Borrow a Bicycle—for free!—in Wolfville

From its Recreation Hub at the edge of downtown, the Town of Wolfville, Nova Scotia, lets anyone borrow a bicycle for up to 8 hours for free:

This morning Lisa and I borrowed two Cannondale Cargowagon e-bikes, and rode them 36 km to Kingsport and back, with fish and chips at Tide’s In Canteen mid-way.

The staff person at the Recreation Hub who helped us reported that most of the usage is local: people taking bikes for errands, going out for recreational rides, etc. That said, anyone can borrow a bike (“out-of-towners” need to leave a photocopy of a credit card, and everyone needs to show ID).

It’s such a wonderful idea: shared mobility, right on the rail trail, with a variety of bicycles on offer, including cargo bikes and trikes, e-bikes, and standard bicycles. It stimulates active transportation, lets people try out different types of bicycles in a no-pressure environment, and gives visitors an alternative way to explore the area.

The Cannondale Cargowagons were more bicycle than we actually needed, as we weren’t hauling cargo, but they were the only e-bikes available, and I was eager to see how they handled, what they could carry, etc., in the “could we replace one car with an e-bike” vein. I was able to pair my iPhone with the Bosch control system on the bike, and then use the eBike Flow app to plan a route and have navigation prompts appear on the tiny handlebar display.

The ride from Wolfville to Kingsport started out on the rail trail, then saw us heading north to Port Williams on a somewhat-precarious main road; once we’d crossed over the Cornwallis River, we left the main road and cycled on low-traffic country roads, many of them freshly paved.

The route was 18 km each way, and it took us an hour of cycling out and an hour back, with stops at Country Barn Antiques and Foxhill Cheese en route. It threatened rain almost all day, and while it was never a downpour, we were happy to have our rain gear with us.