Should bike share stations stay away from Stanley Park?
Posted July 5, 2012 9:06 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Another idea is being hashed out for bike rental businesses and a bike share program to co-exist in Vancouver.
This comes as rental companies brace for what they consider unfair competition.
A motion to be presented at city council suggests bike share stations be placed away from tourist destinations like English Bay, where bike rental businesses are located. Geoff Sharein at Spokes Bicycle Rentals says that should be easily achieved.
“Bike rental shops are quite concentrated through the Denman Street corridor, and focus on Stanley Park. The motion does offer the city a pretty unique opportunity to really effectively limit the impact of a bike share program on private rental operations,” he argues.
Joe Kainer with English Bay Bike Rentals says the move would be much appreciated. “It’s tough getting a business off the ground, and so it’s a real challenge to have the city competing against us.”
Bike sharing allows people to pick up bikes at one location, then drop them off at another, for a nominal fee.
The hiccup has been our bike helmet laws, something Kainer sees as a real problem for the program. He says offering a helmet in a vending machine, for example, would be inappropriate, since it sometimes takes several tries before his clients get the right fitting one.
The city, which would subsidize the program much like ones in Montreal and Toronto, wants it fully operational by next spring.
