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Cycling in Waterloo Region
At this point I figured - summer is basically done.
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(09-11-2018, 06:32 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: FYI: Drop bike appears to have been delayed till 2019.

Forgive my ignorance, but what's Drop bike?
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Bike-sharing.
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(09-11-2018, 09:38 PM)Spokes Wrote:
(09-11-2018, 06:32 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: FYI: Drop bike appears to have been delayed till 2019.

Forgive my ignorance, but what's Drop bike?

It's a Canadian based dockless bike share company that the cities and region are attempting to finalize an agreement with to do an 18 month pilot of bikesharing in the region.

https://www.dropbike.co/
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OMG GUYS heads should roll

/sarchasm
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Is there anywhere in town to rent a bike on a daily/weekly basis?
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(09-11-2018, 10:01 PM)danbrotherston Wrote:
(09-11-2018, 09:38 PM)Spokes Wrote: Forgive my ignorance, but what's Drop bike?

It's a Canadian based dockless bike share company that the cities and region are attempting to finalize an agreement with to do an 18 month pilot of bikesharing in the region.

https://www.dropbike.co/

Thanks for the link, I probably should have just googled it in the first place.  Really interesting though.

Doesn't it seem like we've tried a number of different bike share platforms?  Any reason on the constant change?
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(09-12-2018, 08:36 AM)Viewfromthe42 Wrote: Is there anywhere in town to rent a bike on a daily/weekly basis?

The UW Bike Centre does bike rentals, but probably only to UW students.

A few years back, I rented a tandem bike from a guy on West for a day, it was great fun, but he was basically just a guy with bikes which he rented out to people.

Sadly, after some Googling, it appears they have moved to Vancouver:  http://www.bikeforest.com/rentals.php

I am a little envious.
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(09-12-2018, 09:05 AM)Spokes Wrote:
(09-11-2018, 10:01 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: It's a Canadian based dockless bike share company that the cities and region are attempting to finalize an agreement with to do an 18 month pilot of bikesharing in the region.

https://www.dropbike.co/

Thanks for the link, I probably should have just googled it in the first place.  Really interesting though.

Doesn't it seem like we've tried a number of different bike share platforms?  Any reason on the constant change?

That number isn't that high, this is only the second.

(Disclaimer, this is my understanding only, I have no inside information, just a lot of familiarity) Some context, CAB (Community Access Bikeshare) was started by the Working Centre, and was aiming to provide bike sharing for individuals who are traditionally underserved, they operated at a substantial loss for a while, and never developed the scale to be really successful.

Another bikeshare tried to start a few years back, Grand River Bike Share, they had ambitious plans, but never got funding to go beyond the theoretical situation.  Last year (or the year before) some of the cities got funding from the upper governments to do a feasibility study for bike share in the region (I know, more studies ugh).

Simultaneously, dropbike expressed interest in launching in KW for zero cost to the cities (well, besides land), which also coincided with the shutdown of CAB. The cities are now trying to sign an agreement with dropbike for a launch here as a pilot on an interim basis, partially to inform the feasibility study.

So drop bike would be the second launch, but not guaranteed to be the final one.

As I understand there has been a fair bit of negotiation with dropbike, initially they only wanted to launch in Waterloo, but they were pushed to expand to all cities in the region (with a special provision that Cambridge not be a token launch).  They are now haggling over insurance and indemnification.
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(09-12-2018, 09:05 AM)Spokes Wrote:
(09-11-2018, 10:01 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: It's a Canadian based dockless bike share company that the cities and region are attempting to finalize an agreement with to do an 18 month pilot of bikesharing in the region.

https://www.dropbike.co/

Thanks for the link, I probably should have just googled it in the first place.  Really interesting though.

Doesn't it seem like we've tried a number of different bike share platforms?  Any reason on the constant change?

Personally I don't think there is a big demand for it here and probably not really any way to run it without a big financial subsidy... charging too much would just lead people to take the bus or buy their own bike. I also think it works better in places with more density than we have.
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(09-12-2018, 10:26 AM)clasher Wrote:
(09-12-2018, 09:05 AM)Spokes Wrote: Thanks for the link, I probably should have just googled it in the first place.  Really interesting though.

Doesn't it seem like we've tried a number of different bike share platforms?  Any reason on the constant change?

Personally I don't think there is a big demand for it here and probably not really any way to run it without a big financial subsidy... charging too much would just lead people to take the bus or buy their own bike. I also think it works better in places with more density than we have.

I mean, this is possible. But dropbike, and many other dockless bike share operators appear to be operating successfully in many other places, including places with less density than we have.

As is often with biking, we might be surprised by the demand.  Density matters far less when biking.
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If Dropbike is convenient enough, I do believe it will be successful.
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(09-12-2018, 08:36 AM)Viewfromthe42 Wrote: Is there anywhere in town to rent a bike on a daily/weekly basis?

I believe McPhail's rents bikes; not sure on rates.
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Their website says they do, thanks!
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If anyone needs an excuse to go for a bike ride on Saturday, September 29, local start up Blue Sea Philanthropy is hosting the Ride For Refuge in and around Bloomingdale.  

The stats so far (Sept 13)
- local goal: $350,000 raised
- 565 participants
- 126 teams
- 42 charities
- 37 volunteers
- 16 days left

Local routes are 5km walking or 10km, 25km or 50km cycling.

Nationally, the stats so far (Sept 13)
- national goal $2,500,000
- 992 teams
- 3833 participants
- 654 volunteers
- 7465 donors
- 196 charities
- 28 locations
- 162 sponsors
- $34,478 raised today (Sept 13)
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