August 2026

How do you bike somewhere that is too far away to get to by bike? Drive? But then you have to find a place to park your car for a while, and it doesn't solve getting home from a point-to-point ride, and is awkward for those of us without a car. What about transit? Is there transit?

Buses, trains, ferries, and floatplanes can be a lovely way to see the province. It hasn't been easy to figure out how practical it is to travel that way between two communities, let alone with your bike in tow. But now it is :)

Doesn't Google Maps already do this?#

Surprisingly, no. Ask Google Maps for transit from Castlegar to Kamloops and it says, "Sorry, we could not calculate transit directions," then offers to route you there by car. The buses exist; most of BC's intercity carriers just never make it into the big trip planners. Our page for that pair shows what actually runs: a weekly Kootenay coach that does the long haul, and the one direct bus chain that breaks because its Kelowna leg (Silver City Stagelines), alas, won't take your bike.

Sites like Rome2Rio come closer, and they were part of our inspiration. But none of them will tell you whether the bus takes bikes, whether yours needs to be boxed, what it costs, or whether an e-bike is welcome. That gap is why we built Plan Your To and Fro.

How it works#

Go to Plan Your To and Fro, then pick two BC places from the dropdowns. You get a page listing every way we know to move yourself and your bike between them, step by step: buses, trains, ferries, water taxis, floatplanes, carpools, even a one-way rental car where that's genuinely the only link. There are 115 places to choose from. Seattle and Calgary are in the dropdowns too, as honorary BC cities: if you live there, we'd love to make it easy to come ride here.

What we don't have, at least for now, is schedules or prices on the page. We know the map, not the timetable, so each option links to the operator for times and fares so you can look those up before your trip. We do try to list whether you need to box or bag your bike, if e-bikes are ok, if reservations are required. And if you know more than we've got listed, let us know so we can add it to the tool.

When you'd reach for it#

• Riding point to point. You've ridden Castlegar to Kamloops; now you and the bike need to get home.
• Riding a loop somewhere else. The riding is in the Kootenays but your front door isn't. Get there, ride the loop, come home.
• Changing plans late. A smoked-out forecast, or plain whim. The pages show which buses and ferries can move the whole trip to a clearer corner of the province; our wildfire smoke how-to covers that move in detail.

Things we learned building it#

• BC Transit holds the province together. It shows up in the answers for more than 8 of every 10 pairings: front rack, no fee, all over BC. Obviously BC Transit isn't perfect, but it is a workhorse: thanks, bus driver.
• The intercity spines are alive and take bikes. Ebus and Rider Express cover the interior corridors, Mountain Man Mike's links Vancouver to the Kootenays all the way to Fernie, BC Bus North covers the highways out of Prince George, and VIA Rail checks bikes through the mountains.
• You can take your bike on a floatplane. Harbour Air will carry it with the front wheel off for $20 plus the weight fee of the bike, on all of their routes. Just don't book a Twin Otter on the Vancouver to Victoria route.
• Alas, some key carriers don't take bikes. Island Link, we are looking at you, and a few others, making some connections much more challenging. We will advocate for better bike connections in these corridors, but in the meantime the tool shows these options while showing plainly that you cannot take your bike on these carriers.
• Carpools and one-way car rentals fill gaps. Do you know about Poparide, the carpool platform? Poparide drivers who take bikes mark it with a bicycle icon, super easy! Where no bus or boat crosses a gap, we list one-way rental car options too.
• It's not just BC Ferries on the water. Hullo crosses the Strait, inland ferries are free and fun, the SeaBus views are fantastic, and water taxis let you get far from town. (Our ferry directory lists many more boats, including the international runs to Port Angeles and Seattle.)
• Every carrier has its own packaging rules. Ebus wants bikes bagged in cloth, not plastic. Rider Express charges $50, non-refundable. VIA Rail checks bikes as baggage, but only at staffed stations. The pages spell out each carrier's quirks so you find out at home, not at the curb.
• E-bikes are a patchwork. Roll onto BC Ferries freely, but Hullo says no, most airlines say no, and BC Transit takes them only under 25 kilograms with the battery carried on board. If you ride electric, read the bike facts on your option before you commit.
• The network goes further than we expected. The longest pair with a real answer runs from Haida Gwaii to Sparwood, the Elk Valley coal town in BC's far southeastern corner that keeps the world's biggest truck parked by the highway: 1,244 kilometres as the crow flies, chaining a BC Ferries sailing, a VIA Rail train, two Ebus legs, and Mountain Man Mike's to finish.

Missing info?#

Behind every option is a listing in our directory with the operator's bike policy and where we found it. Things change: routes get cut, policies get rewritten, ferries go on refit. Every page has a tell-us link, and we mean it. If you find something wrong or out of date, that report fixes the page for the next rider too.

Reading this from the USA? Come ride in BC!#

For the sake of making it easy for you to figure out how to get here, we've included Seattle WA as an honorary BC town in To and Fro. Check out all the great ways to get here: you can take a ferry up to Victoria, a train to Vancouver, or heck even a floatplane.

Come north, bring your bike, and stay awhile!

Try it#

Start with the trip you've been putting off because getting there seemed like the hard part: Plan Your To and Fro. We'd love to hear what you think.

Accurate as of August 2026. Place counts are from the August 2026 build of the To and Fro pages.