University of Calgary bike share officially launches rental service

By Fabian Mayer, March 22 2016 —

After a year of planning, the University of Calgary’s bike share program is set to begin renting bikes this week or early next. Once signed up for a $10 membership, students can rent one of the eight bikes at a price of $5 for two days or $10 for a week.

The group held an official launch at the Sustainability Resource Centre last week. The bikes will be rented out from the same location, which is open daily from 11:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m.

“We had about 15 people sign up, so that was good,” U of C bike share president Gavin Schneider said. “We were more just trying to get volunteers so when it is up and running we’re not understaffed.”

The actual renting of the bikes was delayed until late this week or early next as the Students’ Union’s legal services were asked to look over the rental contract.

“We just wanted to make sure that there was nothing wrong with the contract,” Schneider said.

The group originally came up with the idea in a geography class group project over a year ago. Schneider and his classmates then formed an SU club to make the idea a reality.

Schneider said he and his team are excited about the launch.

“We’ve talked about a lot of what can go wrong and we’ve got a system of procedures. I think it’ll go quite smoothly,” Schneider said. “I just hope students take full advantage of it.”