An attempt by Vancouver city councillor George Affleck to protect downtown bike rental shops against a subsidized bike share program got deflated Tuesday.
The City of Vancouver will spend roughly $20 million over 10 years to subsidize a privately owned and operated bike share program – a move aimed at getting more people to use bikes and public transit.
Under the program, the city will buy 1,500 bikes and make them available to the public for a fee that would be lower than what most bike rental shops charge.
There are about a dozen bike rental businesses in downtown Vancouver, Affleck said, and he shares their concern about a new competitor who will be subsidized by taxpayers to the tune of $1.9 million a year.
“These are small independent businesses,” Geoff Sharein, manager of Spokes Bicycle Rentals, told Business in Vancouver. “Certainly none of us can afford to lose $2 million a year and expect a subsidy on it.
“Basically at those price points, we just can’t compete. I would predict that we would see some bike shops disappear, and those that remained would have to tighten our belts pretty significantly. It would mean hiring less staff, scaling back locations.”
Affleck had put forward a motion that would have prevented bike share stations from being located at key tourist spots, like Stanley Park, the convention centre and English Bay.
While city council did not reject his motion Tuesday, Affleck said the “strike and replace” motion that replaced it watered it down to the point of being meaningless. Council reworked Affleck’s motion to direct staff to consult with local bike rental shops to address their concerns.
“The point of the motion was to assure the bike rental companies that we wouldn’t put bike share stations directly competing with them,” Affleck said. “If, as Vision Vancouver has argued, they are part of the transit system, then they should be at transit stations.”
Sharein’s shop employs roughly 40 people. He said he supports initiatives that encourage bike culture in Vancouver, but said shops like his will not be able to compete with the lower fees a subsidized business will be able to offer.
“We’re super-supportive of cycling initiatives in the city. We just want to make sure from the city side that they’re doing everything they can to avoid unnecessary negative impacts on private businesses.”
