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Cyclists aren't taking advantage of the free bike valet service run by Better Environmentally Sound Transportation at this year's HSBC Celebration of Light.
The service is available during the fireworks for the first time, but BEST has managed bike valet operations at many other events over the past three years.
During the first two fireworks evenings there was only an average of 15 bikes at each of the two valet stations, although there's room for up to 400 per station.
Kris Etches, BEST spokesman, suspects cyclists aren't aware the service is available. "It's not being used as much as we had hoped. We're attributing that to this being the first year and a lot of people are not really aware of, or used to, this kind of service," he said. "We're hoping more people hear about it and it builds up steam and people will recognize what a good idea it is."
Bike valet stations are located at Kits Beach tennis courts at Cornwall and Arbutus and at Stanley Park tennis courts at Lost Lagoon. Attendants park bikes in the secured enclosure and give users numbered tickets. Panniers, bags and helmets can be left with bikes. But everything has to be collected within 45 minutes of the end of the fireworks. Otherwise owners must pick it up the next day at the BEST office and pay a late fee. The valet stations are open from 5 to 11 p.m.
This year, BEST offered the service at the Tour de Gastown, the Cambie Neighbourhood Appreciation Day and recently held car-free days. In August, it will be available at the Chinatown Festival, Festival Vancouver and Pivot Festival.
Etches said BEST thought it would be more popular than it's proved to be at the fireworks festival because of success at other events. "But this event has a different nature. People are keeping their bikes with them. A lot of them, they're riding their bike down [to the beach] because they're only going to be there for a half hour or so," he said.
Etches isn't sure if the traffic congestion that's common during the fireworks dissuaded anyone from cycling to the event. "It might be a part of it, but I guess the whole point of it was to get people out of their cars and using a different transportation mode," he said. "It's a great initiative. We're going to keep doing it. We're not sure if it's going to be at the fireworks. Hopefully it will, but we'll still be around."
The city contracted BEST to run the bike valet service at the fireworks festival for $4,000 as part of a pilot program to determine what kind of cycling services should be offered during the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.
Jo Fung, sustainable transportation program manager for the City of Vancouver, was crestfallen more people didn't use the service at the fireworks. "We're quite disappointed given the fact [bike valet stations] were jam packed at the folk festival, as well as at the car free day," she said. "But this is a pilot to find out what people want and maybe for Celebration of Light, where you're in a hurry to get home at the end of the night, bike valet is not what people are looking for."
The future of a bike valet service at the Olympics is too early to predict, but Fung guesses it might be more popular because people can't bring their bikes into Olympic venues, whereas they can drag them down to the beach for fireworks.
"I was quite devastated [by the numbers at the fireworks] but if you walked around the beach on both sides, which is what I did, you saw a lot people took their bikes with them and our goal is to get people biking to the event. If they don't choose to park it at this particular event, it's still OK," she said. "Maybe if we were to do it again we'd just have to pick a better location."
The city just won a $200,000 green city award--$50,000 of it will be used to see how festival programs can be more sustainable. Part of the money will look at a business plan for bike valet services.
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