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Users of Ottawa’s downtown bike-sharing program will soon be able to lock the bikes on any old rack instead of returning them to a docking station, the new operator says.

But they will have to wait: Capital BIXI’s replacement won’t be launched until August, Miami-based CycleHop said in a release.

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The National Capital Commission sold its network of bike-sharing stations to CycleHop in April, right around when the Bixi system was due to start its sixth summer.

The NCC said at the time that new owner, which operates bike-sharing systems in Orlando, Tampa, Phoenix, Atlanta and Louisville, would resume the bike share service by the summer. CycleHop’s chief executive said it might happen even sooner.

However, current bike-share members will have to make do with borrowing conventional bikes from a walk-up service centre in Lowertown until the system launches in August.

CycleHop said this week that it will open the centre at 112 Nelson Street on July 1. The new bicycle design and program name will be unveiled in the coming weeks.