Different spokes for different folks: experiences with cycling and the bicycle from the perspective of variably-housed cyclists in Vancouver

ABSTRACT

Bicycling is celebrated for being sustainable, healthy, and economical, and it has become popularised among urbanites in many cities. Literature on mobility and urban development tends to reflect these values, as do policies on transportation and sustainability in cities like Vancouver – where the bicycle’s role as a sustainable leisure activity and commuting strategy is commonly promoted. Often unrecognised in this literature and in policy are the many people experiencing homelessness, who sometimes cycle as their only transportation option, and who may ride bicycles for reasons that do not fit neatly in a leisure-commuter dichotomy. Responding to this gap, the study reported in this paper was concerned with discovering what cycling means to variably-housed people who ride bicycles in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside neighbourhood, and how these meanings align (or do not align) with common depictions of cycling and cyclists in existing research and policy. Drawing from a set of in-depth (and sometimes ‘ride-along’) interviews, results indicated that participants cycled for a variety of reasons, including for informal work (recycling) and for personal mobility when walking proved difficult. Interviewees focused on the value of the bicycle for personal mobility and as a health aid, while expressing little attachment to their bicycles due to theft. By focusing on cycling-related practices and identities that exist outside the leisure-commuter dichotomy and with unique relationships with this dichotomy, this study informs literature concerning cycling and (in)equity, while highlighting the need for policy developments that account for the range of cycling identities.

KEYWORDS:

• Cycling
• poverty
• mobility
• informal work
• transportation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. ‘People experiencing homelessness who ride bikes’ might be more accurate here, but for length-related reasons, we refer to participants as ‘homeless cyclists’ or ‘variably-housed cyclists’.

2. Participants in this study were either living in single-room occupancy housing units or experiencing homelessness (i.e. living on the streets of the DTES).

3. Income assistance payments can be up to $760.00 per month for single individuals (Gov. of BC, 2020). Disability assistance payments can be up to $1,183.42 per month (Gov. of BC, 2020). One analysis suggests that the cost of living for a single person in Vancouver is approximately $3,355.80 per month (DailyHive, 2019), significantly more than income assistance and disability combined.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jeanette Steinmann

Jeanette Steinmann is a doctoral student in the School of Kinesiology at UBC. Her work explores topics at the intersection of poverty, physical activity, environment, and transport. Jeanette is also the Research Coordinator for the UBC Centre for Sport and Sustainability.

Brian Wilson

Brian Wilson is a Professor in the School of Kinesiology and Director of the Centre for Sport and Sustainability at the University of British Columbia. He is author of The Greening of Golf: Sport, Globalization and the Environment (with Brad Millington) and Sport & Peace: A Sociological Perspective, and editor of Sport and the Environment: Politics and Preferred Futures (with Brad Millington) and Sport and Physical Culture in Canadian Society (with Jay Scherer).