Dropbike Bike Sharing Service Launches in Kingston

Published on: 2017/06/27 - in Science & Tech

Dropbike

This week, Dropbike – the country’s first dockless bike sharing service – launched a pilot program in Kingston, making us the first community in North America to officially partner with a smart, dockless bike sharing service.

“Kingston has been the perfect partner,” said Qiming Weng, CEO of Dropbike, in a release. “They have been fast in moving with us and they understand the pace of innovation. Cycling is a great transportation fit for Kingston’s diverse community of residents, tourists and students.”

Mayor Bryan Paterson, who tweeted out a photo of him riding one of the bicycles (below), said: “The bike share pilot program is an opportunity to build our reputation as an innovative city and a leader in environmental stewardship. We are happy to welcome Dropbike Inc. to Kingston as we explore bike share programs with the aim of making Kingston a greener, smarter, 21st century city.”

As a result of City Council’s June 20th approval of a motion to allow Dropbike to launch the program, 100 bikes have been deployed in Kingston for residents and tourists to use.

To start a ride, users simply download the app at dropbike.ca and find the bike closest to them. During its promotional period, riders will get 10 free rides. Afterwards, Dropbike costs just $1 an hour.

The service first launched on the University of Toronto—St. George campus on June 15th.

Afraj Gill, Vice-President of Business Development and Government Relations at Dropbike, says that a service like this would have saved him a lot of time and money in the four years that he spent in Kingston as a Queen’s University undergrad.

“I can’t wait for Dropbike to bring an affordable and green solution to the students, residents and tourists in the city,” Gill added. “We’re fortunate to be working so closely with the government in making biking the future of transportation in Kingston and, as a Canadian startup, we’re honoured to launch this pilot during Canada Day celebrations.”

Paul MacLatchy, Environment Director at City of Kingston, said that community bike-share programs promote active transportation and support the community’s goal of reducing our carbon footprint.

“Bike-sharing systems are evolving rapidly, the experience and community feedback we hope to gain through the Dropbike pilot program will help us determine what kind of bike-sharing system we want to implement community-wide in the future,”  said MacLatchy

Since the Dropbike system does not require physical locks, it brings a unique solution to the “last-mile problem” of Kingston commuters and also provides a fun transportation option for tourists visiting the city.

Get the Dropbike app at dropbike.ca.


Photo: Screencap from Dropbike video