New 'bike valet' service will be available in downtown Vancouver all summer

Traversing downtown Vancouver on two wheels is about to be more appealing—and worry-free—thanks to a new initiative beginning next week.

The Bike Valet, an organization that offers cyclists a free and secure parking option, will launch its first summer-long service in the city’s core on June 19.

It will be located beside the Vancouver City SkyTrain Station near the intersection of Granville and West Georgia streets, and 100 bikes can be parked there at a time.

People will also be able to store their e-scooters, bike trailers, strollers and personal mobility devices at the site, the city said in a statement Monday.

“Active transportation users will be able to park their wheels for a few minutes or all day and stroll the city centre stress-free knowing their rides are protected,” Mayor Ken Sim said in the release.

The service will be available between 7:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m., Monday to Friday, with the weekend hours shifting to a 10 a.m. opening time and 8 p.m. close.

Anything left at the site outside those hours will be stored with the Vancouver Police Department, the city cautions.

TransLink, which already operates bike parkades at three SkyTrain stations across Vancouver, none of which are in the downtown core, is one of the sponsors of the new bike valet initiative.

Kevin Quinn, TransLink’s CEO, says the organization “will keep looking for creative ways to encourage sustainable transportation by making bicycle parking as simple as possible.”

While this will be the first summer-long operation, the Bike Valet has been providing the same coat-check style service at events across the city since 2006—including at farmers markets, during Whitecaps or BC Lions games and at cultural festivals like last weekend’s Italian Day on Commercial Drive.

The executive director of Better Environmentally Sound Transportation (BEST), the non-profit behind the operation, says the Bike Valet served a total of 30,104 bicycles at 187 events in 2022.

The result was a reduction of 38.6 tonnes of carbon emissions, according to Pablo Zacarias.

“With this strategic location, we expect to significantly surpass that number,” Zacarias said Monday, calling the downtown space a “dream come true” for his organization.

Earlier this year, the Bike Valet launched a similar initiative in downtown Victoria, which began on March 17 and will run until Dec. 23.

The downtown Vancouver service is set to end on Sept. 1.

The Bike Valet says it has never lost anyone’s ride since it began operations.

Meanwhile, the latest data from the Vancouver Police Department suggests an average of 2,000 bikes are stolen in the city each year.

“On the flipside, the VPD recovers roughly 2,000 bicycles in a year. Unfortunately, the majority of them will never be returned to their owners, as their serial numbers have not been reported to police, which makes them untraceable,” reads the VPD website.

Cyclists are encouraged to register their bikes with Project 529—touted as “the world’s largest bicycle database”—which they can do for free to deter thieves and improve the chances of recovering a stolen bike.