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[np_storybar title=”” link=””]VANCOUVER — Miami-based businessman Josh Squire first came to this city in 2012, to attend a global bicycle planning conference. Bicycles are a big deal in Vancouver; certain downtown streets and a major commuter bridge have been reconfigured to accommodate them, and Mayor Gregor Robertson is seldom seen outside without his trusty velo.

During a break, Squire did what many visitors do. He went to a busy intersection near Stanley Park, hired a bike from one of several rental shops and took a spin around the park’s fabled sea wall.

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He loved it. Vancouver, he realized, had “all the right ingredients” to support his own fledgling interest: bike-sharing.

For reasons that remain unclear, Canadian cities are head-over-wheels with the heavily subsidized practice. Montreal, Toronto, even Ottawa have bike-sharing programs. Their municipal governments have underwritten the dreams — and wobbly financial arrangements — of two-wheel transportation impresarios, spending tens of millions of tax dollars on services that might look nice in theory, but aren’t really needed.