NORTHAMPTON, Mass. (WWLP) – One year after the disappearance of rental bikes across several cities and towns, the ValleyBike Share program is officially returning at the end of the month.
No rental bikes in western Massachusetts until new vendor found One year ago, the former operating company, Bewegen, announced that it was ending its contracts with local towns after filing for bankruptcy in Canada. Since then, the city of Northampton has been the leading community in finding a new company to operate the ValleyBike Share program.
On Thursday, it was announced that Drop Mobility will be the new vendor for the program and bikes will return to several cities and towns that are part of the ValleyBike Share program at the end of May. The following communities are part of the program:
- Springfield
- West Springfield
- Holyoke
- Chicopee
- Easthampton
- Northampton
- South Hadley
- Amherst
- University of Massachusetts Amherst
Drop Mobility has experience in rescuing programs like the ValleyBike Sharing program and operating e-bike sharing programs across 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. “Participating communities have worked hard both in this selection process as well as in engaging our regional legislators to help us brainstorm about funding options for the future.”
Last year Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra shared, “We are not ending bike share, we are merely severing our contract with the current vendor so that we can pivot toward another operational vendor to provide this important transportation service.” Today, Mayor 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.”
“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.”
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