Rubber meets the road for Lime e-bike share launch in Victoria

Green arches have sprung up alongside streets in Victoria in recent weeks, as the city prepared to roll out a new e-bike share program. Starting Friday, the new bikes will hit the road — a fleet of green-and-white electric machines ready for riders.

It's the city's second attempt at launching a bike share program, after a short-lived dockless program through U-Bicycle led to reports of people leaving bikes blocking sidewalks or dumping them into local waterways.

For Victoria Mayor Marianne Alto, launching the Lime bikes — which the city required the company to ensure docking stations for — is a chance to build upon the lessons learned.

"This is actually quite an exciting point, I think, in the evolution of active transportation in Victoria — I'm quite, quite thrilled, actually," she told CBC's On The Island.

"We've had an opportunity to think about how to do this right."

On Friday, 400 e-bikes will be available to rent, according to Lime Canada spokesperson Julia Stevens.

The e-bikes cost $1.15 to unlock and 34 cents per minute to ride, although Lime has a $3.99 day pass and a monthly membership program. Low income riders can pay 23 cents to unlock a bike, and seven cents per minute to ride.

Lime has installed 110 docking stations in James Bay, downtown, Hillside-Quadra, Burnside, Victoria West, and North Park, with locations in Fairfield to be added in the second phase of the program in late 2026 and future years.

"Our goal is to build a program that works well for the entire community, including riders and non-riders," Lime Canada spokesperson Carling Dick said in a statement.

"That means making it easy to ride, but also making sure bikes are parked properly and that people understand how to use the system responsibly."

A total of 200 docking stations located "every two to four blocks across the city" are planned when the rollout is complete, according to the City of Victoria.

Trevor Moat, president of the James Bay Neighbourhood Association, said residents in his region have expressed concerns about the 23 stations installed across the neighbourhood. Some have replaced parking spots, including those in front of residents' homes, which Moat says happened without consulting residents.

"For some people, it's quite an inconvenience," he said, noting that James Bay has a large population of seniors who may have mobility challenges.

While Moat is not opposed to the docking stations — and says nobody is entitled to parking in front of their home — he feels they're part of a larger issues he's seen with the city's lack of consultation over neighbourhood changes.

Alto said that while some parking spots have been impacted, about a third of the new stations will not disrupt current parking access.

"I think there are going to be challenges for sure as we look at how we change how we move around, and certainly there's a parking impact, but I think on balance that you look at this as a change for the better," she said.

The city's website on the new program says residents and businesses get a week's notice if a Lime station will be installed in their area. It also says it consulted with businesses, advisory committees and the public in August and September of last year about potential e-bike parking zones.

Alto said that as Lime bikes roll out, the city intends to assess the impact they have on transportation in the region.