Bike assistance from a car membership organization: CAA offers Bike Assist

This will create a tough situation for some (and by some, I mean mostly myself): whether to buy a membership in the southern Ontario CAA to take advantage of their roadside bike assistance program, Bike Assist, or to refuse to support the CAA financially because of their anti-bike lane stance. I suppose a third option would be to keep the CAA membership but vote to change their knee-jerk response to bike facilities.

The goal is to fix the bike on the spot. If that is impossible, the bike and driver can be transported up to 10 km with a Basic membership, up to 200 km with a Plus membership, and up to 320 km with a Premier membership. There is no extra charge for the service, which began on May 1, 2010 and which is available anywhere in CAA SCO territory.

And if that's not mind-boggling enough, the CAA is now offering their own "bike squad" to go around helping out cyclists. Their first appearance this year will be at the Bike to Work Day to City Hall on May 31.

CAA SCO will also introduce the Bike Squad this summer, a pilot project in the Greater Toronto Area. A team of four trained cyclists will be on call at charity and cycling events to help stranded motorists with flat tires, car lockouts or boost requirements. The Bike Squad will inflate (but not change or repair) tires, and will be equipped with small hand tools to help cyclists as well. The Bike Squad is free to members and non-members and will operate between May and September.