Montreal started it. Toronto did it bigger. Now it looks like Waterloo Region may be the next major Canadian city to get a bike share system similar to BIXI or B-Cycle, both bike share providers that have bikes carpeting cities around the world, including Montreal’s and Toronto’s downtown cores.
Grand River Public Bike Share (GRPBS), the local-NGO leading the initiative, held an Open House event in the SLC on Wednesday 23 to present their vision, answer questions, and ultimately build support for the project. The event saw a steady flow of students, staff and faculty coming through and learning more about the project.
A bike share system consists of a number of automated stations located at major commercial and community attractions. Individuals with membership can pick-up a bike, ride it to their destination, and drop if off at another nearby system. These systems are meant to provide a convenient, sustainable and healthy form of transportation for trips ranging from 1 to 8km, which are distances easily traversed by bike.
GRPBS is working towards making such a system a reality in Waterloo. They currently envision a system of approximately 10 stations spread around the community, in areas frequented both by student populations and local residents, such as UW and Uptown. What makes bike share systems so attractive is the ease with which the system can be expanded as demand in new areas grows.
Some may question the benefit of such a system in the Waterloo area. The obvious benefits include reduced air emissions, cutting down on traffic congestion, alleviating parking shortages, and helping to fight obesity. All of these are issues, especially on the uWaterloo campus.
More importantly however, they offer a low-cost solution for “the last mile” of public transit trips. Suddenly, getting off the iXpress on a Sunday and having to head to Amos and Erb doesn’t have to involve waiting 60 minutes for the next bus, or a long walk. With students now living further and further from campus, and often away from major frequent transit routes, bike shares offer a realistic solution to ensuring mobility.
Throughout the rest of the summer, more information sessions and events are planned, to help build support and get feedback. Be sure to fill out the following survey to give your input and feedback into the project: http://bit.ly/bikesharesurvey.
The bike share initiative originally started as part of the Active Community Transportation (ACT) working group of the uWaterloo Sustainability Project (UWSP), a FedS student service dedicated to supporting sustainability initiatives on-campus. Following maturity, the project was taken over by the current community group in order to ensure long-term continuity and support, and to expand community involvement. UWSP and ACT continue to support the project.
To stay up-to-date on the initiative, “Like” the Facebook ‘Grand River Public Bike Share (GRPBS)’ or follow them on Twitter at @GRPBS.
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