Keep reading to find out how easy and seamless the trip can be from Waterfront in (Vancouver Downtown) to Lonsdale Quay (North Vancouver).
Know your transit...
New Location for The Bicycle Valet at Granville Island in 2021
Granville Island is one of Vancouver’s favorite places to visit all year round. And there’s always a huge uptick of visitors during the spring-summer season. With countless local artisan shops to choose from, you’re assured of a great time at the Island. Getting to the island is a breeze too. Think car-less. The location is conveniently connected to few of the main arteries of TransLink’s bus services. You could even use the aquabus to get there if you fancy enjoying the views of the False Creek. And of course, you can ride your bike there. Don’t worry we got you covered.
BEST’s Bicycle Valet will be available for the 2021 spring-summer season once again. Following the first wave of the pandemic induced lockdown, we are now experienced (from last year) in providing COVID-19 safe services. This year although it will be a new location.
Source: granvilleisland.com
Image description: Location map for the Chain and Forge public space
The Chain and Forge location is quite centrally located. While we liked the older location, this one is bigger and more accessible. (we also like the fact that we get to occupy one of the car parking spaces #sustainabletransportation). Owing to the size of the plot, we will be able to park more number of bikes. In the pre-pandemic years, we’ve always found ourselves scrambling for space. The wide access points to the parking lot adds to the convenience and helps us in getting creative with our workflow and operations.
The new location, if you didn’t know already, is the place to host many events too! Valet parking right by the side while you enjoy the festivities at the island. The island creates a wonderful ambience with seating arrangements and a stage at the Chain and Forge. You must check it out.
Similar to the past years, we will have complimentary Project529 registrations on-site. Check out the program here. With over a million bikes registered in Vancouver alone, this initiative supported by the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) takes your bike security to the next level. Since introduction, bike thefts in the city have been reduced by 40%. The tags are unique identifiers to help identify your bike down if stolen. Why should you register your bikes at The Bicycle Valet? Because we do it for free (yes this is free too!) and more so because the tags that we receive are pre-registered by the VPD. All the more reason to pay us….um...a visit =)
Source: Project529
Image description: The world’s largest bike registry announcement. 1 million bikes
We also plan to add a few more info/services at our desk at the island. Do ride your bike and check us out. We hope to serve you at the island during your visit this season. Visit us here.
Walkable New Westminster - A short walking tour of the Agnes Street Greenway
Always excited about new infrastructure advancements promoting walkability, we could not wait to experience it ourselves and virtually take you on a tour. As a part of the engagement process, the City of New Westminster has been installing an interim greenway using temporary materials along a portion of the designated route.
Moving in a Livable Region - All Candidates Forum
On October 15, Moving in a Livable Region held an online forum with three candidates seeking to be elected as MLAs in the Metro Vancouver area. George Affleck (BC Liberals), Bowinn Ma (BC NDP) and Harrison Johnston (BC Green Party) participated in a transit nerd, polite and positive debate about mobility and land use.
Walking for Health and Fitness: 3 Reason Why
Urban inequities in the Era of COVID 19
The history of walking, we can imagine, dates back to the history of man. I don’t know anyone who questions why we walk or how we walk, it’s simply ingrained in the human experience. However, the history of walking itself has not looked the same for all, often highlighting social, health, and economic inequities of different individual walking and urban experiences.
Reallocating space for walking: How communities around BC are stepping up to make a change.
Living Streets on the Amazing Places podcast
Earlier this month, 3-term former Saanich councillor Dean Murdock spoke to Alix Tier from our Living Streets team on his new Amazing Places podcast.
Dean and Alix spoke about how walking should always be a consideration in our communities, and how especially now — in this time of living, working and playing locally — we might be able to encourage communities to make changes to facilitate better walking environments.
Click the image to go to Amazing Places: Episode 4.
