New thread in ‘tourist fabric of the city’

With headsets attached, notes in hand and electric bike charged, Assiniboine Park’s newest tour guides were ready.

“About 22 locations that we’ll stop and talk about,” Jan Pedersen said, leaning from the front of a four-wheel bike. “Please — take pictures, ask lots of questions.”

Beside him, fellow tour guide Kris Stefansson turned the throttle, navigating the rectangular e-bike away from Bee2gether Bikes’ depot.

The tandem bike rental company site faded from view as Stefansson drove a group of adults across a foot bridge — one that, per Pedersen, was built in 1932.

Before the troupe could leave Assiniboine Park (established in 1904), Stefansson turned around. After all, there’s an allotted 90 minutes per trip — and there’s the zoo, the Leaf horticulture attraction, Leo Mol Sculpture Garden and rest of the park to cruise past.

“Size of the park … the economic benefits that the city gets from the park — it’s huge,” Pedersen said.

He’d know. He and Stefansson have done, by Stefansson’s description, “a lot of research” in the month leading up to Bee2gether Bikes’ guided tour launch.

The duo led a couple informal runs last week. Now, morning tours are open for booking on Bee2gether’s website.

Paths dotted with four-wheel bicycles aren’t new. Bee2gether Bikes set up shop in Assiniboine Park in 2009. Two years earlier, it began at The Forks with four tandem bike rentals.

Company owner Chad Celaire now oversees 100 bikes of varying types across The Forks, Assiniboine Park and Bee2gether’s hub in Birds Hill Provincial Park. The company staffs roughly 30 people per summer — a change from its beginnings, where Celaire and his wife Kim clocked long days.

By 11 a.m. Monday, several families and friend groups had saddled Bee2gether bikes, riding past Assiniboine Park’s Lyric Theatre and nature playground.

Thousands of people rent the non-electric and electric bikes annually, Celaire said. “The whole drive of our company was (that) we wanted people to spend quality time together.”

A tour is another outlet, Celaire added. He and Kim would take trips and try other tours, wishing to start something of their own.

Finances kept the dream sidelined. But this spring has been good, Celaire said — and so, Bee2gether bought a couple International Surrey Co. electric bikes. (Celaire is also a local dealer for the International Surrey Co.)

He tapped some semi-retirees he knew for the part-time tour guide role — Pedersen volunteers as a Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada tour guide, Stefansson still takes shifts as a substitute teacher — and he got started on promotions.

Assiniboine Park Conservancy is on board: Bee2gether has historically offered “active, sustainable and family-friendly options,” communications director Laura Cabak wrote in a statement.

“When you take the tour, you slow down,” Celaire said. “You can think about the things you don’t normally think about, (like) birds and fish.”

Tourists can pedal or let the electric motor do the work. The bikes travel, maximum, roughly 24 km/h for 48 kilometres on a single charge. However, the pace will be kept to a safe speed, Celaire said.

“I think it’s going to be a nice, essential part of the whole tourist fabric of the city,” said Pedersen.

He and Stefansson are mainly sticking to sidewalks and pathways. Celaire plans to hire more tour operators — he’s hoping to add another two or three.

Another hope: Celaire wants to expand tours into Birds Hill. He’s discussing some “pretty exciting possibilities.”

“There’s no reason why the business couldn’t be in every city,” Celaire said, adding he’s ready to franchise.

He and Kim also run Bee2gether Excursions, which rents Boler campers, and Little Ballers, a youth basketball development program that expanded into the United States last year.

Tour dates in Assiniboine Park vary weekly. Tours run during two time slots, beginning at 8 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.; registration occurs on Bee2gether’s website, bee2getherbikes.com.

Adults pay $26 each, while children three to seven years old are $20; age two and under are free to sit on guardians’ laps. Groups up to seven adults can fit on Bee2gether’s two electric tour bikes.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com