The 1st annual Bike to Work Day Winnipeg was held on Friday, June 20, 2008, and was a huge success.
 The event consisted of an online registration procedure for participants, a free, low-impact pancake breakfast at 
The Forks, and various Energy Stations set-up at high-traffic locations around the city (“access points”).
 The event was organized and facilitated by six main not-for-profit organizations:

• Bike to the Future
• Climate Change Connection
• Manitoba Cycling Association
• Natural Cycle
• Resource Conservation Manitoba
• Winnipeg Trails Association

Despite being the first year of a new event and being organized within a compressed time frame, 
Bike to Work Day Winnipeg far exceeded expectations. It achieved participation from a wide spectrum of 
the population (statistics were collected based on age, gender, place of residence, and place of work), and it 
convinced many people to give commuter cycling a try for the first time. 20% of those who registered for this 
year’s event were first-time commuters.

Some highlights from our first year:

• 2177 cyclists registered prior to — or on the day of — the event
• 2543 cyclists were counted participating in the event
• Bicycle traffic counts were done in 12 locations throughout the city, and showed a bicycle traffic increase of 64% on the day of the event over previous 2008 counts (increases ranged from 13% to 145% depending on the location)
• 11,241 estimated total cyclists on Bike to Work Day (based on 2006 Census of cyclist commuters (5.760) x the increase in 2008 over 2007 (1.19) x the increased traffic on Bike to Work Day Winnipeg (1.64)
• 400 participant and 70 volunteer “Bike to Work Day” t-shirts were given away
• 280 cyclists received a free pancake breakfast at the Forks
• All of the waste from the pancake breakfast was composted
• The event was organized in a little over two months
• 52 companies, groups, and organizations supported the event with financial or in-kind contributions Financial contributions exceeded $27,600
• 70 volunteers helped at The Forks and at Energy Stations all over the city