Building a Community-Based Bike Share System

By Adwitya Das Gupta

Published in September 2012

In the summer of 2013, The Working Centre is planning to unveil a new community-bike share project for Waterloo Region. Larger and more adaptable to different needs than our Community Access Bicycles (CAB) pilot project last summer,  this community-based Bike Share System will be a unique addition to the ongoing work cities across Canada are pursuing to address environmental sustainability, increase social inclusion and enhance economic well-being.

The project aims to create a highly affordable and scalable bike-share system that is responsive to local issues by developing a community-based approach:

• Over 150 bicycles at 20 locations in Kitchener, with planned expansion to Waterloo

• Partnerships with the City, the Region, and numerous local businesses and organizations

• Affordable membership at only $40.00/year with low operating costs

• Key elements are designed and delivered locally

• Principles of inclusion, usability, a ‘sense-of-place’, and long term viability

During the summer of 2011, The Working Centre operated a manual bike sharing pilot project in downtown Kitchener that was used 400 times by 54 members, emphasizing high social relationships and low setup costs. With the help of Recycle Cycle’s bike-mechanics, we developed and maintained a system that showed no loss or damage of bikes and minimal operating costs over 3 months. This learning allowed us to create a more holistic project that will add in unique ways to our community bicycle infrastructure.

At The Working Centre, we often describe Recycle Cycles as the best bike sharing option. Each year, Recycle Cycles repairs and distributes 750 bikes while 3500 people fix their bikes at the shop. As such it does more than bike-sharing can do alone – it builds vital community bike-assets. New bike sharing initiatives will simply add options to the growing bike infrastructure and avenues for active community transportation.

New options for active community transportation are now gaining greater acknowledgement as progressive forms of social innovation. This spring The Working Centre was one of 5 groups in Ontario that were awarded Social Innovation grants from the Ontario Centres of Excellence for its proposal that outlined the process for developing local, sustainable bike share projects. Many different groups have been part of the development process, including the City of Kitchener (Transportation Demand Management (TDM), Local Environmental Action Fund and the Cycling Advisory Committee), Masters students from the Conrad Centre for Business, Entrepreneurship, vand Technology, Region of Waterloo TDM, Zip Eco Ride, and Social Innovation Generation at the University of Waterloo. Focusing on process and fostering relationships have always been the grounding centre of our community building projects. This system will be no exception, and Queen Street might be on its way to creating a bike share model that is replicable in other communities.   

 A Seventh Generation Bike Share System

Seven generation sustainability is an ecological and community way of thinking that takes seven generations into account when making decisions. How can our community-based bike share system ensure accessibility, usability and add substantially to bike infrastructure? What about carbon emissions, local manufacturing and membership involvement in planning and project support?

Current bike share systems are likely at the pinnacle of their technological development. Some of you who have visited Montreal or Toronto may recall the sleek bicycles that you can unlock and ride at the touch of your finger. These 4th generation bike shares offer amenities unimaginable 10 years ago: GPS tracking, easy bicycle locating, locking and unlocking just by using your mobile phone, the list goes on. So how can a mid-sized but growing urban centre in Southern Ontario hope to create a suitable system that is perhaps three generations ahead of its time?   

Deeper than the glitz of the modern bike share, the idea behind it is a powerful mix of social awareness and environmental consciousness. Cities from Vancouver to Amsterdam are backing bike share as a model of choice for transportation that increases social mobility while reducing carbon emissions. But the question is how can something that is so simple yet so environmentally and socially beneficial, be so inaccessible to so many?

Commercial bike share systems typically have high initial investment costs and require large urban densities to maintain. For example, some systems can cost approximately $750,000 for 75 bikes and 15 stations with yearly operating costs of up to $1000/bike. Denser downtowns like Toronto’s require about 5,000 members to support such an expensive system, even with a large City of Toronto subsidy.

We are attempting to turn this expensive and inaccessible model on its head, and make bike share an affordable and accessible community tool that is rooted in social relationships.

It is our hope that during the Spring of 2013 we will be able to roll out a community based bike sharing project that can reflect 7th Generation thinking that adds three generations of thought to 4th generation systems by strongly factoring in social, economic and environmental concerns into the design and implementation. For example, credit cards pose a barrier to accessibility. Affordable membership should be available through any currency medium or in kind. Different kinds of bikes like E-Bikes can reduce barriers to those not able to use bikes. Self-sustaining funding can come from affordable advertising focused on local companies and non-profits. Carbon emissions are lowered when quality manufacturing is taken into consideration as well as the importance of affordability and accessibility to ensure more people are enthused by using the bike share option.

The system that we are proposing is a careful balance of appropriate technology, modern efficiency, and a network of complementary community linkages. It uses the following frameworks to ensure the project’s social, economic and environmental viability:

• Automated-electronic key dispensing units with an intuitive user interface

• Integrated database management systems that track user membership real-time

• Custom scalable infrastructure installable anywhere from neighbourhood to regional levels

• Modular bike-systems that are maintainable and upgradable through local channels

• Comprehensive ‘bikeability’ and transit-demand analysis to determine best station locations

• Self-sustaining financial structure using bike advertising, donations and membership

• Integrated with existing public and private efforts to enhance reach and economic viability

Specifically for the bike sharers and the greater community:

• Near 24-hour operation through partnerships with local organizations that operate 24/7

• Locking systems that are familiar and usable for any user-demographic

• Aesthetic design that enhances its local ‘sense-of-place’

• Supports very latest bike-safety standards

• All membership needs and information is web-accessible using the new Web 3.0

We are developing a bike share project that has flexible options at every stage such as the automated tracking functions matched with a manual locking system, bikes equipped with their own locking mechanism so bikes can be locked while the member has the bike in use. E-bikes (potentially solar-powered) will be part of the system to add choices for people with different abilities and needs. Low cost stations will be located closer together for walkability and easy expansion to neighbourhoods.

This community-based bike share system is also integrating a ‘life-cycle’ approach that evaluates all aspects of the project to ensure sturdy, resilient, and long lasting manufacturing that can be locally maintained. It also assesses carbon emissions right from production to disposal – the full product life-cycle. One North American bike manufacturer we have talked with has powered its operating plant with 20% solar energy.

Sustainability also means involving members in the project, giving users a role in maintenance and development. A resilient system does not put all its resources in one basket. It focuses on holistic long-term thinking, and an involved membership base committed to the project.

What is it all for?

Bike-shares are active community transportation systems, and in many cities around the world have been known to foster community bonds, help revitalize downtown cores, enhance local business opportunities, and increase personal liberty and mobility.

The Working Centre’s inclusive community building approach combines a relationship model that offers tools and bridges towards supporting people in helpful, useful ways. By implementing our own modular design, we are able to integrate the ease of use and security of modern fourth-generation bike-share systems while maintaining the familiar look, feel, and freedom of traditional systems.

We are also trying to live more closely with environmental wisdom that is both recent and age-old. We hope to do all this at a fraction of the cost of conventional market options – allowing an affordable and accessible system that can be used by cities across Canada.