— Advertisement —

The value of offering customers Bicycle Benefits

Seattle business owners: If you are approached by an enthusiastic, positive guy who wants to talk about how great bikes are, you may have met Ian Klepetar.

Ian travels the country on his bike promoting his program Bicycle Benefits wherever he ends up. He rolled into Seattle last week (and has crashed a couple nights on the floor of Seattle Bike Blog HQ).

“I am seeing how I can be of assistance to local efforts to get people biking,” he said. He also wants to get people excited about using Bicycle Benefits.


— Advertisement —

Bicycle Benefits is a program that encourages discounts and deals for people who ride bikes. Businesses can sign up for the program by offering a deal to anyone who has a bicycle benefits sticker on their helmet. Businesses can buy stickers for $2.50 and sell them for $5.

Best part is: The deals are great. There are already 60 or so businesses in Seattle signed up. Deals include 10 percent off at any Caffe Vita, buy-one-get-one tickets at Central Cinema and 15 percent off pizza at Snooze Junction. Not a bad deal just for riding your bike.

“We want the deal to be something exciting,” said Ian. “What’s going to get people to start making their trips by bicycle?”

Ian said he sees Bicycle Benefits as a way to even the playing field. After all, if you ride a bike to a business that pays lots of money to build and maintain “free” car parking spaces, you are paying for a parking space you are not using. Bicycle Benefits is a way for businesses to acknowledge that bicycling customers cost them less.

The program is also a way to entice people to try taking little trips by bicycle instead of driving. If you want a cup of coffee, it will cost you less if you ride. If you and your date ride to the theater, it’s half off your ticket purchase (plus it’s more romantic). That’s a pretty good reason to ride.

It’s also a way to support bicycle-friendly businesses. Aside from the $2.50 made on the sale of each sticker, the program also gives $200 to a bicycle-friendly business each month.

You may have noticed Bicycle Benefits stickers on sale at a few businesses around town already. However, this is the first time Ian has visited Seattle, and he is looking to bulk up the program all around town.

If you don’t want to wait for Ian to find you, you can sign up online now.

For a map of participating businesses and to see what they offer, check out the Bicycle Benefits website.


About the author:


Related posts:

Comments

13 responses to “The value of offering customers Bicycle Benefits”

  1. Shane Phillips

    This is awesome, I’ll definitely be picking up a sticker and telling my friends to do the same.

  2. Are these perks for employees or customers? I can’t really tell from this article.

  3. […] enthusiastic Ian Klepetar talks the benefits of about offering bicycle perks for […]

  4. As a bicycle benefits user, the stickers are for anyone who has one. No matter where you get your sticker it works all over the city. So if you are an employee of a bike benefits business and you buy a sticker you could use at your job and any other place that is participating in the program.

  5. Simon

    Why are unhelmeted cyclists excluded from the scheme?

  6. Tom

    Ian stopped me the other day on the BGT in Wallingford and told me about the program. It is great to see that he is getting some online advertising as well!

  7. Merlin

    I remembered seeing the little notices about Bicycle Benefits when I read this post – so I went to the closest place to my work, Zaw on Yale. Nope, they don’t have any stickers, not even quite sure they knew what I was talking about. Next stop: BootyLand on Pine. It took a call to the owner to find a sticker, but they did have a stash so I bought one. Today, I go into Katy’s on E. Union while 2020 Cycles fixes my flat – and cool, there’s a little Bicycle Benefits poster attached to the counter. “Bicycle Benefits? What’s that?” asks the barista. I show him my sticker and point to the little sign – 20% off! Not bad. but it took a lot of reminding. Thanks for highlighting this.

  8. […] this guy is completely awesome.  This is my favorite type of cycling activism, or any type of activism […]

  9. […] is the first in a new series featuring innovative Seattle businesses that offer Bicycle Benefits and help encourage the local bicycle economy. If your business offers Bicycle Benefits and would […]

  10. […] Muffin Exchange operates on good works from you – Isthmus | The Daily Page – Remember Ian from Bicycle Benefits? This was his January project, and it’s amazing. Must […]

  11. […] who said the theater is trying to find ways to encourage more people to come by bike. I, of course, suggested offering Bicycle Benefits (they are looking into it) and providing route suggestions for biking to the notoriously […]

  12. […] show! Remember Ian, founder of Bicycle Benefits? Here’s a video tracking his awesome Muffin Exchange project in […]

  13. […] Klepetar, founder of Bicycle Benefits and a legend on wheels, is currently in town working to get more Seattle businesses signed up for the program. We will be […]

— Advertisement —

Join the Seattle Bike Blog Supporters

As a supporter, you help power independent bike news in the Seattle area. Please consider supporting the site financially starting at $5 per month:


Latest stories

Bike Events Calendar

Mar
19
Tue
6:00 pm South Seattle Safe Streets Coali… @ Virtual via Zoom
South Seattle Safe Streets Coali… @ Virtual via Zoom
Mar 19 @ 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm
Joint meeting between Rainier Valley Greenways & Beacon Hill Safe Streets.ShareMastodonTwitterFacebookRedditEmail
Mar
21
Thu
7:15 pm Point83 @ Westlake Park
Point83 @ Westlake Park
Mar 21 @ 7:15 pm
Point83 @ Westlake Park
Meet up in the center of the park at 7ish. Leave at 730. Every Thursday from now until forever rain or shine. Bikes, beers, illegal firepits, nachos, bottlerockets, timetraveling, lollygagging, mechanicals, good times.ShareMastodonTwitterFacebookRedditEmail
Mar
23
Sat
11:00 am Sharing Wheels Bike Parking Lot … @ Sharing Wheels Community Bike Shop
Sharing Wheels Bike Parking Lot … @ Sharing Wheels Community Bike Shop
Mar 23 @ 11:00 am – 3:00 pm
Sharing Wheels Bike Parking Lot Sale @ Sharing Wheels Community Bike Shop | Everett | Washington | United States
Sharing Wheels will have completely cleaned and refurbished bikes, As-Is bikes, parts and accessories at our spring Parking Lot Sale! All road bikes will be 50%. All other bikes are 20% off. We have mountain,[…]
Mar
25
Mon
5:30 pm Downtown Greenways monthly meeting
Downtown Greenways monthly meeting
Mar 25 @ 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm
Last Monday of the month.  Join us! https://seattlegreenways.org/downtowngreenwaysShareMastodonTwitterFacebookRedditEmail
Mar
27
Wed
6:00 pm Ballard-Fremont Greenways Meeting
Ballard-Fremont Greenways Meeting
Mar 27 @ 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm
Ballard-Fremont Greenways meets monthly on the 4th Wednesday of the month. Join the google group for monthly meeting information: https://groups.google.com/g/ballard-greenwaysBring your enthusiasm and ideas to share with the group or just stop in to say hello[…]
— Advertisements —

Latest on Mastodon

Loading Mastodon feed…