I just may be the only Calgarian who used a public bikesharing program every month from March to December last year. That’s because my husband and I spent 2011 dividing our time between Denver, Colorado and our home in Calgary. From the get-go, I grabbed any and all opportunities presented to me in Denver and the best was the Denver B-cycle program.
Those who know Denver know that it is remarkably similar to Calgary when it comes to geography, sprawling footprint, economy, weather patterns, age relative to the rest of the country, vibe and more. And this means that I got to try out bikesharing as my primary mode of transportation in a city that is so much like Calgary, I sometimes had to remind myself it wasn’t Calgary.
So, after an extended trial period, this 50 year old, somewhat timid, fairweather, wouldn’t-wear-lycra-if-you-paid-me cyclist wholeheartedly supports a bikeshare program for Calgary. Even so, I agree with many – if not most – Calgary cyclists, including the thoughtful bunch over at Bike Calgary, that a safe network of dedicated cycling lanes downtown must be in place for a bikeshare to succeed in Calgary. But since we’ve already committed to establishing that safe network downtown, why wait to start on a bikeshare plan? Start now and by the time it’s ready to roll out, the necessary infrastructure will be there. And once a bikeshare is established, it can grow along with the on-street biking network.
Now, here’s why I support a bikeshare for Calgary, the sooner, the better.
It extends and enhances the reach of transit. A bikeshare integrated with public transit allows users to cycle to their destination or to extend their bus or light rail trip to areas where buses don’t travel simply by checking out a bike at or near their final transit stop. In transit-speak, this means bikesharing provides a great solution to the “last mile problem” of moving people to and from transit hubs like C-train stations. Denver’s B-cycle network worked so well for me that the first thing I checked before tackling any errand or appointment was whether there was a B-cycle station near my destination. If there was, I biked; if not, I took the bus or drove.
It’s flexible and convenient. Users can grab a bike anytime, anywhere, simply by signing one out at a kiosk. If you start out on a bike and your plan – or the weather – changes, you can dock the bike and switch to an alternate mode like the bus, the train or a cab. A bikeshare in Calgary would allow people to combine biking with public transit without having to consider which buses have racks on the front and when bikes are permitted on the LRT. In fact, it would allow them to do this on the spur of the moment, without planning ahead at all.
It provides more options. The system of being able to ride from docking station to docking station without returning the bike to your starting point provides more wayfinding options. Often, Denver B-cycle was more convenient for me than transit. If the bus schedule would get me there way too early or too late, if the route didn’t quite take me where I needed to go or if I missed the bus altogether, I jumped on a bike instead. For those who work in downtown Calgary, think of the times when you need to get to or from a meeting downtown that isn’t on the free-fare C-train route. A bikeshare would mean you could grab a bike rather than walk or drive to that meeting. With docking stations adjacent to many downtown Denver office towers, I saw people dressed for the office and with briefcase in the bike basket on a daily basis, using B-cycles for exactly this purpose.
There’s a low participation threshold and people don’t have to make a huge commitment to try it out. Bikesharing means people can try out cycling on a regular basis without committing to owning and maintaining a bike. They can try it once or twice, here and there or they can use it regularly. I tried Denver B-cycle the first time on a whim. The sun was shining, I was curious and I gave it a try. It was easy and fun and I bought an annual membership immediately after that first ride. My membership card meant I could check out a bike electronically whenever and wherever I liked. Which for me turned out to be several times a week, sometimes several times a day.
It’s a highly visible symbol that a city is committed to cycling. A cycling strategy is just a strategy as long as it exists only on paper. Nothing says a city supports cycling as a cost-effective, healthy, environmentally-friendly, low impact means of transportation like a proliferation of distinctive bikeshare bikes (in Denver they’re bright red, upright 3-speeds with sponsor logos) across the downtown core and beyond.
Tourists will love it. Notice I mentioned them last. The day we launch a bikeshare in Calgary, I know they’ll eagerly try it out and, like our visitors to Denver last year, rave about it to their friends when they go back home again. And their rental fees will certainly defray the operating costs of the system overall. But I think there are plenty of other reasons to adopt a bikeshare in Calgary before we even get to the tourism benefits.
Council has already committed us to a new cycling plan for Calgary and that plan contains a bikeshare. As someone who has experienced – and embraced – the benefits of bikesharing firsthand, I’m hoping Monday’s decision by Council will be to walk the talk and commit to a Calgary bikeshare now.
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