Hello Ward 8 Neighbours,
At it’s meeting on May 27th, Hamilton City Council narrowly voted to cease operations of the poplular SoBi Bikeshare service currently servicing more than 26,000 active members.
The service was shutdown on Monday June 1st, 2020, however due to overwhelming community support, a last minute reprieve is now possible.
For more details, continue reading below…
Cancellation of SoBi Bikeshare Service
With just over a week’s notice, Uber (the SoBi Bikeshare operator) provided the City of Hamilton with notice that they would break their contract and terminate operation of Hamilton’s SoBi Bikeshare program.
At it’s meeting on May 27th, 2020, a motion by Ward 3 Councillor Nrinder Nann to provide $400,000 in bridge financing (to maintained operation until the end of the year) from the Wards 1,2 & 3 Area Rating Reserve Accounts failed on a 8-8 tie (tie votes are recorded as defeated).
The cancellation of the SoBi Bikeshare service followed an acrimonious debate at the end of a 15 hour long Council meeting.
I was interviewed by CHCH news on the result of the vote the following morning – click here to see the full interview.
Hamilton Residents Respond
Following Council’s decision to cancel operations of the SoBi Bikeshare program and put the city owned bikes in storage, Hamilton residents and charitable organizations responded.
Within days, Hamilton residents contributed nearly $70,000 to the “Save SoBi Go Fund Me Campaign” (donations are still being accepted – please click here).
Larger donors and charitable organizations quickly followed suit.
The largest donation is a $100,000 pledge from the Patrick J McNally Charitable Foundation.
As it stands now, in a letter to Council (click here for the full letter), Hamilton Bike Share Inc. have indicated that they are able to takeover operations of SoBi with the available community raised funding – allowing the system to remain in operation and buying City staff time to come up with a permanent solution.
Public Funding for Multi-Modal Transportation
At it’s core the debate over the future of the Sobi Bikeshare Program had nothing to do with the merits of the system itself, but with the merits of investing public money in active transportation and other multi-modal transportation options.
In their letter to Council, the Patrick J McNally Charitable Foundation makes it clear that their $100,000 donation is contingent on Hamilton City Council’s continued investment in multi-modal transportation options.
In the current economic situation created by Covid-19, we are also mindful of the economic challenges faced by many members of our community.
SoBi Hamilton provides an affordable way for residents to get to work, pick up groceries, run errands, and visit family. This is especially important as the capacity of busses is reduced to allow for appropriate physical distancing. It is our hope that the system will someday be available in all our City’s communities.
For all these reasons and more, we believe strongly that a robust bike share system is a critical part of the economic and environmental future of Hamilton.
Our pledge, however, does come with some recommendations for City Council’s careful consideration. Our study of successful bike share programs across Canada and around the world clearly demonstrate that they demand a true partnership between local government, business, members and the community in order to succeed and be sustainable over the long haul.
While municipal finances are challenging under present circumstances, inevitably there will be a need for some ongoing subsidy from the City in the same way that it subsidizes other critical transportation and transit infrastructure.
Our pledge together with crowd source funding buys some time, but it will likely not create the sustainable business model that we need.
Graham McNally on behalf of the Patrick J McNally Charitable Foundation
Last Minute Reprieve for SoBi
While it now appears that the necessary funding is in place to continue operations of the SoBi bikeshare program – a reconsideration motion with 2/3 support from Council will be required to overturn Council’s previous decision to shut the service down.
Due to the overwheming public engagement on this issue, it appears that many of the Councillors who voted to shut the system down have realized their mistake and will likely vote in favour of reconsideration.
This will be determined at today’s Council meeting (June 3rd, 2020).
Questions or Concerns?
If you have any questions or concerns, you can contact our office here.
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