A bike centre with a capacity for 182 bicycles opened Monday at Vancouver General Hospital.

The Cycling Centre, described as one of Metro Vancouver’s best for commuters, is located in the hospital’s former laundry building on West 10th Avenue.

In addition to showers for men and women and a towel service, the centre has 105 well-ventilated storage lockers for wet bike gear and a bike repair area. Outside, there is a hand pump for cyclists to inflate their tires.

The centre has one of the country’s first “one-up, one-down” bike racks. They eliminate tangled handlebars because adjacent bikes alternate between being elevated and at ground level. They’re also designed so that the frame and front wheel of the elevated bike can still be locked to the rack.

The $469,000 centre, opened at the start of Bike to Work Week, was paid for by the VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation.

Rates to use the Cycling Centre vary from $15 for 10 days as a one-time fee for a casual rider who wants to try it out to an annual membership of $132 for a daily commuter.

“I can’t wait to see how many people sign up,” said Kevin MacDuff, a human relations manager responsible for overseeing the design of the centre during the past four years.

A regular cycling commuter who transports his son by bike trailer to daycare on a daily basis, MacDuff expects the centre will quickly reach capacity from the current 89 registered users.

“I don’t anticipate it will take long to fill up,” he said.

Erin O’Melinn, executive director of HUB: Your Cycling Connection, said Vancouver Coastal Health has gone beyond what’s required of them by city bylaws.

“From all of the ones I have seen, this is the best,” O’Melinn said when asked how the centre ranks next to other Metro Vancouver commuter bike facilities.

“I would certainly call VGH a leader. They have thought of all the different components of what makes it easy to bike to work and what makes it attractive and they have put that in there.”

Bike to Work Week runs to Sunday, June 1. It’s held twice a year to encourage more people to commute to work by bike.

Also on Monday, TransLink opened its secure bike parking room at the Main Street Science World SkyTrain Station. With room for 86 bikes, it has four times the station’s previous capacity to store bikes. Cost to store a bike is $1 a day up to a maximum of $8 a month.

kevingriffin@vancouversun.com