Hundreds of people gathered for the 13th annual Alberta Bike Swap at Calgary’s Max Bell Centre on Saturday hoping to exchange their current ride for a new one.
Calgarians who commute daily via bicycle see it as a better option for commuting.
They say high gas and traffic, make biking a better alternative — if the weather cooperates.
“That’s how I get to work — unless it’s -20 C,” a man at the Bike Swap said. “So, it’s a lot cheaper to get downtown on a bike than it is to park.”
Others say it’s more enjoyable and affordable.
“It’s definitely a great option. It’s definitely a great way to start your day,” explained another man at the event.
“I think it’s a pretty good city for riding a bike it’s got a lot of nice trail systems along the rivers and lakes and lots of parks to work around with.”
A mother shared with CityNews that her goal is to commute with her child to daycare “instead of doing the 6 kilometres by car.”
“It’s very invigorating, in some ways time-saving. It’s exercise, it connects you with the city,” she said.
Co-director of Alberta Bike Swap Laura Grant says 2024’s bike swap in Calgary is bigger.
“We started a pre-registration, we opened it for 48 hours and we had 250 bikes pre-registered,” Grant said.
“We were not expecting that many bikes. My guess is we’re going to have over 600 bikes.”
After having bad experiences buying bikes online, Grant and her husband decided to create Alberta Bike Swap, a non-profit organization to provide a safe place to buy, sell, and donate bicycles.
Buyers at the event can purchase pre-checked bikes that are in optimal condition and that have been scanned to ensure they have not been reported as stolen. Sellers also have a safe space to offer their bicycles.
“Beautiful bikes and everything is in really good condition because we are doing a very thorough job at checking it,” Grant said.
Watch: The Alberta Bike Show kicks off its weekend event in Calgary
People say the event has a choice of good bicycles at good prices, and makes it easy to buy new or upgrade.
“I think it removes a ton of hassle of trying to sell it on Facebook Marketplace or that sort of thing, we just have to drop them off and they take care of it,” one resident said.
Others shared how commuting via bicycle is one way to avoid high parking costs in the city, noting how Calgary has significantly improved routes for recreational cycling.
“I just enjoy riding bikes and I like to avoid the parking hassles so driving around that’s a good way to do it,” another person at the Bike Swap explained.
“There are tons of bike paths here, it’s amazing how many bike paths that we have. It’s endless.”
This year Alberta Bike Swap has also seen an increase in bike donations. Donated bikes valued at almost $60,000 in 2023.