Petition renews push for bike sharing in Ottawa, but not everyone is on board

Zoë Wind is a board member with Bike Ottawa, which has launched a petition to bring a bike sharing program back to the city. Photo by TONY CALDWELL /POSTMEDIA

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A new petition calling for the return of bike sharing to Ottawa is gaining traction as advocates and city officials debate what a future system should look like.

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Cycling advocacy group Bike Ottawa recently launched a campaign urging residents to support bringing bike sharing back after a feasibility study by Mobycon found that a public system could work in the city.

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“We would love to see bike share come back to Ottawa,” said Zoë Wind, a Bike Ottawa board member. “It’s safe, it’s convenient, it’s affordable, it’s accessible, and it really helps to bridge those gaps that we have in our current transit infrastructure.”

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Wind said the petition had already gathered 300 signatures.

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A 2014 file photo of VeloGo bikes. Photo by VeloGo /HANDOUT

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Bike sharing disappeared from Ottawa in 2018, when Miami-based CycleHop pulled its VeloGO bikes. Earlier attempts at pay-and-go bike networks also struggled.

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Capital Coun. Shawn Menard said those earlier systems were too focused on tourists and weren’t designed around how residents actually moved through the city.

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“I think the program here failed mostly because this was a for-profit venture that focused mostly on tourism and was not in areas associated with residents connecting to transit, to LRT,” Menard said.

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The Mobycon study suggested a future system could begin as a three-season operation in Ottawa and Gatineau with 1,200 bikes distributed across 115 docking stations.

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The report commissioned by the City of Ottawa estimated that launching the system could cost up to $10 million, with additional annual operating costs depending on factors including the use of e-bikes and sponsorship revenue.

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Menard argued the proposed price tag was modest compared to other transportation spending.

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“Ten million dollars is exceptionally affordable to get a system like this up and running,” Menard said.

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But not everyone is convinced a publicly backed bike-share system would benefit the city.

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Harry Musson, owner of RentABike Ottawa, said he believed a city-supported bike-share network would hurt his local rental business.

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“It would take money away from us, there’s no question,” Musson said.

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RentABike Ottawa, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2026, offers bike rentals and both guided and self-guided cycling tours from its location under the bridge over the Rideau Canal near the Fairmont Château Laurier hotel.

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Musson said his business saw a roughly 50-50 split between tourists and local customers, with many residents renting bikes when family or friends visited the city.

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“What you find is people using these, it’s a bit like the scooters: a lot of them might be tourists,” Musson said. “They’re using them as tourists. They’re not using them as a means of transportation necessarily.”