CALGARY—When the weather is calling for hail on your bike commute home, you can now hail a cab instead of braving the storm.

On Bike to Work Day, one of Calgary’s biggest cab companies equipped approximately half its fleet with bike racks in order to stand out from its competitors and other transportation providers in the city.

“We’ve always been leaders in Calgary in the taxi industry, trying to be different, trying new things,” said Kurt Enders, president of The Checker Transportation Group on Friday. “There are some awesome bike trails in Calgary a lot of Calgarians haven’t been able to use. They haven’t had the means to be able to get to some of these pathways because they don’t own a car or have a bike rack themselves.”

He said the concept would also help cyclists when their bikes break down or when they get caught in one of Calgary’s classic torrential downpours or hail storms.

Aaron Stayner, who bike-commutes in the winter and summer, said he thinks it’s a smart move that will not only help out cyclists in a pinch, but may also encourage those who bike to support the cab company when they’re not out on two wheels.

“It can just be another way to remove a barrier for somebody bike-riding,” Stayner said.

Enders said it was a $35,000 investment to equip approximately 450 Checker vehicles with racks that can take two bikes along for the ride. The cab company is going to pilot the service until October and see if there’s interest.

In Portland, car2go equipped half its fleet with rear bike racks back in 2015. There have been conversations about doing the same in Calgary, but the car-sharing service never made the leap.

In 2014, Uber was offering vehicles with bike racks in Seattle. The ride-hailing company called the service “Uber pedal” and it promised to help stranded cyclists for a $5 U.S. surcharge.

There are several cab and transportation companies in North America and Europe offering similar services, but Checker is the first group to bring bike racks to Calgary’s taxi industry.

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Helen Pike is a Calgary-based reporter covering social justice, democracy and immigration. Follow her on Twitter: @Metropike

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