The city’s director of transportation believes implementation of a massive $6 million public rental bicycle system in Vancouver will likely not roll out until next year.
Jerry Dobrovolny said negotiations have been slow with Alta Bicycle Share of Portland to set up the system, which involves 150 stations and 1,500 bicycles, that was supposed to launch in the spring.
“I don’t think that’s realistic now,” Dobrovolny told the Courier Tuesday. “We’re still hopeful that we can see something in 2015.”
Dobrovolny spoke to the Courier the day after news broke that the company working with Alta to supply the stations, bicycles, a helmet service and information systems in Vancouver is in financial trouble.
PBSC Urban Solutions, or Bixi, announced Monday that it filed a notice of intention to seek protection under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act related to its Montreal bike share system and growing debt.
The Montreal company, which has not been able to repay more than $40 million in loans from the City of Montreal, said in a statement on its website the move is being done to restructure its business and finances. The statement did not comment on the proposed Vancouver system.
Though Bixi would be the supplier in Vancouver, Alta Bicycle Share would own, finance and operate the system and provide customer service. Alta also has to secure corporate sponsorship and donation contracts.
“Really, the ball is in [Alta’s] court,” Dobrovolny said. “We’ve made progress but it’s been much slower than we had hoped for. If for some reason it was suddenly to pick up pace and — boom — it was done, that would be great.”
As part of the deal, the City of Vancouver has to provide a one-time $6 million investment toward the purchase of the equipment to run the system.
In an email statement to the Courier Tuesday, Alta said it only received the news Monday of Bixi’s troubles and was not in a position to discuss alternate suppliers.
“We are working closely with the PBSC’s subordinate suppliers and are confident that we will be able to meet our 2014 launches,” said Mia Birk, vice-president of Alta.
As well, Birk said, the company continues to work on a solution to B.C.’s mandatory helmet law. Alta’s CEO Michael Jones told the Courier in June 2012 that solution would likely involve helmets sold in vending machines.
“Vancouver’s system has a number of complexities that have created a slower rollout, including the reliance on sponsorship monies and the need for a helmet solution,” Birk said.
Mayor Gregor Robertson said in a statement Monday that Vancouver’s system is not dead because of Bixi’s troubles.
“Bixi is not the primary partner in Vancouver’s planned bike share program, and Vancouver has always refused to offer any of the loan guarantees or obligations that have created significant risk to taxpayers in other cities,” Robertson said.
The mayor said the system will only launch “if and when the city is fully satisfied that all partners involved can move forward with operations that are successful and fiscally responsible.”
NPA Coun. George Affleck said news of Bixi’s financial troubles, along with other losses in cities such as Toronto, is enough for him to request staff to no longer pursue a system for Vancouver.
“I just don’t think we should be investing in something that’s so risky,” said Affleck, acknowledging Bixi is not the only bike supplier in the world.
“But at the end of the day, using up more city resources at city hall and our time to focus on something that appears to be the impossible dream — it’s just not viable at this time.”
Bixi has also run into financial trouble in Toronto, Chicago and New York City, where it supplies bikes and infrastructure for the public bike share systems.
Alta’s website noted Bixi was named one of Time magazine’s top 50 innovations of 2008 and a global leader in bike share systems. The company’s bikes and stations are also used in London, Washington D.C., Boston, Minneapolis and Ottawa.
