Cycle Vancouver in Comfort and Confidence

Guest Post from Erin O’Melinn at VACC.

Cycling is an active, affordable and easy way to get around downtown Vancouver. The Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition has been working hard to bring you separated bike lanes to make cycling downtown comfortable and convenient. The VACC offers memberships as well as Streetwise Cycling Courses and Workplace Cycling Education to show people cyclist rules of the road, ways to stay warm and dry in the winter, and more.

Making bicycling better not only helps with our personal and environmental health, it is great for livability and the real estate  value in bike-friendly areas. When you want to sell not just a house or office, you’re selling a community. Studies have shown that a house within a half mile of a bicycle trail would sell for an average of 11% more than one further away and that a bikeway added US$5,000 to the prices of homes beside it. A study in Vancouver indicated that 65% of realtors would use the bikeway as a selling feature of a home. The VACC believes biking is good for livability and for business. We offer Discover Downtown by Bike maps, Bike-able Building Assessments and Organizational Memberships (Downtown Suites is our newest member!).

After improving cycling conditions in Metro Vancouver for 14 years, the VACC is about to announce their new brand at the Year of the Bike Launch Event April 28. For more information on all things city cycling, visit www.vacc.bc.ca