City: Dropbikes found in dumpster are being recycled, new model to be rolled out in May

The discovery of a dumpster full of Dropbikes in Kingston’s Inner Harbour area does not mean those bikes were being thrown away, according to the City of Kingston.

A citizen discovered the bikes some time over Easter Weekend, and rumours circulated quickly on social media that the bikes were being thrown away. That is not the case, said Paul McLatchy, Environment Director of the City of Kingston.

McLatchy said that he spoke with the operations manager at Dropbike on Monday, Apr. 22, 2019. That person indicated that Dropbike – a bike-share company that has been contracted to supply bicycles for use in the City of Kingston – had stored their bikes at the old Cook’s Arena over the winter. Those bikes, which are almost entirely orange, are the first generation Dropbikes, and not the model that is meant to be used in Kingston this year, McLatchy indicated.

“[Those bikes] are past their due. They’re not roadworthy, generally, and they’re not the ones they’re going to be using when they roll out in May here,” he said.

According to McLatchy, he was told that the original plan for the old bikes was to try to find a home for them. However, because the Dropbikes use special parts – parts that aren’t used on regular bicycles, which acts as a deterrent for those who might otherwise try to steal parts from the Dropbikes  – the company was unable to find someone who could use them.

“You can’t really part them out,” McLatchy said of the Dropbikes.

“So they are recycling them, they’re saying, to a metal recycler. That’s why they were in the dumpsters, because the metal recycler is in the process of picking them up.”

The old Dropbikes have since been picked up and are no longer in a dumpster. The City of Kingston indicated that Dropbike should be making a formal statement regarding the incident, but that statement has yet to be made as of time of press (Monday, Apr. 22, 2019 at 5:15 p.m.).

The new model of the Dropbike will be more white than orange, McLatchy said. But that’s not the only difference.

“They’re also made from aluminum frames and they’re three speeds, so it’s quite a big upgrade,” he said.

The new Dropbikes will be rolled out in May of 2019, after major delays and recalls meant that the bikes for public use were not available for most of the 2018 bike riding season.

To find out more about Dropbike, click here.