Mobi bike lodged on Vancouver's Inukshuk sparks confusion
Just days after the announcement of the Vancouver Mural Festival’s closure, someone decided to fill the gap in the city’s public art space in quite a unique way.
Photos shared on Reddit on Sunday show a Mobi bike placed on the giant Inukshuk at English Bay.
While commentators online debated whether it was art, vandalism or a publicity stunt, nearly everyone agreed that it was impressive that someone got the bike up high on the monument.
littlemissjk
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“I have many questions on how someone actually managed to get it up there,” Redditor littlemissjk, one of the photographers who snapped the scene, said to Daily Hive Urbanized. “I legit thought for a hot second it was some weird Mobi bike guerilla marketing campaign.”
Vancouver’s public bike-share system was launched in 2016, and by the end of 2023, Mobi had 2,000 regular bikes, 600 e-bikes, 248 stations, and 4,665 docks. Mobi had nearly 68,000 members at the end of the same year.
A significant proportion of these Mobi bike share stations are also equipped with free public WiFi connectivity under the City of Vancouver’s #VanWiFi system.
littlemissjk
Dozens of comments online wondered how the bike was hefted high above the ground onto the Inukshuk.
“That’s impressive, those bikes are heavy AF,” said one Redditor.
“I was thinking the exact same thing. Those things are not light,” said another.
“As far as vandalism goes, this actually made me laugh out loud. That’s impressive. It’s almost art,” read one comment.
littlemissjk
The City of Vancouver told Daily Hive that it is aware of a Mobi bike that was placed on the Inukshuk at English Bay.
“The bike has since been removed. We can confirm this was not a publicity stunt by Mobi,” said a representative for the City. “It’s disheartening when individuals damage or deface any element of the public realm, especially those that have come to have an iconic expression.
“Users are reminded that as part of the service, bikes must be returned and parked at a docking station.”
Daily Hive Urbanized has also contacted Mobi and will update this story accordingly.
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