You may need a helmet the next time you pick up your reservation from the Lynn Valley library. Last month a new free cargo bike share with EVO and partners the DNV and CNV found a home in the North Vancouver District Library and two multi-family developments.
Get rolling
Last year councillor Jordan Back put a motion forward to the District Council to explore the idea of a ‘bike library’ inspired by Lynn Valley’s Duncan Wilcox’s passion for active transportation.
“Duncan is an e-bike enthusiast who saw financial barriers to families with this type of transportation,” said Back at the time. “There isn’t an opportunity to try these types of bikes out.”
Eighteen or so months later, with support from BC Hydro, the CNV, the DNV and LandlordBC and a partnership with BCAA and the District of North Vancouver Libraries, you can borrow a cargo E-bike at the Lynn Valley branch.
“Interest in E-cargo bikes is very popular right now,” said Leanne Buhler, head of Evolve Bike and Scooter Share with BCAA. “It’s very different from e-bike or e-scooter share where the rides are very short and there could be hundreds of devices in a city. It complements other forms of mobility in the neighbourhood. In Lynn Valley, there is EVO and public transit and people can walk. E-Cargo bikes are another option that people can try. It fits a different user and solves a different transportation challenge.”
Back in 2023 Back was optimistic there would be interest and support to get the wheels turning on this project.
“It’s not a huge investment and there are some other revenue streams and grants,” he said.
So much so, the pilot program – slated to run until the end of October before returning March-October 2025 – is free for users.
“Usually bike share programs get quite quiet over the winter and we decided to pull the bikes in for winter to keep them in good condition but I think if we hear feedback that they want to ride them year round we would be open to consider it,” said Buhler.
Test drive ride
The E-cargo and longtail bikes can be found at Lynn Valley, Parkgate and Capilano NVDPL branches at the CNV Library. In an intriguing twist brought on by the partnership with LandlordBC, they can also be found in two multi-family rental buildings in the CNV for those residents.
Leanne Buhler
Cargo bikes have long been popular in Europe for their versatility and ease of use for families and small businesses – often replacing a vehicle for community trips. The advancement in electric bike technology has made them a viable option for North Vancouver.
“E-cargo bikes can hold a bunch of cargo – both styles we have can hold up to 110 kilograms of cargo or passengers or a combination of both,” said Buhler. “It enables people to use a bike to do their grocery shopping, run errands, take sports equipment with them, and bring their family members with them on bike rides. It expands the type of use that a person can use a bike for.”
Available for free as part of the pilot program, riders can borrow a long-tail with an extended portion on the back for riders or cargo, and box bikes which have a large cargo box in the front or back of the bike. The hope is that trying out the bikes will make them a less intimidating option for daily transportation and be an option for residents who may have previously only considered a car.
“People are surprised that they are more comfortable and more stable than they expected,” said Buhler. “They are quite a bit larger and longer than a standard bicycle and I think it can look intimidating but we chose models that are built for new riders and are simpler for the users.”
Booking is available via the app and includes just about everything you would need for an active transportation adventure including helmets, cargo bags, locks and even chargers if you will be doing a lot of riding. .
“Folks can book them up to 30 days in advance,” she explained. “They are being booked up quite a bit and users may have to look in the EVO app to see what bikes are available and where and they may need to travel to another location to try the bike they are interested in. We include everything you would need to charge the bike, use the cargo capacity and lock it up safely. We even have a variety of children’s helmets if you will be taking young passengers.”
The biggest asterisk to the free program is that riders must return the bikes before the libraries close for the evening to ensure the bikes are secure overnight. Substantial locks are provided for trip security and other anti-theft precautions have been taken.
Theft and vandalism are a really rare occurrence. There are GPS trackers on each of the bikes and all of the bikes must be returned to the libraries overnight for safe storage.
Learn more about the program here.
Looking for more?