Dean asked all the right questions, such as the big one: why focus on walking? As Alix points out, walking is great for our physical health, but especially when the pandemic has led to a work-from-home boom, it's been an important way to maintain mental health and social connections. Staying inside, feeling the COVID-19-related uncertainty, and having to maintain physical distance was challenging for all of us, and continues to place limits on how and where we move about. It has also has allowed walking (or rolling, depending on your mobility challenges) to serve as common ground for all — a democratizing activity, if you will.
How about walking without a purpose? Dean and Alix delve into the many ways we have changed our approach to walking. And not just from the perspective of the ‘average citizen’. Thanks to the creativity of cities and towns across BC, we now see ‘slow streets’ — low-tech engineering measures, like speed humps, raised intersections, or narrowing of roadways, aimed at reducing motor vehicle speeds and congestion in local communities, to make more space and safer walking conditions for people.
As Dean notes, it sometimes also takes political will for local governments to make decisions around transportation changes, even those that are common sense for all the right health and environmental reasons. And as Alix notes, changes that make streets in our communities more conducive to local trips “challenges our thinking, and why we used to make certain decisions and choices about where we shop, where we recreate, and how we interact with the urban realm.”
Take a listen to this episode of Amazing Places.
The environmental benefits of walking : 3 reasons to walk more
Inclusive & Accessible: 10 Great BC Walks
In British Columbia, we have the opportunity to walk in various regions and across a variety of beautiful landscapes. These landscapes define many of the communities we live in. Fortunately in BC, many communities have put infrastructure and projects in place to encourage walking and make it a safe and accessible option for people of all ages and abilities. This comes in the form of well connected and maintained sidewalks and walking paths and pedestrian plazas.
Urban vs. Rural Walking - A Divide?
Walking throughout BC can look very different, and although distance, infrastructure, connectivity and landscape are important, taking into account the regional and cultural context of our urban and rural communities should help guide how we support walking, as opposed to a single, common set of standards.
Seniors' Mobility: Getting Around During a Pandemic
Mobility for senior citizens is important - for shopping, medical appointments, social occasions and continued participation in community life. In the short-term, having older adults drive themselves to avoid COVID risk makes sense. In the longer-term, the liveability and vibrancy of our communities depends on a public transit system to reduce traffic congestion and provide a healthy alternative to driving.
Vancouver’s Patiotown and Murals of Gratitude Bring New Life to Historic Gastown
Back in 2017, Vancouver began working on Gastown Complete Streets, a transportation plan for the city's historic Gastown neighbourhood, which included the concept of Vancouver’s first car-light area, transit and cycling improvements, celebrating the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations on whose territory it was founded, and acknowledging the area’s complex history in relation to indigenous people. Then COVID-19 arrived.
Walking, Educating, Staying Safe - Community Highlight
5 ways almost any community can make walking safer
Making our communities safer for pedestrians benefits all modes of transportation, and contributes to the fundamental principles of Vision Zero - to promote safe mobility and to eliminate harm to all road users.
Walking for Healthy Living, Healthy Communities
Walking can contribute to the health of our local economies by helping us stay and shop locally, and build relationships with local businesses. This is particularly important during phase 3 of the BC Restart Plan, when many local businesses need our support, including local grocers, cafes, restaurants, galleries, boutiques, and breweries.
Walking for Social Connection and Mental Well-being
The COVID19 pandemic has led British Columbians to rethink the way we move around our communities and how we inhabit the space within them. With the rise of this ‘new normal’ and Dr.Bonnie Henry’s plea to ‘please go outside’, many municipalities are changing how space is allocated to allow for more accessible opportunities for active transportation -- walking included.
Seniors are on the Move in Communities in Metro Vancouver
Local Governments Make More Room for Walking, Biking & Rolling
New spaces for walking and queuing. Re-allocated travel lanes for cycling and rolling. Expanded patios on streets to support the restaurant sector. These are just a few examples of initiatives being introduced by local governments over the past few weeks to support British Columbians, as we all look for ways to get back to commuting, shopping, dining out and recreation…while also aiming to maintain our distance.
