Bikes to be donated to residents in need of affordable transportation

NEW WESTMINSTER, BC – Bicycles that have been left abandoned or discarded in TransLink’s Bike Parkades will be removed and donated to charity over the coming weeks. Long-term storage in Bike Parkades is prohibited to ensure customers have space for same-day use. This cleanout will free up bike parking space before the Spring and Summer months, when the parkades are most used by customers.

Starting next week, Transit Police will place a removeable tag on all bicycles stored in parkades and take down detailed descriptions of the bikes. Two weeks later, starting on January 26, Transit Police will remove any bicycles that match the recorded descriptions and have tags remaining on them.

Police databases and 529 Garage, an online service to report stolen bicycles in the community, will be used to check if the abandoned bicycles were stolen.

All bicycles that have not been reported as stolen will be donated to the PEDAL Society’s Pedals for the People Program. The PEDAL Society is a non-profit organization that provides quality bicycles to Metro Vancouver residents in need of affordable transportation.

Bike Parkade facts:

• Bike Parkade rules and regulations prohibit long-term storage
• Metro Vancouver has the largest transit-integrated Bike Parkade network in Canada, with 11 Bike Parkades at TransLink stations and 560 total spots for bicycles.
• Each Bike Parkade is a fully lit, indoor, glass-walled facility equipped with CCTV video surveillance and is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
• Bike Parkades cost $1 a day, capped at $8 per month
• Customers can register their Compass Card for Bike Parkade use here

More information:
TransLink Bike Parking webpage
Pedals for the People Program

Media downloads:
Media can download photos of TransLink Bike Parkades here

Media contact:
TransLink Media Relations
E: media@translink.ca