can use it to pay for transit trips or Bike Parkade usage. It costs $1/day to use our Bike Parkade facilities, with fees capped at $8/month. You can use one facility multiple times per day without incurring a new charge. If you use more than one facility, there will be a $1/day charge for each facility. Don't forget to bring a lock! 

How to Park

- Cheeck out TransLink's video here. 

Bringing Your Bike With You on Transit

- While many people choose to simply park their bikes at a station you can also take your bike almost everywhere with you: on the bus, SkyTrain, SeaBus and West Coast Express. Folding bicycles are also allowed on the trains or buses now and electric-assist bikes are allowed on skytrains. Additional information may be found on TransLink's webpage here.

More information on #BiketoTransit

- An overview of the different ways to combine cycling with transit can be found through our #BikeToTransit campaign.