Photo: Dropbike

Kelowna's Dropbike program has been a success since its launch in the spring of 2018.

According to Matt Worona, Active Transportation Coordinator at City of Kelowna, "the uptake's pretty good. There are things we want to see improvement on but generally, there is a lot of adoption in the community which is really nice to see especially because we weren't sure how successful it was going to be."

The App and GPS built into the bikes and system provide robust data, including how often people are using the bikes and when.

"We can kind of pull apart resident use versus tourist and we will also be launching an email survey where we will gather more data and ask questions like, are you using it to get around for recreation? Do you use it to access transit as well as demographic pieces."

As of now, Dropbike has 13,000 registered users or approximately 10 per cent of the city of Kelowna. "We're seeing fairly steady growth week over week, things like rain and smoky skies don't seem to have a big impact on our system."

One obvious feature or rather lack thereof is a helmet.

Dropbike does not provide helmets even though bicycle helmets are mandatory in B.C. "It says right on the App that riders must follow the local rules and guidelines, even on the city site, it is still a B.C. law and a by-law within the city of Kelowna."

Worona says it's a balancing act when it comes to how hard they bring the hammer down on that by-law considering that there is a possibility that this system could be improving safety overall for Kelowna residents.

Worona says according to studies they have been tracking, just having a bike-share system can bring up to a 10 per cent decrease in bicycle-related collisions. "We are realizing there might be other factors with bike-share that make it a little safer, they're slower, more upright, they all have lights on them and are high visibility colours.

In terms of liability exposure, all users sign a waiver with Dropbike when they sign up and the city is not the operator so legally they are not bound by what the operator chooses to do.

Dropbike carries $5 million in liability insurance which Worona says is high and can be a burden for a start-up operation. "Other cities are looking to us to how we kind of structure our agreements because they are considering adopting our model. Calgary is doing something similar and we just talked to Victoria about how we can improve both our systems in the future."

Victoria, another major B.C. tourist destination launched the China-based lime green U-bicycle system in the fall of 2017 which provide helmets which come with the bike and are locked to the bike as part of the self-locking system. "This was a worry that we had, having a shared helmet fleet, they've lost 100 per cent of their helmets and just because you provide a shared helmet doesn't mean people are wearing it."  

Worona says the city is still comfortable with the idea that people using the service will bring their own helmet, "the law is written in such a way that it is a personal responsibility, and we don't manage all personal responsibility risks."

But Worona says they are still trying and there are plans in the works to provide helmet discounts from local retailers and even helmet rentals. Those pieces will be promoted within the App but whether people to choose to use them is up to them.

Just last week a 58-year-old cyclist collided with a Ford F-350 near the intersection of Richter Street and Martin Avenue and died of his injuries.

Even though there was a helmet at the scene police tell Castanet the cyclist was not wearing it at the time of the collision.