2016: The Soft Launch of a Bicycle-Sharing System in Vancouver

July 20, 2016

In the Canadian province of British Columbia, the soft launch of a public bicycle-sharing system in the city of Vancouver began. A bicycle-sharing system is mobility service in which bicycles are available for shared short-term use on a low-cost basis. The version of this system in British Columbia’s most populous city is Vancouver Bike Share, Inc.; its trade name is Mobi.

Mia Kohout, the general manager of Vancouver Bike Share, emphasized the experimental significance of the soft launch for the new system. She said, “For the next few weeks, we’ll be testing the system with our founding members.” Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson initiated this testing phase on its first day by ceremonially pedaling one of Mobi’s blue bicycles through a blue banner.

“Half the trips in Vancouver are now made by walking, hiking and transit,” stated Robertson at the time. “We see the Mobi system as a great way to get people connected between different forms of transportation.”

The system is operated by CycleHop LLC, a bicycle-sharing platform and mobility company based in Miami Beach, Florida.  Mobi now has approximately 2,000 bicycles altogether and a total of 200 stations. 

Photo Credit: Wakasui (licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en)

Additional information on Mobi is available at https://www.mobibikes.ca/en/