After a year’s delay, it looks like Vancouver will finally have a bike share program.
City staff released their final recommendation today for a system that would be owned and operated by Alta Bicycle Share. If it passes at next week’s city council meeting, the system will be in place in the spring of 2014.
Here are eight things to know about it.
1. The city is spending more than $6 million on the project.
The city will spend $6 million to help Alta buy the bikes, docking stations and helmet dispensers, and $1 million for initial signage and staffing costs. They also are budgeting for $500,000 in ongoing signage and staffing costs each year, and an annual loss of up to $800,000 in parking revenue. However, the city expects to recoup $1 million in sponsorships and donations.
2. It will only cover a small part of Vancouver.
Stations will be limited to downtown, north of 16th Avenue, east of Arbutus, and west of Main. Both business and neighbouring municipalities expressed interest in expansion of the program during consultations, but to date there are no set plans for growth.
3. If you live within the boundaries, you’ll see plenty of stations.
There will be 1,500 bikes at 125 stations in the program. Stations will be placed every 300-400 metres, creating 10 stations per square kilometre. However, no station will be set up within 50 metres of any current rental business.
4. Payment plans are designed for short trips.
Here are the costs for the different type of memberships:
- Annual Membership: $95
- Weekly Membership: $20
- Daily Membership: $5
However, you’ll have to pay more if any trip on a bike lasts more than 30 minutes. Any trip of 30-60 minutes will cost an extra $1.50 or $2 depending on the plan, a trip of 60-90 minutes will cost either $5 or $6 dollars extra, and any trip longer than that will be charged $8 every 30 minutes.
5. It will be launched in two parts
At first, there will be 25 stations and 250 bikes placed in a small area downtown in early 2014 to allow for testing. The full system would then be set up for the spring.
6. The city will provide helmets you can rent.
A provincial helmet law means that unlike many bike sharing systems, Vancouver bikes will have to be used with helmets. The city says that “each station will have a helmet vending machine and return receptacle” and rentals “will be at an affordable rate”, but no dollar amount has been set yet. Helmet rentals will be for 24 hours.
7. The bike looks like this:
The 18 kilogram bikes are created by Bixi and built in the Saguenay region in Quebec. They have an aluminum frame, “tires designed for harsh urban bicycling”, a bell and kickstand, and 7-speed internal gearing.
8. It has had mixed success in Canada.
Vancouver says that approximately 500 cities around the world have implemented bike share programs and they have learned from their experiences. Bike share programs have been a resounding success in many cities worldwide. However, in Canada, the record is mixed: In Montreal, the city lent $37-million to the entity that oversees Bixi, Toronto needed to loan Bixi $1 million earlier this month to continue operating their system, while Ottawa’s National Capital Commission announced last week that it’s looking to sell their program after continual losses.
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