January 19, 2015 (Hamilton, ON) – The first 200 bikes for a bike share program were rolled out this week in Hamilton, Ontario reports CBC. The $1.6-million 750-bike project was approved in December 2013 with New York-based Social Bicycles (SoBi) but delays have stalled implementation. The full fleet of 750 bikes should be hitting the streets in March, 2015.

The installation of 200 bikes this winter is being called “a test” of the system by Peter Topalovic, the city’s project manager of Transportation Demand Management. Chelsea Cox, community manager with SoBi Hamilton notes that other North American cities like Toronto, New York and Chicago maintain bike share programs in winter.

SoBi is not affiliated with the Montreal-based Bixi bike share system. Unlike many other bike share programs, most of the SoBi electronics are on the bike itself rather than in docking stations. According to its website, SoBi has bike share systems in various stages of implementation in: San Francisco, CA; Orlando, FL; Tampa, FL; Phoenix, AZ; Providence RI; Buffalo, NY; Hailey, ID; and Hamilton, ON. “Social Bicycles uses mobile technology and GPS to enable affordable, scale-able, and intelligent bike-sharing networks,” as described by the funding website Crunchbase.

Rental rates in Hamilton will start at $6 for a one-time 60 minute rental with various options available up to a $149 annual membership offering 90 minutes of free usage daily.

Read more on Crunchbase here.

Read the CBC article here.

SoBi Hamilton website here.