City expects 10,000 riders to sign up for bike-share program
TEST PHASE: Program aims to have 1,500 bicycles at 150 city stations by summer’s end
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Vancouver’s new public bike-share program, dubbed Mobi, launched its testing phase Wednesday as Mayor Gregor Robertson rode one of the blue bikes through a blue banner on the south False Creek seawall.
More than 1,300 “founding members” have signed up to use the initial 250 bikes at 23 smart-bike stations, including the one on the seawall under the Cambie Bridge.
“For the next few weeks, we’ll be testing the system with our founding members,” said Mia Kohout, general manager of contractor Vancouver Bike Share.
By summer’s end and the full rollout of the system, the plan is to have 1,500 bikes at 150 stations, all located in the high-density area north of 16th Avenue, west of Main Street, and east of Arbutus, including the downtown peninsula.
Kohout said they expect about 10,000 users to sign up within a year. Discounted online registrations — $99 for a year of unlimited half-hour bike trips, $129 for a year of unlimited hour-long bike rides — are available at mobibikes.ca until July 31, after which the annual rates go up to $180 and $240, respectively. Day passes and monthly passes will be available when the system is fully operational at summer’s end.
The system has been in the works for the past seven years, meant as another piece in Vancouver’s walking-biking-transit commuter puzzle, with bike-share stations located near transit stations and other high-traffic areas.
“Half the trips in Vancouver are now made by walking, biking and transit,” Robertson said. “We see the Mobi system as a great way to get people connected between different forms of transportation.”
Users get digital fobs to lock the bikes, and the bikes have meters alerting riders how long they’ve been riding. Users will be dinged $5 for every half-hour they go over.
Kohout’s company is responsible for maintenance of the bikes, including daily helmet cleanings, she said. Riders can use their own helmets. “We do expect we will be losing a certain amount of helmets.”
Robertson said crews will be installing the remaining stations and rolling out the rest of the bikes over the summer.
The bike-share system is costing the city $6 million in one-time vendor fees and startup expenses, and at least another $2 million in costs during its first five years. In return, the contractor will pay the city an undisclosed share of per-bike revenue, and they’ll be looking to attract sponsors for the operation.
Onlooker Anna Kaye rolled up via the seawall during the launch, with her two preteen children in the back of her cargo bicycle.
“I’m signed up (for Mobi),” said Kaye, a freelance writer. “I have my kids in the cargo, but I don’t want to ride my cargo all around town. If I drop the kids off, I can take a Mobi to get around. Sometimes you just want one for short notice, a small trip or if you’re going to jump on a train.”
Simon Coutts owns Simon’s Bike Shop at Robson and Granville, where he rents bicycles just a block from another new Mobi bike station.
“The tourists love me, so I’m good there,” Coutts said of the new bike outlet in town. He wondered how the city’s service would weather the city’s chronic bike-theft problem.
“I honestly think the city doesn’t know what it’s got itself into because the bikes over time will be lost, stolen or vandalized to the point where the program won’t be even viable. In one year’s time, three-quarters of those bikes won’t be around.”
Coutts said he rents bikes for 24-hour periods for $29.99, and added he does worry that the city’s new program might cut into his business.
Robertson said the city has taken those concerns into account.
“The whole focus of the bike-pricing system is short-term use,” Robertson said. “This is to fill a gap in the transportation system so people can go from A to B.”
Representatives of the bike-share program will be at the following bike-share stations this week to answer questions: Hornby and Pender from 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursday; Robson and Bute from 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday; Second and Cambie from 3 to 6 p.m. on Friday.