A new e-bike share program is set to change the way people get around town in Squamish.
Starting in early May, 75 e-bikes will be distributed across 17 locations, including the Mamquam Blind Channel boardwalk, Squamish Public Library, and Squamish Adventure Centre.
Head of the British Columbia Automobile Association (BCAA) Leanne Buhler told The Squamish Chief that the Evolve E-bike Share Pilot Program aims to help people move around town more easily.
“It is a shared e-bike system where people can download an app and then walk up to any of the e-bikes that are in the community, and start their trip from the app,” Buhler said.
“They can ride around for $0.35 per minute, and end their trip in any of the locations when they're finished their ride. So, what this does is it gives people a super flexible way to get around the community. They don't need to own an e-bike, they can just use it for the time that they need it.”
While people do have the option to use the bike for an all-day adventure, Buhler said the program was set up for quick trips.
“It can be all day but ... the pricing is set up for lots of short trips. So, the average trip that we might see in a community is under five kilometres, and maybe in a 15-minute sort of time range,” she said.
“What we see mostly is people using it to get across town, to commute to work or to school, to meet friends for dinner or at a coffee shop. Really, it's that in-town commuting case that the e-bike share program really works well for.”
The e-bike share program has operated in Whistler for four years, and Buhler said its success is what led to the expansion to Squamish.
“We've always had this vision of expanding all of the e-bike shares across the province and in different regions. So this was a natural expansion to grow in the Sea-to-Sky region,” she said.
“We've been having conversations with the district of Squamish for a couple of years, actually, to find the right time and to make sure that they were ready to welcome the bikes into their community.”
Safety measures
While e-bikes can be used on mountain biking trails, the Evolve share bikes will not be seen zooting along the network of Squamish trails.
“We can set up no-ride zones, and essentially it's a geofence zone, so the bike has a GPS device in it, and it knows where it is at all times,” Buhler said.
“If it ever crosses over into one of these geo-fenced zones, the bike power will actually eliminate, so that it makes that a really uncomfortable and difficult ride. It's our way of creating some zones within communities where the bikes shouldn't go, and those are especially well used on mountain bike trails or bike parks.”
Another safety feature of the bikes is that the speed limits are set to no faster than 25 kilometres an hour.
“What that does is it makes the bikes a really comfortable speed for new users and novice users, and it's still a speed that's appropriate to get in and around town, but it's not so fast that it feels intimidating for the newer users of the program,” she said.
Council comment
At their general council meeting on April 15, councillors got to speak on the new Evolve e-bike share program and what it will bring to the community.
“When I opened up this memo, I was so excited to see that this summer, starting hopefully in May, we'll have an e-Bike share program coming to Squamish, and I hope that it is as well used as I hope it's going to be,” Coun. Jenna Stoner said.
“I plan on taking many trips on it, and look forward to having an additional option for folks to get around in our community.”
Mayor Armand Hurford echoed the same opinion as his colleagues.
“I think that being able to get this into a community of our size is amazing, and I do recognize that it is a challenging size to service,” he said.
“I'm really excited to see this here, and I know we have lots to do still [with our active transportation network] but it has made huge advances in the last years and I think this is yet another way to ensure that we're seeing a return on those investments as folks will find new ways to use their active transportation network through this bike share.”
Hurford also noted that he recognised the e-bikes were “not a solution for everybody” but for those that were interested, they’d soon have a new way of getting around the community.
For more information on the program visit the Evolve website.
