Bike sharing program coming to Bobcaygeon
BOBCAYGEON -- Getting around Bobcaygeon this summer could be easier thanks to a new bike share station coming to the TrentSevern Waterway’s Lock 32.
Some 10 seven-speed cruisers will be available to visitors and residents as Impact 32, a volunteer steering committee of local business owners and community organizers, gears up for celebrations to mark Canada’s 150th anniversary.
The waterway is anticipating a surge in traffic this year as it honours Canada’s sesquicentennial with free passage through the lock system to all boaters. The new bike station means vacationers – including those locking through – won’t have to bring their bicycles, officials noted.
Riders download the Movatic app on their phone, find the station, sign a waiver and pay through their phone, which will then unlock the bicycle, officials stated.
Once riders are done, the phone will lock the bike back into the station and calculate payment. A charge of about $5 for the first half hour will help to cover annual expenses associated with such a system, officials stated.
Impact 32 was recently awarded project funding from Regional Tourism Organization 8 and the Eastern Ontario Development Program.
Impact 32 bike sharing spokeswoman Carly Poole thanks funding partners and Environmental Action Bobcaygeon for bringing the need for active transportation to the forefront in the village.
“We also want to thank TrentSevern Waterway for their continuing co-operation and support of our town,” she stated. “We appreciate their partnership in this project allowing the bike station to be perfectly situated in the heart of Bobcaygeon on Parks Canada property.”
Volunteers are needed to work two- or three-hour shifts chatting with people at the bike station, helping direct visitors, offering information about the system and answering questions, officials stated. They will be given information and handouts and stationed inside, so shifts will be rain or shine.
NOTE: Anyone who would like to assist can email bobcaygeonbikeshare@gmail.com.