Ottawa Bike Share

It’s time for an Ottawa Bike Share!

If you’ve tried to get around Ottawa lately, you know how poorly our transportation system is doing. Buses run late, get cancelled last minute, and seem to disappear mid route. The LRT is operating at reduced capacity because of yet another mechanical problem. Driving…well, there just isn’t space for all those cars, no matter how much we widen roads. You’re lucky if you can walk to your destinations, but few of us have this option.

But biking? Where the City (or NCC) provides safe, well-maintained biking facilities, it’s pretty good. Congestion is rarely an issue, so you can predict your travel times. It’s relatively quick too—and healthy, fun, and often convenient.

Unfortunately, not everyone has access to a bike. For some, cost is a barrier. For others, it’s not having storage space. Others are deterred by the maintenance required. And finally, some are in our fair city for just a few days and would love to explore it by bike.  

This is where bike share comes in. A proper bike share system in Ottawa would give everyone access to bikes, whenever and wherever they need them.  

Bike share is short-term bike rental. There are usually docks placed at convenient locations, and you use an app or swipe a credit card to check out a bike, getting billed by time used. When you’re done, you return your bike to another dock—and that’s it. It’s that easy.

Ottawa actually had bike share a few years back (see the summary in EnviroCentre’s bike share report). It ended up fizzling out, as it was designed for tourists and didn’t have enough docks and bikes. While it’s great that tourists benefit from bike share, a proper bike share system must be designed to meet residents’ needs. 

We know bike share will work in Ottawa, because it’s thriving in our peer municipalities. Toronto has had bike share since 2011, and in 2025 users took 7.8 million trips using Bike Share Toronto’s fleet of over 10,000 bikes—including 2,300 e-bikes. Montreal has had bike share since 2009 and recorded 13 million rides in 2024. Hamilton also has a successful bike share system, and in 2024 McMaster Students worked with Hamilton Bike Share to create a U-Pass option that gives students access to bike share for less than $2/month. 

The City has been contemplating a return of bike share for some time. In 2020, Councillor Shawn Menard brought a motion to City Council asking staff to bring City Council some bike share options, but while staff acknowledged the value of bike share, they also called for further exploration. The City also included information on bike sharing in its 2021 report in the Public Bike Parking Strategy, again identifying its potential to help meet our transportation commitments. In 2023, Councillor Shawn Menard brought Council a report updating information in earlier reports and calling for yet another further report “back to Transportation Committee in 2025, with recommendations on an appropriate bike share model that would serve the needs of the City.” We’re still waiting on these recommendations.

Other Ottawa organizations have been advocating for bike share in Ottawa too. Every time the issue returns to Council, Bike Ottawa urges its adoption. EnviroCentre, an Ottawa-based non-profit, produced a report in 2024 outlining key considerations for bike share in Ottawa, some recommendations, and a rationale for why we need one. Yet despite all the mounting calls for bike share in Ottawa, the City still hasn’t implemented bike share.

But we think it’s time for bike share, for a robust system that helps us with our many transportation woes.

How would such a system work in Ottawa? We’ve got some ideas:

• Include both standard and electric-assist bikes available year-round in a station-based system 
• Serve a geographical area beyond the downtown core, including equity-deserving neighbourhoods
• Be integrated with the OC Transpo network (bus and O-Train) and major institutions
• Work with the City of Gatineau and the National Capital Commission to ensure a single, seamless, regional system 
• Receive substantial municipal financial support to safeguard affordability
• Be expanded in subsequent phases

What’s Next

We’re planning to share a discussion of these points in the coming days. We’re also developing an FAQ.

So, how can you help advance bike share in Ottawa?

• Share this campaign with your friends and family!
• Sign our petition calling for a first phase of bike share in spring 2027
• Ask your councillor to support bike share in Ottawa
• Tell us how it would shorten your commute, save you time chauffeuring youth, or help you get to specific destinations (bikeshare@bikeottawa.ca)