Oshawa Pilot Program
Smart Bike Sharing

NRU
March 28, 2018
Maryam Mirza

he City of Oshawa may be launching its first dock-less bike sharing program this summer through a partnership with Dropbike. If approved next month by council the pilot program, at no cost to the city, will offer bikes in the city’s downtown core for a fee of $1 per hour.

Oshawa development services commissioner Paul Ralph told NRU the proposed bike share pilot is in keeping with goals in the city’s transportation master plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote active modes of transportation.

“We have three post-secondary institutions—Trent University, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, and Durham College,” Ralph said.

In response to the growing number of students in post-secondary institutions in Oshawa, which is increasing the demand for a bike share program in the downtown core, the city is building more infrastructure to support cycling services.

“We have a project on Athol Street, just east of city hall, where we are doing our first cycle track,” Ralph said. “Council’s committed to putting that infrastructure within our road allowance, in terms of bike facilities and bike lanes.”

The bike share pilot program will be implemented and run at no cost to the city. Toronto-based start-up Dropbike, will provide the bike sharing service, funding the program through revenue generated through its other bike share services across the country, and sponsorships.

“I think this is why Dropbike wanted to do a pilot project, to help them see if there’s a business case, long-term, for this type of service in the city,” Ralph added.

Dropbike offers bike share services in the cities of Toronto, Montreal, Kingston, and Kelowna, and wants to expand to other communities in the Greater Toronto Area.

“It’s a commuter town. It’s actually quite dense, there’s a lot of people in a small area, and there isn’t a lot of space there so it actually could prove to be a nice location for us to test a lot of different solutions to the bike share service,” Dropbike government relations and business development director Emmett Meacher told NRU.

Meacher added that the company wants to address “first mile/last mile issues” that exist for transit users in Oshawa.

The bike share service saves costs by eliminating the traditional docking infrastructure, and allowing users to park it at what Dropbike calls “havens”—zones in public spaces identified on the Dropbike app. Users can download the app on their phone and unlock the bike by scanning a QR code.

“The docks can run up to tens of thousands of dollars per dock,” Meacher said. “The City of Toronto spends anywhere between $2,000 to $5,000 per bike and its mostly going towards the dock.”

Meacher added that municipalities appreciate how easy and cost-effective it is for tourists to use the bike sharing program. The $1 hourly charge to use the bike will be paid through smart technology, enabling municipalities to gather data on tourist visits based on phone area codes.

At its meeting March 26, development committee recom-mended that the two-year pilot program be approved by council at its next meeting April 9.