NORTHAMPTON – The City of Northampton, as the lead community for the regional ValleyBike share program, announces a delay in the spring rollout and temporary modifications to the bike share program as it attempts to renegotiate a contract with the vendor of the program, Bewegen.
Earlier this year, Bewegen gave notice to Northampton that it was initiating bankruptcy proceedings in its home country, Canada, in an effort to dissolve existing contracts with its bike-share communities around the world.
Upon this action, the City, on behalf of all eight bike share communities of Springfield, West Springfield, Holyoke, Chicopee, Easthampton, Northampton, South Hadley, Amherst, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst, has been working on renegotiating a contract so that the system can reopen for users as soon as possible. We hope to have a solution under this new model so that bikes can go back on the street for users by May.
“We know how important bike share has become to users and to all the communities in the Valley,” said Carolyn Misch, Director of Planning & Sustainability. “Participating communities are working diligently to ensure that we can put together at least a partial bike share program this season, while we work on a long-term funding solution for the entire system. As we forge a path forward under this model, we hope to be able to stabilize the system for long-term success and expansion opportunities in new communities expanding linkages to PVTA and major employers.”
Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra further emphasized: “The ValleyBike share is a critical resource for our communities and the Valley in support of our continuing efforts to decarbonize and meet our goals to reach carbon neutrality by 2050. We are therefore committed to ensuring that we can maintain this transportation service and ultimately incorporate it into a seamless and financially stable regional service.”
For more information, contact Carolyn Misch at 413-587-1287. or cmisch@northamptonma.gov.