Federal return-to-office driving commuter bike demand, mechanics say

A cyclist rides near the City of Ottawa bike traffic counter at Nanny Goat Hill. Photo by Spencer Colby /POSTMEDIA

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Grant Burke left the federal public service a month ago, but still his former employer is putting him to work.

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Over the last few years with Natural Resources Canada, Burke noticed an increasing number of his co-workers locking their bikes alongside his in the storage pen outside their office building near Dow’s Lake.

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Now, as the front store manager at Full Cycle bike shop in Hintonburg, Burke said he’s seeing the trend continue, with brisk demand for buying or servicing commuter-style bikes lasting well into the typically slow summer months.

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“Normally we’re like, ‘OK, it’s going to start to get a little bit chill,’ right?” he said.

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“It has not been chill.”

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Burke, who used to co-own Tall Tree Cycles, couldn’t say for sure whether federal public servants were responsible for the surge in traffic at the shop.

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“This is going to be a daily driver,” he said. “Think of it like a Honda Civic of bikes.”

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Outside government office buildings downtown, plenty of bikes matching that description crowd the racks.

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Public servants who spoke to the Ottawa Citizen said storage facilities are only getting fuller, and traffic counter data from the City of Ottawa appears to back up that up.

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The city operates 28 permanent and four temporary counters to track cycling and pedestrian activity across Ottawa.

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Bike traffic in and out of the downtown core is captured at three locations: Laurier Avenue at Metcalfe Street, O’Connor Street at Somerset Street and Nanny Goat Hill, near Bronson Avenue and Slater Street.

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Since 2019, the data “appear to reflect the impacts of COVID-19,” according to Kalle Hakala, a program manager in active transportation planning with the city.

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Declines in daily and weekday averages between 2019 and 2020 are “likely linked to reduced commuting,” he added. But after a steep plunge at the start of the pandemic, the numbers have been steadily climbing.

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Bike Ottawa’s Florence Lehmann has the photos to prove it.

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Lehmann, a former public servant, used to take the Laurier Avenue bike lane into the office.

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The available infrastructure, she said, is a “mix and match.”

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A pedestrian walks past a bike storage locker on Queen Street on Tuesday, July 7, 2026. Photo by Spencer Colby /POSTMEDIA

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Some buildings follow the gold standard: sheltered bike parking accessible only with a key card. Other government workers are left to fend for themselves, locking their bikes wherever they can find a space on the street.

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Multiple public servants in the latter camp told the Citizen they’ve had bikes stolen at work in the past.