What’s next for SoBi bike share in Hamilton?
- Michael Kras
- 22 May 2020
What does the future hold for SoBi bike share in Hamilton?
That’s the big question currently on the minds of many city staff and residents, as the popular transit service was suddenly, unceremoniously pulled from the city by its operator, Social Bicycles LLC.
The company, which is owned by Uber Inc., issued a letter to the city last Friday explaining that they would be ceasing operations for SoBi in Hamilton on June 1st, citing business losses and challenges at the hands of the COVID-19 pandemic as a key reason for the shutdown.
The cancellation also represents a breaking of Social Bicycles’ contract with the city, which had recently been extended another year to late February 2021.
Since the city itself owns the physical bicycles and stations thanks to a grant from MetroLinx, the move by Social Bicycles to halt service leaves collections of ‘dead’ bikes at stations all over Hamilton with no company currently keeping up operations or maintenance.
Will those bikes be brought back from the dead? City officials and local cycling advocates certainly hope so, and a rush to figure out next steps is currently underway after city council met to discuss the issue this past Wednesday.
Another city council meeting is set for next Wednesday where, on top of city officials hoping to get results from continuing negotiations with Uber Inc., city staff are set to present potential options for keeping the bike share service alive in Hamilton by some other means.
The push from locals is also considerable. After all, approximately 26,000 Hamiltonians have been making use of the bike share program, according to local advocacy group Cycle Hamilton. Amid COVID-19, as locals look for alternative means of public transportation, that number of SoBi users was only increasing.
In response, Cycle Hamilton has created an online petition that locals can sign, pushing for the reinstatement of what many consider an invaluable and important transportation service in the city. That petition, created just a few days ago, has already received an outpouring of response.
“We’ve already surpassed 5,000 online supporters on the petition,” explains Jay Krause, co-chair of Cycle Hamilton.
Krause notes that city council recognizes the demonstrable value Hamilton’s bike share program has, but adds that there’s also a “pretty severe hesitation to put forth any sort of funding;” especially while the city reckons with the financial implications of the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, Krause is also adamant that SoBi is “one of the most cost-effective modes of transportation” in the city and, since Hamilton already owns the infrastructure, Hamilton BikeShare could take on the operations pretty immediately with funding in place.
The question is: where is that funding going to come from?
The issue will be discussed further by Hamilton city council at next week’s meeting, but in the meantime, Krause and Cycle Hamilton encourage locals to do their part and make their voices heard.
“The number one thing is to send a note to your city councillor,” says Krause, adding that Cycle Hamilton has some handy resources and prewritten language to use as a guideline through their social media and their website. Locals can also still sign the online petition.
Lead image courtesy of @sobihamilton
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