Celebrating one year of public bike share in Vancouver

July 19th, 2017

As a founding Mobi member, I’m ecstatic, that not only Vancouver (finally) has bike share, but that its first year has been so successful. Here’s to continued success and future growth based on this strong foundation.

Via City of Vancouver:

In first year, public bikes were used for more than one million kilometers of travel

Mobi bikeOne year ago on July 20, the City of Vancouver launched the City’s first public bike share program in partnership with Vancouver Bike Share: Mobi by Shaw Go.

In its inaugural year, Mobi saw exceptional uptake by residents of Vancouver. Over 6,400 people became members of the bike share. In the past year, they have travelled over one million kilometers using public bikes. This has made a big contribution towards encouraging more people to cycle.

“With over 400,000 rides covering a million kilometers in its first year, Mobi is a tremendous success. It has quickly become a valuable part of Vancouver’s active transportation network,” says Mayor Gregor Robertson. “Over half of trips in Vancouver are made by walking, cycling and transit. Mobi has helped fill gaps by making it even easier to navigate the city with short trips or between transit stops. Thank you to the 6,400 local founding members who helped boost Mobi’s success and transform how residents and visitors alike get around Vancouver.”

Launched last summer, Mobi is great for zipping to meetings, heading out for lunch, running a quick errand, or simply going out to enjoy the fresh air. Mobi continues to expand and grow – its busiest day was on Canada Day with almost 4,000 trips and its busiest month was in June with over 72,000 trips.

“In just one year we have seen a big uptake in membership and ridership. We are so pleased by our members who have shared their stories about how Mobi has changed the way they get around Vancouver” says Mia Kohout, General Member of Vancouver Bike Share.

Mobi is easy, fun, and convenient. It is so exciting to see happy and smiling faces on Mobi bikes around the City.

Mobi by the numbers

  • 400,000+: total rides since July 20 (where a bike was taken from one station and returned to another), with an average of 2,500-3,000 trips per day
  • 3,915 trips: Busiest day (July 1, 2017)
  • 72,602 trips: Busiest month (June 2017)
  • 1.14+ million km to date
  • 19 minutes: Average trip duration
  • ~3km: Average trip distance
Mobi bikes
Photo credit, Ken Ohrn, Price Tags

A timeline of Public Bike Share in Vancouver

  • October 31, 2012: Council approves the Transportation 2040 Plan, which highlights public bike share as an area of focus [news release]
  • February 23, 2016: City of Vancouver announces bike share partner, CycleHop Canada [news release]
  • April 8, 2016: Public bike share program invites public to suggest station locations [news release]
  • May 20, 2016: Public bike share gets its name: Mobi, bikes we share; founding memberships are launched [news release]
  • July 20, 2016: Mobi launched to founding members [news release]
  • August 18, 2016: Mobi launched to the public, reaches 700 trips a day [news release]
  • September 27, 2016: Mobi launches its free app [news release]
  • October 28, 2016: Mobi reaches 100,000 rides [news release]
  • December 6, 2016: Shaw Go sponsorship announced, Mobi becomes Mobi by Shaw Go [news release]
  • May 3,2017: Vancity signs on for a one-year partnership as the Education and Safety Community Sponsor
  • May 2017: Corporate Memberships launched
  • June 2, 2017: Mobi by Shaw Go arrives in Stanley Park [news release]
  • July 1, 2017: Mobi by Shaw go hits a record 3,915  trips in one day