Denverites, Would You Ditch Your Car for These Perks?

Lots of people are scared to ride their bikes in cities, where streets are busy and drivers distracted. Or at least that’s the perception held by as many as 60 percent of urban residents across the country who say speeding cars, buses, and trucks keep them from riding more—or at all, according to Avi Stopper, the founder of Bike Streets.

Since 2018, he’s been trying to get Denver over its fears—first with a free online map detailing 500 miles of low-stress, bike-friendly directions around town, followed last year by an app that offers turn-by-turn navigation based on those same human-curated routes. Now he’s hoping to entice timid riders onto the streets by partnering with more than 100 local businesses that are offering rewards to customers on two wheels.

Participating businesses include restaurants, museums, music venues, shops, libraries, and rec centers. For each location, the Bike Streets app provides custom directions from various parts of town—plus various perks. Some are bestowed on your first visit, such as at Bacon Social House, which offers a free beer or mimosa, and at Rebel Bread, where you’ll enjoy a complimentary pastry. Others come after the rider logs repeat visits in the app’s passport. These include a free waffle cone after three visits to Highpoint Creamery, free wontons following five stops at Conu’s Corner Cafe, and a $10 gift card from Denver Central Market after four check-ins. Each listing also documents nearby bike parking options.

“We’re not trying to make people into hardcore cyclists, but maybe these little rewards can get them to replace a few car trips here and there,” Stopper says. Still, he’s betting that fun, shorter rides may make users comfortable enough to take on more ambitious outings like running errands or ultimately even commuting to work.

To date, Bike Street’s app, which requires an annual $50 membership following a two-week free trial, has guided more than 7,000 rides totaling 30,000 miles. Stopper says Bike Street’s crowd-sourced routes are regularly updated and are also available for free on its website.

“We want to illuminate all of the amazing places folks can go today,” he says. “We want them to see that riding to get ice cream with your kids is going to elevate the experience. Or if you go to a concert at Levitt Pavilion, you’re going to get there faster on your bike because you don’t have to deal with traffic or parking a car.”

Though Bike Streets is a for-profit venture, Stopper isn’t charging businesses for exposure in his app. Indeed, he hopes that one of the program’s added benefits will be to make retailers more comfortable with customers on bikes.

Tension between business owners and the bike community came to a head in February when a group of prominent restauranteurs vented their frustrations in an angry email to Mayor Mike Johnston and other city leaders. The email criticized Johnston for not making good on campaign promises to revitalize downtown Denver and specifically said the city’s expanded bike infrastructure had been a “catastrophic disaster.”

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Stopper says it’s shortsighted to think that eliminating parking spaces to make way for bike lanes will automatically reduce the number of customers who can access a business. “Giving up one parking space may make it possible for 10 new people to reach you. It doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game. When businesses think about bicycling, they should be thinking about revenue. They should be thinking about the economic opportunity that it entails when their store becomes radically more accessible.”