About the Vancouver Chapter
Founded in the spring of 2018 we purchased our first trishaw in the spring of 2019. In the Fall of 2020, we became a registered Society and now operate as Vancouver Cycling Without Age Society with registered charitable status. Our primary ride area is around the West End, Yaletown, False Creek, and the West Side of Vancouver offering trishaw rides to seniors and their families. We operate six trishaws, five are Triobikes and one is one is a Van Raam. Please note we do not rent our trishaws.
Our partners include senior care homes, adult day cares, neighborhood houses, recreation centers, and organizations that support seniors and those with disabilities.
Our primary passengers are seniors who are isolated and benefit from the opportunity to get out and enjoy the wind in their hair. The age of our passengers is between 70-100 with the average in their mid to late 80s.
False Creek Seawall
RIDE PROGRAMS
Our official ride season is May through October each year. We work with Partners for designated rides and offer community rides for seniors living in their own homes with family and senior association support. We do not ride to private homes for pick-up.
COMMUNITY RIDE PROGRAM (public rides)
This program supports seniors living independently with the assistance of family. We meet these seniors and family at designated locations in the city. Rides will start again in Spring 2025.
PARTNER RIDE PROGRAM
We work with long-term care homes, adult day cares, and associations that support seniors and recreation programming. We work with these organizations to design weekly or monthly rides, routes, and promotions. Interested in becoming a Partner? Fill in our Partner Interest Form.
Our partners include:
- ASK Friendship Society
- Broadway Lodge
- Little Mountain Place
- Nikkei Seniors Health Care and Housing Society
- Pt Grey Hospital/Bradden (The Care Group)
- S.U.C.C.E.S.S.
- West End Seniors’ Network (WESN)
- Windermere Care Home
Mother’s Day Ride with 4 generations
How You Can Help Us
BE A VOLUNTEER
Our ride season is May to October with information sessions in February and pilot training in March and April. Interested in volunteering for us in 2025? Sign up and we will message you with updates.
Volunteer opportunities include trishaw riders (pilots), photographers, musicians, marketing, administration, and fundraising.
Pacific Spirit Park Community Ride
BE A PARTNER
Our rides begin in May and run through October on a weekly or monthly basis. Fill in our Partner Interest Form.
DONATE
Donations help us maintain our trishaws and fundraise for future trishaws. Contact us for details on how your organization can support our partners, pilots, and passenger programs. We provide tax receipts for charitable donations through Canada Helps.
BUILDING COMMUNITY
CWA is less about volunteering in the traditional sense of the word and more about active citizenship. Citizenship is driven by a desire to get involved and to make a real difference for someone. It starts with the obvious generous act of taking one or two elderly or less-abled people out on a trishaw bike ride.
Stanley Park
OUR GUIDING PRINCIPLES
Generosity: Cycling Without Age is based on generosity and kindness. It starts with the obvious generous act of taking one or two elderly or less-abled people out on a bike ride. It’s a simple act that everyone can do.
Slowness: Slowness allows you to sense the environment, be present in the moment and it allows people you meet along the way to be curious and gain knowledge about Cycling Without Age because you make time to stop and talk.
Storytelling: Elderly people have so many stories that will be forgotten if we don’t reach out and listen to them. We tell stories, we listen to stories on the bike and we also document the stories when we share them via word of mouth or on social media.
Relationships: Cycling Without Age is about creating a multitude of new relationships: between generations, among the elderly, between pilots and passengers, care home employees, and family members. Relationships build trust, happiness, and quality of life.
Without Age: Life does not end when you turn 75. Life unfolds at all ages, young and old, and can be thrilling, fun, sad, beautiful, and meaningful. Cycling Without Age is about letting people age in a positive context.
Kitsilano Beach
Cycling Without Age Worldwide
Facts As of February 2023
- Invented in 2012 in Copenhagen
- Active chapters in 39 countries
- Starting up in 20 countries
- 3,050 chapter locations
- 4,900 trishaws
- 39,000 trained cycle pilots
- Over 3 million rides and over 650,000 people served
- Oldest pilot is 90 (Jørgen Hass, Denmark)
- Oldest passenger Pauline Angleman, 110 from California (sharply followed by youngster Edith Green, 108, from Bournemouth)
Please note – we do not rent our trishaws
To purchase a trishaw of your own, visit Velolifestyle
Contact Us in Vancouver
Vancouver Cycling Without Age Society (VCWAS)
vancouver@cyclingwithoutage.ca
Three ways to learn more about VCWAS
- Sign up for our mailing list and we will send you updates
- Sign up to volunteer and we will message you with updates.
- Sign up to be a potential Partner (care home etc) and we will contact you for a meeting.
News Articles
- Margarite and her daughter Lynn, French CBC Interview 2024
- 2024 Grandparents Day rides in South False Creek
Follow US
www.facebook.com/cwavancouver
www.instagram.com/cwa_vancouver
https://www.linkedin.com/company/cwavancouver