My colleague Angelo had his bike stolen last week which really bummed him out. He’s been in Vegas for a few days (maybe winning some moo-lah to treat himself to a new sweet 2 wheeled ride upon his return!) and I am so excited to let him know that Van City will finally have a bike share program so that he will never have to find himself at the mercy of thievery again!
This morning, city council heard the update on public bike share. Next spring get ready to conveniently grab a shared bicycle anywhere in the downtown core and zip across town to meetings, lunch, or to finish off the last leg of your bus trip.
Not only have shared bikes proved a ton of fun in the other 300 cities they are now operating in, they have increased the number of people using bikes overall. Any of those pesky barriers like maintaining a bike, changing a flat, worrying about theft are whisked away with public bike share – I can hear Angelo cheering now!
City staff are working with Alta (and likely Bixi) to come to the details on how it will all work but expect about 1500 bikes at 125 stations in a web network for maximal ease of use. Also look for helmets available right at stations, choice of size, integrity-assured, and cleaned every time.
And with today’s decision to make the Hornby and Dunsmuir separated bike lanes permanent, we are moving forward to a very exciting and active future where people can easily choose a bicycle to get around because they’ll feel comfortable and see the convenience (and pure joy!) of it.
If you would like to market, educate and encourage biking in Vancouver too HUB will be out and about with their brand new Street Team this summer. They are recruiting fabulous bike lovers to join this exclusive team and help Spread the Bike Love! The initial Street Team Planning Party will be on Thursday June 21st from 6-8, contact Heather it you want to learn more.
