Vancouver rolls out long-awaited bike sharing program

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – You’ll have another way of getting around this summer, as Vancouver rolls out its long-awaited bike sharing program.

By the end of summer, you’ll have 1,500 bikes at your disposal.

That starts with an initial 1,000 bicycles in June, with the program costing taxpayers $5 million over five years.

“There’s the technology on the front handle bars,” says general manager of engineering services for the city, Jerry Dobrovolny, mentioning how people can pay by card. “When the bikes are in a docking station, they’re locked to the forks. If they’re out and about and you’re stopping, there’s an external cable lock that can be used to lock the bike away from a dock.”

Dobrovolny says finding spaces for the bike docks will be a challenge, but a manageable one.

“These stations can be smaller; they can be modules, they can broken up into a number of smaller units, as opposed to one large unit,” says Dobrovolny. “In some places, we may not be able to find a spot for a station, and therefore locking to a regular bike rack or something else may be the answer.”

The NPA is coming out against the plan — that party feels this is something that TransLink — not the city — should be managing.

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