Those who have been to Vancouver, or even Langford, recently may have experienced the thrill of riding on an e-bike or e-scooter, thanks to bike share programs located across a network of docking stations.
Using a smartphone to locate, unlock and ride their vehicle of choice, riders then pay a set amount of cents per minute to sail through the city at their leisure.
Now, the City of Victoria is hoping to bring the same program to its streets and wants input from the public on what destinations they'd like to visit.
The public can do so by adding pins to a digital map at engage.victoria.ca/bikeshare by Sept. 24.
Those pins will help inform the placement of parking zones, along with best practices, including locating stations near All Ages and Abilities bike routes, close to key destinations, and at visible, easy-to-access spaces, such as those near intersections.
Parking zones will be around one parking space in size, depending on location and anticipated demand. Once the roll-out is complete, there will be parking zones located throughout Victoria.
The city says that with 44 km of All Ages and Abilities bike routes built and more underway, cycling in Victoria has grown in popularity in recent years.
"As of 2022, about one in three trips in Victoria is made by walking, cycling or rolling. This is one of the highest rates in Canada and makes Victoria an ideal place for bike share," the city said in a press release.
Victoria is following in the path of Langford, which rolled out a bike-share program in June through Evolve, a B.C.-based company managed by BCAA.
There, a fleet of 150 e-bikes and e-scooters is now available across the city at 30 locations.
