This Women's History Month we're honouring women doing great things in active transportation right here in BC! Our Bicycle Valet, Seniors on the Move, and Living Streets programs are all led by fantastic and creative women who care deeply about what they do here at BEST. Thank you Molly, Janette, and Isabel for all the wonderful work you do in promoting active transportation to our communities, coming up with engaging and thoughtful events centred around cycling, seniors' transportation, and walking, and being the welcoming faces behind our programs!
Molly Peters of Bicycle Valet
We started Bicycle Valet in 2006 to offer a free, safe way for people to park their bikes while attending events or hanging out. Molly Peters is a passionate urban cyclist who coordinates the Bicycle Valet program for BEST. With a background in interdisciplinary arts and athletics, she aims to foster a balance of health, accessibility, and creativity in her home city of Vancouver. Molly always has a smile on her face and warmly welcomes everyone! You can often see Molly having a blast at events and engaging with our awesome customers on Instagram!
Janette McIntosh of Seniors on the Move
We developed Seniors on the Move to activate better transportation options for seniors in BC through initiatives, collaboration, and leadership. Janette McIntosh, who leads our SOTM engagement and programming, is incredibly dedicated to improving seniors’ transportation in the province and is a wonderful collaborator. From outreach to climate action to giving presentations, you can always find Janette engaging with the community and promoting what she loves!
Isabel Garcia of Living Streets
Living Streets is home to our walking programs and is led by the super creative Isabel Garcia! Isabel is a transportation engineer and an advocate for walking and public transit as an accessible, healthy means of getting around without relying on personal automobile ownership. She loves coming up with fun and accessible new programs to get people walking and rolling more! Isabel is also leading the Walk30 program for BEST, an annual walking competition between Metro Vancouver municipalities!
Local organizations and businesses
In addition to the work we’re doing at BEST, we’d like to highlight some local female-led businesses making moves in active transportation, and organizations creating awesome programs for people who identify as women, non-binary, and queer!
Liv Vancouver
Liv Vancouver is Canada’s first female-focused cycling boutique dealing exclusively in Liv bicycles – the first cycling brand completely dedicated to women! Founded by Anne-Marie Gagnon, Liv Vancouver seeks to make cycling more accessible and enjoyable for women. They are dedicated to growing women’s participation in the sport by offering a hub for women’s cycling, group rides, educational clinics, and supporting events and riders.
WTQ Access Nights at Our Community Bikes
Our Community Bikes opens their doors after hours to women, trans, and queer identifying people twice per month for WTQ Access Nights to use the shop and have specific opportunities to further their mechanic skills! Although they strive to always make their shop a safe space for all people and genders, these special after-hours specifically welcome people who may have felt marginalized by the bike industry as a whole because of their gender or sexual orientation. WTQ Nights are staffed by women and gender variant mechanics.
Kickstand
Kickstand is open to the public for friendly, hands-off advice, bike sales, new and used parts, and limited DIY. Every Thursday evening, Kickstand opens their shop for WGQT Nights for free for people who identify as women, genderqueer, and trans. The Kickstand community is working towards being a radically inclusive space and hosts these evenings for individuals who have not traditionally been a dominant part of the bike industry. The nights will be facilitated by bike mechanics and volunteers who are also female or gender variant!
Side Saddle Bikes
Side Saddle Bikes is a women-focused bike shop who support the long tradition of women using bicycles to make their lives bigger and better! The bicycle was one of the most exciting inventions of the late 1800s, when it brought women unprecedented mobility and freedom. Women used bicycles to explore the world and build community. They fought for, and eventually won, important freedoms like the right to wear practical clothing such as pants instead of skirts, the right to own property, and the right to vote. With their shop colours - the purple, white, and green of the Suffragettes - Side Saddle Bikes celebrates a century of women riding bikes, voting, and wearing pants (legally)!
Chill Rides Vancouver
Chill Rides Vancouver is a community of non-binary, women, and queer identifying people who welcome cyclists of all skill levels to ride together. The group rides at a "Party Pace" which means a slower pace, making lots of pit stops, and getting to know one another on the way! They have a "No Drop Policy" which means nobody gets left behind on a ride, and have volunteers at the front, middle and rear of the group. Chill Rides is for folks who want to get out and ride, make new friends, challenge themselves, and most importantly, have fun!
If you or a business or organization that you know of is doing amazing things for women’s active transportation, reach out to us at communications@best.bc.ca. We’d love to feature more female-led action and initiatives all year long!
