A group ride to support the SHARE Food Bank will not cost the Tri-City Cycling Club (TCCC) more than $400 after all.
Port Moody council voted Thursday waive the fee for a highway use permit for its annual invitational ride around the Tri-Cities that is scheduled to take place on Sunday (Aug. 13). The group will still need to obtain the permit to ensure the city it has proper insurance coverage and so residents along the route can be notified of the cyclists' passage.
About 200 cyclists representing clubs from around Metro Vancouver are expected to participate in the informal event that begins and ends at Rocky Point Park.
Adrian Pettyfer, one of the founders of TCCC, said his group received notification it would require a permit after city staff were alerted by their booking of the picnic area at Rocky Point Park for a post-ride barbecue for participants.
Pettyfer said the ride has always been a casual opportunity to bring together cyclists from all over Metro Vancouver who might otherwise just pass each other on the road and show off some of the riding routes and terrain available in the Tri-Cities.
The charitable component started last year, with money coming from a voluntary registration fee that’s raised about $8,000 this year for the SHARE food bank.
A report by Port Moody's general manager of engineering and operations said a highway use permit is required when an organized event may result in temporary interruptions and extraordinary use of roads and sidewalks, such as construction, the positioning of storage containers or moving trucks, film productions or community events like parades and marathons. The report said a procession is considered a parade when it involves more than 10 pedestrians or six vehicles on the roadway.
While cyclists aren't normally required to secure a highway use permit when traversing the city, the report said the larger, organized nature of the TCCC event should have a permit "to ensure that acceptable liability insurance is in place; than any event timing, notification and traffic control plans are acceptable; and to ensure emergency services are aware of the potential disruption to traffic and access."
The cost for a one-day permit on a road that’s part of the city’s major road network, such as Ioco Road, is at least $404.80. A permit for a local road is $247.20.
The fine for proceeding without a permit is $200 for a first offence, reduced to $100 if it’s paid within 30 days.
Pettyfer said the group has insurance through Cycling BC as do individual cyclists who belong to clubs sanctioned by the sport’s provincial governing body.
Pettyfer said while the event started with just 16 riders in 2018, it has grown to a maximum of 200 this year. But, he added, they’ll be hitting the roads in small, staggered groups of no more than 12, cycling routes of 70, 85 or 100 km out to Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows, through Port Coquitlam, Coquitlam, up to Belcarra and back to Rocky Point Park.
Pettyfer said the ride has no need to close roads and cyclists will be travelling single file as well as obeying lights, as they would in any regular group ride.
"We're not doing a race. We're not disrupting traffic."
