This project will provide the community of Homalco with a zero-emission micromobility e-bike share service. To achieve this, our community will purchase 4 Talon-E+ e-bikes in addition to a bike rack and shared safety equipment including helmets and high-visibility safety vests.

Community members will sign out the bikes from our local Administration Office who will store a cache of helmets and high visibility vests that community members sign out. People who sign out an e-bike will also have to show they’ve taken the free online training course from Bike Hub.

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Homalco is a community of 550 people. Due to multiple barriers, many Homalco community members are reliant on walking or biking to obtain their basic needs and to get to and from Campbell River.

These barriers can include not having a driver's licence or not having a car due to affordability issues. With respect to public transit, barriers also exist and these include that the #15 bus to Timberline School does not pass major stores for getting amenities and walking there is mostly on a route without a sidewalk and with only inconsistent street lighting.

A community aunty wishes to provide the following commentary about the need forthis project:

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"Members are biking to and from town on manual bikes - this results in longer days, members navigating back home in the dark along Jubilee parkway - there are no streetlights on this 80 km/h road. On the other hand, e-bikes can be accessorized with more reflectors, lights for travelling at night and they have optimal range for travel to and from Campbell River with its hills. Finally, e-bikes would give members of the HFN more access to Campbell River all around given Homalco's very limited bus schedule."

Photo source: Unsplash. Photo is shown for illustration purposes only and may not be an accurate representation of the project.