Mobi’s growth means it’s under pressure to expand
Posted September 5, 2019 9:41 pm.
Last Updated September 5, 2019 10:06 pm.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Mobi Bike Share in Vancouver is coming off its busiest month in its three-year history.
Growth in membership is fifty percent higher than last year, and the total number of people who are Mobi members is now about 7,500.
Close to 200 bike stations cater to the thousands of riders, but General Manager Mia Kohout says users are eager to see more.
“We hear lots of requests on the West Side, for sure. Jericho Beach is a popular destination that people seem to request,” she says.
“We hear requests for South Vancouver, East Vancouver, Burnaby, for North Vancouver. We are definitely getting requests for stations all across the Lower Mainland.”
Right now, the farthest west you can find a bike station is Vine Street, in Kitsilano. The farthest station south is 16th Avenue. Kohout says no new stations will be added until next year.
In August, the program accommodated 134-thousand rides, and reached a milestone of two million rides since it was launched in July of 2016.
Other bike share systems – like in Richmond, Victoria and at UBC – don’t use stations. Riders use smart phones to rent out a bike in a dockless system. Bikes can be picked up or dropped off anywhere in a given zone.
Kohout says that’s something that could be adopted in Vancouver.
“Yeah, absolutely, and it would be the City of Vancouver’s decision to move from a dock-based system to a dockless one.”
North Vancouver was anticipating launching an e-bike share program this year, but that’s been delayed until next year.
