Gary Holland and his girlfriend Dana Marcano are focusing their attention on Electraride, and hope to see the business flourish over the years.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED / Electraride

The owner of Kamloops’s first e-bike rental company is stepping away from his landscaping company in order to focus on improving Electraride for next year.

Gary Holland and his girlfriend Dana Marcano started Electraride this summer. Holland is committing to Electraride full-time and stepping away from Level Action Landscaping, a business he started nearly two decades ago.

“I did a landscaping business for 20 years and I’m passing it on to a guy I’ve been working with for ten years, and it’s been more than successful,” Holland says. “I got rid of the landscape business so I could tackle this head-on.”

Despite a lengthy delay getting the bikes delivered and a relatively low number of rentals, Holland has ordered 40 more bikes and is looking for a storefront location for next spring.

“We only rented about ten times, but everybody was really happy with them,” Holland says. “We didn’t really do any advertising because we only had six bikes and we were waiting on the guy that was selling them to us… We want to have a store where people can come in and see the bikes and take them out for a ride, and maybe buy them there.”

The bikes are made by iGo Electric Bikes and Holland says they can travel for about 50 kilometres on one charge, and further if the rider pedals. According to Holland, most of the people who rented the bikes were in their fifties and were couples. He hopes people buy bikes for next summer and use them as an alternative transportation method, noting it only costs about 20 cents for a full charge.

Holland says he will have 20 bikes available for rentals and 26 for sale. He and Marcano are looking at various storefronts, although they have found it difficult to find a place they feel is safe enough.

“We’re trying to get downtown in a safe building,” Holland says. “Each bike is $2,500, so if someone broke into a store, they’re not going to steal just one.”

Holland and Marcano have rented the e-bikes out of a trailer, and look forward to expanding to a storefront.

Image Credit: FACEBOOK / Gary Holland

Electraride will offer rentals and sales as soon as the weather gets warms again, likely around mid-March, according to Holland.

“We didn’t have any bikes for sale and just a few to rent, but this year we're going to be number one.”

Although he hopes to have secured a storefront location by next season, Holland has plans to offer rentals outside of the restaurant Scotch Creek Hub located in Shuswap Lake Provincial Park. Holland says he has some Shuswap trails planned for next year and says he wants to slowly enter the market of selling in neighbouring cities like Vernon and Kelowna.

Holland says people will see advertisements on social media and along highways as they promote the next season. He says his partner Marcano will work as a nurse until her retirement in three years, and then the two will manage the business full-time together.

For more information on Electraride, check out the website here.

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