After seeing local children stashing their bikes in the bushes near a bus stop, a member of the Sidney Rotary Club suggested they do something about that.
And this month, the Club did just that — completing two of a planned three new bus shelters along West Saanich Road in North Saanich. The first is located near the Ardmore Golf Course at Bradley-Dyne Road and the most recent, a little further north, at Ardmore Drive and West Saanich Road. Each provide shelter from the elements and a metal box with room for two bikes to be stored inside.
Sidney Rotary Club member Roger Hind says his fellow Rotarian saw the kids hide their bikes and suggested the Club turn its fundraising efforts to a project to help them — and the local community. So, he said, the Club used money they raised at Canada Day carnival games, the Saanich Fall Fair and Claremont Dry Grad to have the shelters and bike boxes built.
The project so far has cost a little more than $16,000 — with matching funding from the District Rotary Foundation and cash from the Thrifty Foods Smile Card program.
Within each shelter is a solar powered set of lights. The first unit was donated by Urban Solar, a Victoria-based manufacturer of solar power systems and LED lighting. The second was provided at a discount, added John Joynt, Urban Solar’s senior business development manager.
“It’s a win-win,” said urban Solar President Jeff Peters at an official announcement event April 13.
Their lights are designed to come on between dusk to dawn, powered by solar-fuelled batteries.
Built by Totten Welding, the bike boxes are designed to take two bicycles and people can use their own locks to secure them before jumping on a transit or school bus from the Ardmore area of North Saanich.
Hind added a third bus shelter will be built soon at a location to be determined.
“This is a great project for Rotary,” added Club President Jack Gallop.
The Rotary Club of Sidney chartered in 1946 and is the parent club to the Rotary Clubs of: Saltspring Island, Brentwood Bay and Sidney by the Sea. The Club meets at the Mary Winspear Centre board room at 7 p.m. on the second and fourth Thursday of each month.