ValleyBike Share to Relaunch in May

Source: amherstma.gov

The regional ValleyBike Share program, managed by the City of Northampton announced that it has selected Drop Mobility as the new vendor for the program and will relaunch by the end of May.

The members of the regional bike share program are Amherst, Springfield, West Springfield, Holyoke, Chicopee, Easthampton, Northampton, South Hadley, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst,

A year ago, the previous operator for ValleyBike Share, Bewegen, notified Northampton that it was initiating bankruptcy proceedings in its home country, Canada, to dissolve existing contracts with its bike-share communities around the world. To the disappointment of all the member communities within the ValleyBike Share system, the system had to shut down. In the intervening months, representatives of these communities came together to establish an understanding of costs and to develop a plan to getting ValleyBike Share back up and running.

Following this commitment, Northampton issued a Request for Proposals for a new services contract to operate the system. Drop Mobility was selected by the communities for its deep understanding of micro-mobility as an important component of our transportation system and its experience in rescuing and operating e-assist bike shares around the country.

“We are so excited to be able to relaunch this transportation system in the Valley for all communities and we look forward to forging new and expanded partners who will join the system and participate in its success!,” said Carolyn Misch, Director of Planning & Sustainability.

Amherst’s Director of Sustainability, Stephanie Ciccarello, noted that the communities worked diligently during the selection process.  She added, “Amherst, in partnership with Representative Mindy Domb’s office, played a key role in convening regional legislators to help communities brainstorm future funding options.”

The communities have found a variety of grants and other one-time sources of funding to relaunch the system and will continue the process of working with regional, state, and federal partners to establish sustainable funding for future years.

Northampton Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra shared, “We are ecstatic that we have found a vendor that shares our commitment to making bike share a successful transportation mode which will further our sustainability goals to encourage options for people to travel and commute. I am so grateful to Director Misch for her tireless commitment to restarting the program and for the collaboration with our partner communities. We look forward to this next phase of ValleyBike Share, and to expanding to more communities.”

Amherst Town Manager Paul Bockelman added, “The bike share system in Amherst was very popular. Members of the community truly appreciated the ease of access and that the system offered electric bikes – which was the real game changer. I look forward to working with Drop Mobility to make Valley Bike an even bigger success.”

“Drop Mobility is excited to work with the communities within the Pioneer Valley to relaunch and expand the ValleyBike Share system, where we plan to both revive existing bikes and equipment and bring in the latest Drop hardware and software solutions,” shared Dipesh Dar, co-founder and COO of Drop Mobility. “Building long-term and sustainable bike share is at the core of what we do, and we are proud to power the next chapter of e-bike share in the Pioneer Valley.”

For more information, contact Carolyn Misch at 413-587-1287 or cmisch@northamptonma.gov or Stephanie Ciccarello at 413-259-3149 or ciccarellos@amherstma.gov

Online information: https://amherstma.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=3562