SoBi users ride bikes down the Mountain, but not back up again

People are happy to ride SoBi bicycles down the Niagara escarpment. But not so many want to ride them back up again.

That's the reason the city is looking at including a free HSR bus ride in the cost of a Hamilton Mountain bike share rental.

You'll be very sweaty.- Peter Topalovic, manager of transportation demand management, on riding a SoBi bike up the Mountain

Hamilton Bike Share has tried four SoBi stations on the Mountain, but interest was low. It was also expensive, since people rode their bikes down to the lower city and left them there, said Peter Topalovic, the city's manager of transportation demand management. So it cost money to transport them back up again.

It is possible to ride a heavy SoBi bike up the escarpment. But they're not ideal for the purpose. 

When it's over, "you'll be very sweaty," Topolovic told city council's public works committee Thursday. 

So Sam Merulla, Ward 4 councillor, pitched the idea of including a bus ticket with a SoBi ride. City staff will report back on the possibility.

Escarpment climbs aside, SoBi usage has taken off since the service launched in January 2015. The New York-based company Social Bicycles launched the service using $1.6 million in provincial money allocated to the city, which funded the capital costs. There are about 9,967 active riders who use 750 bikes at 115 hubs. In December, riders had traveled close to 400,000 kilometres from 115 hubs.

• A look inside Hamilton's surprising bike share success story

On the Mountain, however, it's been less of a hit. SoBi launched with no Mountain locations, saying it would set up stations there when it had money to expand the service. Last year, the bike share service tried a pilot with four Mountain locations.

I know there are people in the Falkirk neighbourhood who'd love to just be able to grab a SoBi bike and take it down to Westmount rec centre instead of taking the bus.- Terry Whitehead, Ward 8 councillor

"During the pilot period, the hubs did not perform well," said Chelsea Cox, spokesperson for SoBi Hamilton.

Cox says there are three reasons for this. For one, the Mountain didn't have a full SoBi network, making it harder to ride from one station to the next. Hamilton Mountain also lacks safe cycling infrastructure, such as bike lanes. Then there's "the operational burden of redistributing bikes back up the Mountain."

Hamilton Bike Share and the city are doing a feasibility study to look at future SoBi service on the Mountain.

Terry Whitehead, Ward 8 councillor, thinks Merulla's idea will help. Ultimately, he's open to any idea that will see a full bike share service on the Mountain.

"I know there are people in the Falkirk neighbourhood who'd love to just be able to grab a SoBi bike and take it down to Westmount Rec Centre instead of taking the bus," he said. "It'd be nice to supply that convenience."