Dropbike Launches North America’s First Dockless Bike Sharing Service
Dropbike is launching a pilot in the City of Kingston this week, ahead of Canada Day celebrations.
Canada’s first dockless bike sharing company says that this project makes Kingston the first city in North America to launch a smart, dockless bike sharing service.
“Cycling is a great transportation fit for Kingston’s diverse community of residents, tourists and students,” said Qiming Weng, CEO of Dropbike.
The startup says it will deploy 100 bikes in Kingston for residents and tourists to use. The company’s first pilot was at the University of Toronto .
“I can’t wait for Dropbike to bring an affordable and green solution to the students, residents and tourists in the city,” said Afraj Gill, Vice-President of Business Development and Government Relations at Dropbike.
To start a ride, users download an app to find the bike closest to them. Dropbike costs $1 an hour.
“The bike share pilot program is an opportunity to build our reputation as an innovative city and a leader in environmental stewardship,” said Bryan Paterson, the mayor of Kingston.
“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,” noted Paul MacLatchy, Environment Director at City of Kingston.
