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Date: 6/5/2023
NORTHAMPTON — The regional ValleyBike Share program will likely have to halt until next spring as it looks for a new main service provider.
Nine communities in Western Mass. participate in the electric bike program including Northampton, Amherst, Springfield, West Springfield, Chicopee, Holyoke, Easthampton, South Hadley and the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Northampton, the lead community of the program, announced on May 25 that Bewegen Inc. can no longer meet its contract obligations as the program’s main service provider. Because of this, the regional bike share program must seek a new provider, which means ValleyBike is unlikely to return this summer.
Earlier this year, Northampton attempted to renegotiate a short-term contract with Bewegen after the provider notified the city that it was initiating bankruptcy proceedings in its home country of Canada in hopes of dissolving existing contracts with its bike share communities around the world. The hope was to reopen for its users this summer.
That, however, seems unlikely now.
According to a release sent by the city, a renegotiated contract with Bewegen is unlikely because it does not guarantee a sustainable solution.
“We know that bike share is a critical component of our transportation system in the Valley for all communities, and we want to ensure that we take steps to guarantee a long and uninterrupted service for our residents,” said Carolyn Misch, the city’s director of planning and sustainability. “Participating communities agreed that the best way forward would be to open a competitive procurement process to select a bike share partner with more financial stability and better terms for our communities.”
In a statement to Reminder Publishing, Misch said the documents have to be prepared and the city needs at least a month for a bid to be out on the street and then they will evaluate the bids. “This will take the bulk of the summer,” Misch said. “Given this situation, it is likely bikes won’t be back until early spring next year.”
According to ValleyBike’s end-of-year statistics, the program totaled 117,000 trips, its busiest year ever since the system opened in 2018.
“ValleyBike will be back,” said Northampton Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra, in a statement. “We need to find a partner that can reliably provide this important transportation service for Northampton and the coalition communities. By ending this relationship with Bewegen, we can now focus on finding the best operational partner to help us restart the program, and restructure it for long-term success.”