The town’s potential bike share program is no more. Sometime in the future, the town may decide that it wants to hire bike mechanics and maintenance staff. But not for the next few years at least and not without some fairly substantial readjusting. The goal was commendable, but the process needed more work. Perhaps unfairly, the program died. Unfairly, because council was, after all, only applying for a grant and loan for the program. The logistics would have been completely worked out later. Debate could have continued in an official capacity. It won’t now.

This is a shame because the program brought forward a ton of fascinating issues about how bikes should be used in Jasper.

Number one: bike racks. More people would be compelled to ride their bikes around town if they knew  they could lock their bikes up whenever they came downtown. Not having a spot to put your bike means that you’re not going to ride it. Plain and simple. Council should look at ways to bring more racks to Jasper. It would be a cheap, effective and easy way to get more people riding.

Number two: the town and bike renters in town need to come up with a way of renting bikes to people who are staying at campgrounds. Imagine driving into Jasper from Edmonton, arriving at Whisters campground and having a way of renting a bike right at the campsite. You could bike into town right away and the car would essentially become a device for driving to and from Edmonton. The rest of your time here is spent on a bike. Right now, people need to drive into town from the campsites to rent a bike. That seems mighty redundant. Could the shops set up rental stalls at the campgrounds? It seems possible.

Number three: Are bike share programs only effective in large, urban centres? Once all the questions about logistics, repairs, and insurance got answered, would people here even use the program? This was the big question looming over the debate about the program, but it was never really effectively answered.

The rationale about providing cheap bikes also seems sound. Price is a powerful incentive. The bike shops in town provide cheap bikes ($30 for a day on a bike seems fair) but the program would’ve been cheaper. People would’ve been naturally drawn to the rent-a-bikes (assuming they weren’t totally run down). The shops probably would have taken a hit. But would more people have used bikes?

People who need to drive to work in Jasper so that their car handy probably would’ve. The idea of being able to bike home for lunch from downtown is an enticing one. Biking back from the bar instead of taxiing after too many pops also seems like a good call too, although who brings a helmet to the bar, and is biking when drunk really a good idea?

So many, many questions.

Will they ever be answered? Who knows. Still, we can all agree biking is a good thing and the more people who do it, the better. With this goal in mind, surely, workable solutions can be found. 

DISCLAIMER: The Last Word is an opinion column, it is meant to provoke thought and debate. As such, any opinions written here are the writers own and do not reflect the viewpoint of any other Fitzhugh staff member or the directors of the Jasper Media Group Inc.