Vancouver bike-sharing to finally roll out this June

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For Vancouver riders, a long, seemingly interminable wait is finally over, with the city’s announcement this week that its new bike-sharing service will officially begin operations this June.

The announcement ends the state of limbo that Vancouver bike-sharing has been in since the idea was first officially floated—close to seven years ago.

As Vancouver city councillors explained when outlining the details, the city has signed a five-year, $5 million agreement with CycleHop Canada, the provider organization that will operate local bike-sharing starting this summer. Mayor Gregor Robertson, addressing the project, described it as in line with the city’s greater ambitions of furthering sustainable, ecologically-friendly transportation, and getting more people in the saddle in the coming years.

“Public bike share will extend the reach of transit and walking trips,” Robertson declared, “and will be a great way for people to move around Vancouver, while supporting our Healthy City and Greenest City goals.” The city intends to meet those goals, Vancouver’s website reads, by 2025.

Vancouver will have the largest ‘Smart Bike’ system (1500 bikes) in North America with launch of @bikesharing #vanbikeshare #vanpoli

— Van Mayor’s Office (@VanMayorsOffice) February 23, 2016

When the service launches in June, the first roll-out of its fleet will include 1,000 bikes, with plans to boost that number by an additional 500 by year’s end. That fleet, meanwhile, will be docked at 100 stations throughout a downtown area bordered by Main Street, West 16th Ave. and Arbutus Street. An additional 50 stations will be added to that number by the end of 2016, too, with helmets available to riders at no extra charge. And though pricing has yet to be finalized, what’s proposed is a $5 sign-up fee, with rides charged at a rate of $2.50 for 30 minutes.

For many bike rental outlets in Vancouver, the introduction of CycleHop has raised concerns about a loss of business, reports say. Some, on the other hand, say that the tendency of bike-sharing users to make shorter trips means that more traditional bike rental won’t be affected. As the Vancouver Courier reported, the CEO of CycleHop, in fact, has no plans to compete with rental shops.

“We don’t want to compete with the local bike rental shops, and we don’t want to undercut their pricing,” said Josh Squire, the company’s founder and CEO. “So we’re looking at the average price that’s out there today and we’re going to make sure that we’re competitive with that, and not under that.”

Vancouver will be the second Canadian city with bike sharing supported by CycleHop Canada, along with Ottawa’s VeloGo service.