There were several considerations that were part of our decision­-making process for selecting station locations. We used international best practices (in accordance with the ITDP) for determining station density and placement throughout Hamilton, analyzed neighborhood characteristics (including housing density and commute trends), underwent a public feedback process with Hamilton residents, and consulted with several City departments (Parking, Traffic, etc) for each station to ensure there are no obstructions or safety issues for pedestrians, motorists and cyclists. We are also limited by what space is available as most of our stations are on City property and we did not want to remove parking spaces.

The public engagement report can be viewed here.

Some bikeshare hubs are designed as destination hubs and some are designed as feeder hubs. Feeder hubs are usually found in neighborhood areas on smaller streets where residents are likely to take a bike and use it for running errands or work commutes. This is similar to a neighbourhood bus stop on a smaller, less frequent bus route. Feeder hubs are named as such because they help residents get to destination hubs conveniently. A destination hub is usually found in areas with significant commercial, cultural or employment uses. Regardless of the hub type, the system was designed to have the recommended hub density of 300m to 600m between hubs. This ensures that hubs are conveniently located, user friendly and more likely to have high usage rates.

There was a specific amount of funding available to purchase station equipment which determined the number of stations that could be installed (and subsequently the size of the service area). In general, bike share systems are most successful when the stations are densely placed throughout the service area. Hamilton’s service area is quite large (over 15 square kilometers) and SoBi Hamilton plans to use future surplus revenue to invest in system expansion and improvement.

Interested in getting a hub outside our existing service area? We encourage you to help connect us with prospective partners (businesses, organizations, Ward councillors, etc) who can sponsor a new station. This helps support our non-profit organization in covering our operational costs to service new stations and a larger service area.