Jasper town councillors have unanimously rejected a proposal for a provincial loan and grant that would have paid for a community bike share program.

The decision came after some heated debate at council’s May 4 meeting, where several bike shop owners and community members came out to oppose the program. The meeting, in stark contrast to most council sessions, was standing room only, as people from around Jasper came out to see the inner workings of their town council.

“The intent of the proposal required that we have a partner to actually handle running the program and the maintenance and such things for the bikes,” said Mayor Richard Ireland. “We heard quite clearly from the local shops that they had no interest in being involved with this proposal... It just wasn’t going to work.”

The mayor stressed that the public told council they wanted carbon emissions lowered during feedback sessions during the town’s environmental sustainability plan. The bike plan was a way to achieve this goal that the town appeared to have asked for.

The loan would have provided Jasper with about $270,000 to be paid back over ten years and a $27,000 grant. The town would have spent an additional $300,000 of its own money to pay for the $600,000 project. The bikes would have been placed in accessible stalls at points around town. Some of the campsites near town would also have been included. Credit card readers would have charged a $5 fee for the day and a damage deposit of around $250.

The shop owners  arguments against the program were made clear at a private April 30 meeting between the town’s environmental stewardship coordinator, Janet Cooper, who helped to organize the proposed program, and about ten representatives from bike shops around town.

At the meeting, Cooper laid out in general terms what the town was hoping to accomplish. Good humour abounded at the meeting, but so did a slight undercurrent of anger and resentment. Shop owners were overwhelmingly opposed to the program in Jasper. They consistently stated it appeared that the town hadn’t thought enough about whether the project could really even work. How did the town know that people would be willing to use this program? Were they confident that people felt renting a bike from the shops was too expensive? Where was the expressed need for this program? 

At the same time, some of the bikers also worried the program could seriously under-cut a significant part of their business.

Cooper stressed the program was not intended to compete with the bike shops. She said the program was only meant to rent to people who wanted to casually bike around town. The bikes weren’t meant for serious trail riding, which she believed was the main clientele for the shop owners.

The bike shop owners told her this was wrong.

“Hardcore mountain bikers bring their own mountain bikes. They don’t rent from us,” said Wendy Hall of Freewheel Cycle. She estimates that up to 75 per cent of her rentals are to people, typically tourists, who just want to ride around town, to campsites in the area and out to Jasper Park Lodge. The bikers stressed that tourists from some  countries are used to riding bikes for travel purposes. When they come to Jasper, they want to keep biking, so they rent.

While Cooper said the town was not trying to compete with the shops, she also stressed the bike program would be cheaper than renting a bike at the shops, which should encourage more people to bike.

“I urge you to think beyond your wallets for just a little bit and think about something that could be really great,” said Cooper. “We want to make bikes inexpensive for everyone... We think more people might use them if they are cheaper and more accessible to them.”

“We’re green! We want people on bikes,” said one of the bike shop operators at the meeting. Overall, the owners seemed to take offense at the inference that they were running their businesses solely for profit.

The bikers raised a wide series of concerns about the way the program would be run. They asked about insurance costs of running the program, which Cooper admitted haven’t been seriously looked at yet. They asked how the town would get people to wear helmets, which the shops provide for free. They stated that the town’s estimates for the repair and maintenance of the bikes ($30,000 per year) were wildly off-base as the bikes would be treated in a rough and tumble way. 

“I don’t think that taxpayers are going to want to fund a project that isn’t sustainable,” said Hall. She stressed that while the program might work in an urban environment and while it’s intentions were wonderful, it had not been properly thought through.

“It’s really a great program, but I just don’t think that we’re ready,” said Chris Peel of Freewheel Cycle.

The bikers suggested the $300,000 of Jasperites tax dollars could go towards better bike related options in town. The money could pay for more bike racks, which would encourage more people to ride. More signage in the downtown core could help reduce congestion problems, which could rise with the bike share program. A paved loop that actually goes all the around the town could also encourage more people to get out there and pedal.

One bike shop employee even suggested that the town simply take the $300,000 they would spend on the program and just pay out $100,000 each to the bike shops in Jasper.