Residents and visitors will be able to get around Bobcaygeon by bicycle thanks to community group's project
NEWS Apr 26, 2017 Kawartha Lakes This Week
BOBCAYGEON - Bobcaygeon community group Impact 32 is gearing up to celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday with a unique initiative - bike sharing.
Impact 32 is a volunteer steering committee made up of local business owners and community organizers. We impact the growth of Bobcaygeon's year-round economic development and community beautification for the benefit of all residents, businesses and tourists.
The group has acquired 10 new seven-speed cruisers to offer visitors and residents a new option for getting around the village.
The bikes will be available every day at the bike share station at Lock 32 from May through October.
Bike share stations have popped up in many popular tourist destinations, school campuses, and in large urban centres over the past decade. Stations such as the one at Lock 32 help to attract and entertain visitors who can now take a bike for a spin, run errands, go for a picnic, see some countryside as well as experience more of the town itself.
Vacationers will appreciate no longer having to lug their bikes around with them, especially boaters travelling through Lock 32. Trent Severn Waterway is anticipating a surge in traffic this year as they honour Canada's sesquicentennial by offering free passage through the lock system to all boaters.
Riding a bicycle may be a pleasure as old as the hills, but sharing one today couldn't be more state-of-the-art. In fact, there's an app for that. Just download the “MOVATIC” app on your phone, find the bikes, sign a waiver, pay through your phone and then the phone will unlock the bike. Once you're done, the phone will lock the bike back into the station and calculate your payment. Aminimal charge, expected to be around $5 for the first half hour, will help to cover annual expenses associated with a system such as this.
Bobcaygeon's bike share program was implemented and will be kept rolling along by Impact 32, agroup of local volunteers who were recently awarded project funding from Regional Tourism Organization 8 and the Eastern Ontario Development Program.
“We want to thank our funding partners for making this possible, and Environmental Action Bobcaygeon for bringing the need for active transportation to the forefront in Bobcaygeon” says Impact 32's Carly Poole, “We also want to thank Trent Severn Waterway for their continuing co-operation and support of our town. We appreciate their partnership in this project allowing the bike station to be perfectly situated in the heart of Bobcaygeon on Parks Canada property.”
Volunteers are needed to work two or three-hour shifts chatting with people at the bike station, helping direct visitors, giving info on the bikes etc. Volunteers will be provided with information and hand-outs and stationed inside, out of the elements, so shifts will be rain or shine. Anyone who would like to share their Bobcaygeon enthusiasm is asked to email bobcaygeonbikeshare@gmail.com.
