Hamilton is getting bikesharing by next year, reports Raise the Hammer. Instead of BIXI, the system that has been installed in all the major North American cities with bikesharing, the winning bidder was a new kid on the block, Social Bicycles. Apparently BIXI was disqualified on a technicality, but that doesn't necessarily mean that Social Bicycles wouldn't have won. Hamilton is purchasing the system with funds from Metrolinx.
Unlike BIXI and similar systems like Velib in Paris where there are stations that contain the "brains" of the operations, Social Bicycles worked to squeeze all the brains (GPS, pin pad and batteries) onto the bike. In some ways it harkens back to an older model of bikesharing, Call a Bike in Germany (but a lot less ugly). They claim that it's a cheaper way to operate and that since the bike can be locked up anywhere that people won't be stuck with a full station.
There are potential drawbacks in my mind. It's probably harder to find a bike. They've mitigated that by having a smartphone app and by providing financial incentives for people to lock up in a zone instead of just anywhere. And I'd be interested to see if the bikes are as durable as BIXI's.
So far they've only operated on a small scale in a handful of medium-sized cities like Tampa Bay, Buffalo. Hamilton's system of 650 bikes will be a major test of its viability.
It'll be interesting to compare it to Toronto's BIXI. Will it be easier to expand and operate Social Bicycles?
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