There’s always something fun and exciting happening in Lynn Valley. Check out our Community Events Calendar or learn more about Local Activities, Mountain Biking or Hiking and Walking Trails.
“These might be long-term projects for people. We are not saying re-roof your house today but if re-roofing, I want people to consider fire-resistant materials. And then, of course, the landscaping. This is something that everyone can do. We all have landscaping around our homes and FireSmart is trying to get the right information and to make it as easy as possible for everyone.”
“Even normally those green cedar hedges, if you put your hand inside they’re going to be dry. Everything is fuel,” said Calder. “If we can keep it green, that’s great. If we’ve got dead materials and we have the ability to remove them, I would say remove any dead materials so that they do not pile up near buildings.”
“August last year, I was cliff jumping at Lynn Canyon,” said Lucas Fleet, a recent graduate of Argyle Secondary. “There was a jump by 90-foot pool, even before where the big jumps start. I had done the jump 10 or 15 times before, with a wall run then a front flip, but that time I got sloppy and unlucky because I had done it so many times I forgot there was danger. I did the front flip but I landed in a very shallow part with rocks so I hit my kneecap on the rock.”
“Not everyone wants to convert a garden into a food garden because not everyone loves the aesthetic of traditional food gardens where everything is in rows and boxes,” she said. “I started looking at the idea of food forests. Why are we not incorporating some of these practices into traditional landscape horticulture? There are plants that are non-traditional yet practical, beautiful, functional and many of them are actually suited to the climate here.”
“At the end of the day, you just want plants to be happy. When a plant that is not healthy and dislikes the conditions, as gardeners, we interpret that as, oh, we’re not good gardeners or it was my fault. But you know, sometimes it could just be a fussy plant. 
“We have to be realistic and it may not be even apples. They need the sun, Certain berries want more sun. Most of the fruiting things want the sun. But I think that kind of forces us in a good way to explore what could grow here. And it may not be the big trees with lots of fruit that you can harvest in the summer. It could be smaller fruit that are adapted to part shade.”
Here are some ideas: 
The District has earmarked a potential budget of $60,000 to bring an e-trike, and e-cargo and e-utility bikes to NVDPL to help the public become educated and aware of the diversity of active transportation options. 
“No one is tackling bike theft in a new way,” he said. “I should be able to know when my bike moves.”
“When you get the Snik app you enter your bike details, from there it goes into a database, with all the parts populated and its registered with the serial number and the value so we have all that information. An officer told me that if a thief is smart they simply say it’s their bike and now they need to go to court to prove it’s not. That proof of ownership is essential,” said Vaage.
Once the Snik is activated it pings every five seconds to produce a real-time record of its movements. With communication every five seconds the battery is expected to last two and a half days but can be adjusted remotely to reduce battery use and extend battery life. 
“North America, British Columbia, Metro Vancouver are fascinating,” he said. “There is so much archaeology to study here. The western, European, colonial view that Indigenous history is not that interesting is completely wrong – it’s fascinating. It goes back thousands of years. The entirety of archaeology in BC is so rich, from thousands of years ago to contemporary times.”
“I was so privileged to move here during the pandemic,” she said between live interviews for CBC about September’s Hurricane Fiona. “It was finding solace and falling in love with these trails when that was all we had. I feel lucky that I get to live here and share that with our audience.”
“We are out every single day rain or shine. I have always been someone who isn’t afraid to go out in it – and moving from Ontario to BC – British Columbians are better at gearing up and getting out,” she said. 
“I knew after the back-to-back wildfire seasons of 2016-2017 that this was the next topic. I saw climate anxiety coming out in the students I was talking to – in a way I never had before,” she said. “I wanted to find a way to connect with them. Anthropomorphizing a pine cone is how I did it after it worked so well with a cloud in my earlier book. There are natural processes, humans have disrupted some but these extreme weather events aren’t all ‘bad.’ Climate change is enhancing them but there are good things about these cycles as well.”