VGH opens bike centre for staff, as Bike to Work week begins

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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – As Bike to Work week kicks off today in BC, one employer is doing its part to be bike-friendly.

Vancouver General Hospital has converted an unused laundry facility into a new bike centre with 182 parking spots, 105 storage lockers, and showers to allow staff to clean up before putting on their scrubs.

Erin O’Melinn with HUB: Your Cycling Connection says more and more companies will go towards this model for health and economic reasons.

“When you are paying for people to take sick time, when you are paying for people to go to the doctor… that’s all money out of the employers’ pocket and this is how they can really replace that once they have built the facility,” she argues.

“And [there are] reduced costs in parking… Usually on average, a car parking stall costs between $30,000 and $40,000. You can get rid of a few of those because your employees are cycling to work,” she tells us.

It cost close to a half a million dollars to convert the old laundry building into a bike centre for 6,000 staff members.

Almost 4,900 people are registered to take part in Bike to Work week.

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