Can Vancouver bike share program co-exist with rental shops?

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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Bike rental shop owners who are concerned Vancouver’s Public Bike Share (PBS) program will hurt their profits might be able to learn a few lessons from their counterparts in Washington, DC.

Rental shops there have successfully co-existed with the city’s bike share program since 2010.

“We like to say that the rising tide raises all boats and the fact is it’s hard for me to tell whether bike share users are added cyclists or lost customers,” Catharine Pear with Bike and Roll in Washington, DC tells News1130. “I like to think that the press and amount of media attention that the bike share program has generated is good for the cycling community in general.”

Most of the customers at Vancouver’s bike rental shops are tourists. Vancouver City Councillor Heather Deal insists the PBS will only be aimed at locals.

“We already have a good system of rental shops in the city, especially near Stanley Park, and many people, including tourists, go down there and rent bikes for several hours,” she tells News1130. “That’s not what this is intended for. This is intended for short trips, often at the beginning and end of a ride on transit.”

The PBS rate structure makes rental shops a more attractive option for out-of-towners who are looking to explore the city.

“A lot of people will choose a $95-a-year membership and that means the first 30 minutes of any trip are free,” says Deal. “The prices go up steeply after an hour and a half.”

Thomas Woywitka with YES Cycle on Denman Street supports the bike share program, but is concerned tourists will be drawn to the PBS racks because they’ll be placed in convenient locations.

A report from Vancouver city staff recommends keeping PBS racks at least 50 metres away from rental shops, but Woywitka questions whether that will actually be the case.

“I’m very confused by that because in our last meeting with the city, they showed us station placements right in front of our stores,” says Woywitka.

“We’re very confused and concerned the stations will be very close, and if you have a station right in Stanley Park, it doesn’t matter if it’s 200 metres away; tourists will still go to that station because it’s in the park.”

Pear says regardless of where the racks are placed, it will be up to local rental shops to let tourists know they offer the best deal for sightseers.

“I definitely think it would be fantastic if the city left the tourists alone, but unfortunately there is no way to do that,” she says.

“These bike share racks are right outside of hotels and museums and one of the things we’ve done is we’ve tried to do is explain that these bikes aren’t our competitors. They are a completely different program. We’ve educated the hotels and tried to make sure the front desk staff understands what the difference is so that they can know what the difference is to the customer.”

The city plans to make 250 bikes available at 475 docks in Downtown Vancouver early next year. The program would then be expanded in the spring to 1,500 bikes at 2,850 docks within the Metro core.

The city will spend $6 million up-front to get the program up and running; then all financial risk will be assumed by a private company called Alta.

Vancouver will spend an additional $500,000 a year to assist the program, but it will also be entitled to half of Alta’s profits.

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