NPA wants to ensure taxpayers protected from bike share

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – The NPA is calling for a full review of Vancouver’s Bike Share Program to make sure there are safeguards in place to protect taxpayers.

The company that is supposed to supply equipment for the program, Bixi, has recently had some highly publicized financial trouble. In October, the Toronto Star reported Bixi, which has contracts with several cities including Toronto and Montreal, was on the brink of insolvency.

“This is to protect the citizens of Vancouver from making precipitated expenditures when we really are not sure about the condition of the Bixi company, in terms of its finances,” Councillor Elizabeth Ball tells News1130.

“In Toronto, the City has had to absorb millions of dollars in loans that were made to the organization.”

Vancouver’s agreement includes protections that aren’t included in Bixi’s deal with the Toronto, but Ball still has concerns.

“It’s been reported over and over again that Montreal has had to swallow millions of dollars as they continue to subsidize a bike share program and we don’t want Vancouver to be in that position,” she says.

Vancouver has pledged to spend $20 million on its bike share program over the next decade, including an upfront cost of $6 million to get the project up and running.

It’s expected that early next year, 250 bikes will available at 25 docking stations in Downtown Vancouver. The City will use the soft launch as an opportunity to work out any possible kinks before it expands to 1,500 bikes at 125 stations.

The NPA’s motion will be discussed at today’s council meeting.