Cycling

8 Reasons to Bike to Work with Chain Effect on April 25


The Chain Effect is an awesome Lebanese NGO whose mission is to cut down traffic and lessen our carbon footprint, by encouraging people to bike around the city instead of use their cars with often just a single rider. You might know their famous, gorgeous murals that are all around Beirut, such as in Mar Mikhael on Internazionale’s wall, and places like Ein El Mreisseh and Tabaris.

Last year, the first “Bike to Work” day was held, and this year, it’s bigger and better and happening next week on April 25, 2018. Below are 8 reasons why you should participate, whether you live in Beirut or commute to it for your work/university.

1- It’s Free

The following bike rental shops will offer you a bike for the day for FREE. No deposit, no nothing.

Cyclo Sport (Gemmayze)
Beirut By Bike (Waterfront)
Beirut By Bike (Ain el Mreisseh)
BIKE ZONE (Hazmieh)
Bike Generation (Tehwita) 
The Bike Kitchen — Beirut (Furn el Shebbak) 
TOKYO ZONE IN LEBANON (Hamra)
Bike Tec Group (Achrafieh)
PRO BIKE (Borj Hammoud)

Participating shops outside of Beirut:

Vélo Route (Tripoli)
BuyCycle (Tripoli)
Routes (Batroun) 
PRO SHOP (Adonis)

2- Park and Ride Stations

If you live too far to bike all the way to Beirut, no problem, there are 3 “park and ride” stations where you can park your car and get a free bike rental. You just need to put down a 10,000LL deposit which you will get back once you return the bike you rented. Below is a list of the shops in Beirut.

3- Free Food and Drinks

To thank everyone ditching their cars to ride bikes on April 25, the below restaurants will offer snack and drinks when you show your Bike to Work ticket!

Urbanista
Gemmayze Gouraud St 
Bliss St 
BDD Bachoura 
Kreitem Madame Curie St
Downtown M1 Rafic Salloum St 
ABC Achrafieh

PAUL Arabia (with Juice Up)
Gemmeyzeh Gouraud St
Bliss St
Zaitunay Bay
Downtown Foche St
ABC Achrafieh
ABC Verdun

Cafe Younes
Bliss/Omar Bin Abdel Aziz St
Achrafieh Independence St
Hamra Nehme Yafet St

4- Awesome Prizes

Post a photo of yourself commuting to work on your bike, tag it with #BiketoWork #BikeZone #TheBikeKitchen #BeirutByBike#BikeTec #BikeGeneration #CafeYounes and get a chance to win one of the following prizes:

  • Trek mountain bike from Bike Zone
    • Giant mountain bike from Beirut by Bike
    • Scott mountain bike from The Bike Kitchen
    • Willier mountain bike from BikeTec
    • $200 gift voucher from Bike Generation 
    • 5 Coffee packs from Café Younes

5- No Traffic

This reason is enough for me, in Beirut’s never-ending, always-frustrating bottleneck traffic jams.

6- No Traffic Fines

Many of us get fined, for what the cops do on a regular, non-emergency basis. One day you can park somewhere, the next you get a fine. You won’t have that problem with a bike.

7- Bike Lanes and Priority by the Police

Special bike lanes will be designated for the day, and the ISF will give priority to bikers on April 25 over motorists, so don’t worry about not fitting on the roads, the cops will help make sure you do.

8- Universities Are Pitching In

When I was an AUB student, parking was more valuable than gold. So, I’m happy to see AUB, ESA, BAU, ALBA and LAU pitch in this year. LAU went one step ahead and its parking will be closed on the day of the event to cars, only bikes will be allowed!

X- Less Pollution

Other than the other awesome reasons, the most obvious one is less pollution on that day. That black cloud of smog that covers Beirut every day, is mostly due to all the cars (and moteurs el 7ay), so when you ditch your car for a bike, you can take in a breath of air that is slightly fresher, and help decrease the massive amounts of damage done each day to our environment in this country.

Register Before April 23 for FREE on Ihjoz

Go here to register, it’s free!

https://www.ihjoz.com/events/3176-bike-to-work-2018

RSVP here

A special thanks to The Chain Effect and everyone else who made this possible. There is hope yet!