Ottawa bike sharing ready to launch by Canada Day

Ottawa’s long-awaited VeloGo bike-sharing service has finally received a go for launch — and it’s scheduled to do so by Canada Day.

Like Vancouver’s, Ottawa’s project has seen its share of ups and downs, with numerous delays and false starts holding up the service. As of June 15, however, VeloGo’s warehouse was reportedly full of bikes — some 300 at last count — ready to roll, with 27 docking stations scheduled for installation across Ottawa-Gatineau by week’s end.

“We’re right on the precipice here,” said John Romero, chief operating officer of CycleHop, VeloGo’s operator. “Our goal is to have these bikes on the rack and operational before Canada Day.” The delays, he said, were just a matter of doing things carefully, even if that meant they were done slowly. “It’s no one person’s fault,” he explained to Metronews.ca. “We wanted to make sure things go smoothly once we introduce it to the public, and not rush into a herky-jerky partial failure.”

Once introduced, the plan is to build up the VeloGo fleet and its overall presence to include 50 stations, serving as home base for 500 bikes.

Unlike other bike-sharing initiatives, what makes VeloGo is unique is that its fleet — equipped by Socia Bicycles — will be outfitted with GPS tracking and a lock. By employing those features, the bikes can be secured to any rack in the municipality, instead of users needing to return them to a docking station at the end of each ride. It requires a convenience fee up front, of course, but that fee can be recovered by other users if they return the bikes to a docking station themselves.