I Bike, I Buy was launched in June 2015 by Kitchissippi Councilor Jeff Leiper to track the amount of money cyclists spend while parked at the City’s bike corral. The initial pilot focused on the corral located near the corner of Fairmont Avenue and Wellington Street.
Please join us in an effort to demonstrate that cyclists have an important role to play in local economic growth and use I Bike, I Buy in to track your purchases!
I Bike, I Buy is designed to make it easy for cyclists to record purchases made when cycling. The goal is to understand how cyclists and cycling infrastructure can boost local businesses. Studies in other cities have already shown that cyclists make more frequent trips to local businesses and therefore spend the same—if not more—than drivers.
In 2015 the purchases of close to 100 cyclists were tracked and they indicate average spending of $35.44 per trip.
In 2016 we’re building on last year’s success by expanding the project to include Ottawa’s four other urban wards: Rideau-Vanier, Rideau-Rockliffe, Somerset, and Capital. The hope is that by creating easy-to-use facilities for cyclists, road congestion will be reduced and more people will be enticed to use a more environmentally friendly way to travel throughout the urban core.