PEDAL

Pedal Energy Development ALternatives
Website	http://www.pedalpower.org
Email	info@pedalpower.org
Founded	1999
Location	Vancouver, Canada
Language	English;
Services Offered	DIY Repair Services; Pay Repair Services; Earn-A-Bike Services; Workshops; Bicycle Courses; In-School Programs; Youth Summer Camp; Women and Trans Programs;
Phone	604-879-2453

PEDAL stands for Pedal Energy Development ALternatives. It is an umbrella organization for several bicycle related projects in the Vancouver area. Currently the main projects of PEDAL are Our Community Bikes, The PEDAL Depot, PEDALs For The People, and Our Community Bike Club

History

PEDAL grew out of Our Community Bikes (OCB) which was started in 1993 as a project of BEST (Better Environmentally Sound Transportation). The original idea was to provide a do-it-yourself bike shop and recycling service to commuter cyclist in Vancouver. In the spring of 1999, BEST transferred OCB to Pedal Engery Development ALternatives and a new non-profit society was born.

Mandate

By recycling and refurbishing bicycles, PEDAL takes bikes out of the waste stream, offers affordable bikes for sale, and encourages cycling as a sustainable, healthy transportation choice. Our mission is to:

Empower - Teach people how to fix and maintain their own bikes. Offer work and experience and occupational therapy to volunteers from social service organizations

Enable - Provide free bikes to low-income individuals, as access to transportation is essential to participation in the world and accessing social and economic resources. Develop and distribute pedal-powered technologies in rural and local communities

Educate - Train and teach people to fix their own bikes, learn mechanic and bicycle safety skills. By promoting the use of bicycles and pedal-powered technologies, PEDAL improves our common environment from global climate change

Current Projects

Our Community Bikes

Our Community Bikes is the best known project of PEDAL. It is a full service repair shop, bicycle recycling depot and an educational workspace for people who wish to repair their own bikes or learn how to do so.

The PEDAL Depot

The PEDAL Depot is a bicycle education and recycling workshop where most of PEDAL’s charitable and educational programs take place.

PEDALs For The People

PEDALs for the People aims to provide refurbished bicycles to people in Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond, and North Vancouver who wouldn’t otherwise have an opportunity to own one. It combines used bicycles that may destined for the landfill, volunteers who learn to repair bicycles, and marginalized people within the community in need of affordable and accessible transportation. By doing this, we are encouraging a more direct relationship between the community, ourselves, and the bikes that we are building.

Our Community Bike Club

Our Community Bike Club aims to inspire a love of cycling in young people and to create a wider interest in and awareness of safe cycling and active transportation in our neighbourhoods and schools. Bike Clubs are about the autonomy of an adventure on two wheels.

Past Projects

Maya Pedal

From Jan 1998 to April 2001 PEDAL coordinated a partnership-based appropriate technology project in the Guatemalan highlands that recycles old bicycles into pedal-powered agricultural devices. PEDAL continued to support Maya Pedal by training Canadian volunteers and interns until 2004. This project is now run separately by Maya Pedal of Guatemala. www.mayapedal.org

Pedal Works

From 2001-2003 PEDAL developed pedal driven technologies for primarily agricultural/food processing application (water pumps, grain mills, blenders), oddball bikes and cargo/load carriers from recycled bikes here in Vancouver.

The Bike Kitchen

From 1999-2000 PEDAL worked with the UBC Bike Coop to develop a bicycle shop based on the OCB model. www.thebikekitchen.com www.ams.ubc.ca/clubs/bikecoop

Links