Is it time for more coordination on Bike Month?

A map of Bike Month celebrations across Canada (2023)

Bike Month is a month-long celebration of cycling. It’s an opportunity to bring people together, host cycling events and rides, and support people in giving cycling a try.

While May is National Bike Month in the United States, we don’t have a nationally-agreed upon Bike Month in Canada. But that doesn’t mean we don’t celebrate! Various provinces, regions, and municipalities celebrate Bike Month at different times, and in their own ways.

In putting together a map of Bike Month celebrations taking place across Canada in 2023, I noted a few things:

• The timing of celebrations varies by location. Some communities celebrate in May, others in June. Several celebrations are a month-long, others are for a week, or a day.

• Some provinces have province-wide celebrations, some celebrations are organized at the regional and municipal level.

• A few jurisdictions have made official proclamations about Bike Month / Bike Day.

• Celebrations are organized and promoted largely by non-profits, often with the support of local governments and sponsors.

• Celebrations of by different names in each community.

This all made me think that perhaps it’s time for more cross-jurisdictional coordination on Bike Month to make it easier for people to find and participate in celebrations in their community?

Since Bike Month celebrations help to advance the goals many governments have about helping more people access bikes, this increased coordination should be supported by government funding. This can also be an important capacity building opportunity for the non-profit organizations leading events.

Read more and view the interactive map on my StoreMaps page.