Figure 1: City of Guelph with existing bike infrastructure.

     Guelph is a medium sized city that lies just outside of the Greater Toronto Area and east of Kitchener-Waterloo. The population of Guelph is 131,794 and includes a medium sized university which has approximately 28,687 students whom either reside permanently or temporarily within the city.

     The City of Guelph has a wide range of travel amenities available for both visitors and residents including a dynamic public transit system, GO bus terminals, Greyhound routes, a VIA Rail terminal and many biking paths for cyclist to safely traverse the city. Travelling throughout Guelph is relatively convenient however, it can be made better with the implementation of a Bike Share Program. This program would provide citizens with an alternative travel option that in turn will improve connections to numerous amenities within the City of Guelph. Precedents such as Toronto and Kitchener-Waterloo have already adopted these programs with great success. The current infrastructure of bike lanes provides a stable base for adopting a Bike Share program within the City of Guelph.

     Located in Southern Ontario, Guelph is subject to harsh winters, which can make traveling difficult during these times. In nearby cities such as Toronto, bikes are still available to the public however they are less frequently used (El-Assi, Mahmoud & Habib, 2015). Although weather conditions between these two cities are somewhat similar, they cannot be implicitly compared. If winter weather proves to be too damaging to public bicycles in Guelph, other options such as winter storage will provide a solution.

     Guelph needs a Bike Share Program to connect its existing transportation systems and provide locals and tourists with the means to explore and use the many bike lanes and amenities that already exist.