wphamilton

Last weekend, or possibly a few days earlier, a bike share sprouted up along the Greenway I use for commuting in Alpharetta, Georgia. Monday morning those Dutch looking city bikes were rolling around everywhere along that stretch, to all appearances a successful rollout. But it was back to normal on the Greenway today with no Zagster bike share bikes out and about. Possibly the novelty has worn off - after one day.

Having a couple of days to mull it over, one thing seems out of kilter about it, not fully thought out. All three stations are at trail-heads, only one fairly close to residential areas and space out two or three miles. The use case is driving up to a trail-head, grabbing a bike and riding three or four miles in the park. That's fine, but too limited in my opinion. They are going to measure success by how much these bikes are used.

I know what the reasoning was. The city is easing into it cautiously, as inexpensively as possible. In this contract, Alpharetta doesn't want to own or maintain the bikes, doesn't have the liability if someone crashes, doesn't have to keep track of anything but revenue, if any. It's $21,000 for three stations, which is not a lot in the broader scheme of things. So they already own these two park locations, and the YMCA probably donated the space. Why not, free bikes for the Y in exchange for the space to park them? So the plan is, try it at these three locations at the least possible cost, and if it works then expand to other locations. The city probably relied heavily on Zagster for these decisions.

It's just bad thinking in my opinion. They have limited their target demographic right from the start: you'll attract no one beyond the very casual recreational rider, because these are already destination points. Park, parking lots, trail-heads. To illustrate, I live pretty favorably between two stations. I could conceivably walk down to Northpoint, grab a Zagster bike do my errands and walk back. I could use the basket for carrying stuff, but otherwise I could more easily just walk in the first place. It's not likely to happen.

The irony is that the Zagster system isn't designed with family outings in mind. One bike only per account. It is a heavy city bike, 7 speeds. The bike and system both are designed for the convenience of one individual who needs a bike for something. Not really casual recreation friendly.

I don't get it. Why not put at least one station where people actually go for transit? Near a highly utilized bus stop for example; if it's a convenient place for people to take a bus, it would be equally good for people to take a bike. At least then you'd be testing whether people will use the Zagster bike share for actual transit.

Spoonrobot 

There are some of these in Smyrna and they seem a little more well thought out. I mean you could conceivably rent a bike and then ride a wide sidewalk along extremely heavy use streets with dozens of driveways and blind spots to go to the mall (have to cross a high speed 4 lane roadway twice), library and even down to the Chattahoochee recreation area or the Silver Comet. I'm not convinced they get a lot of use or that the density in this area really supports this set-up. I suppose in the future a single person could rent a bike and ride down the hill and then back up to the Braves stadium, if there's a station there as well.



Overall I think the area is too hilly for most people to ride the bikes provided. E-assist rentals are something I think would work in the Atlanta metro area as a whole as the hills are really daunting to non-cyclists looking to ride a bike.

FenderTL5

You (and I) ride a bike for transportation. Unfortunately, in many - if not most -cases those in decision making roles do not ride bikes much, if at all. They only view the bike as a recreational item.

although the bike share program in Nashville is much better than what you describe, our infrastructure still follows the recreation only mentality. I'm not being critical here but I tend to think that most of the advocacy comes from the recreational groups and clubs - so that is reflected in implementation.
( my $.02)

wphamilton

I understand the possibility, that they may have been thinking only of recreation, but shouldn't the planners trying to maximize the utilization, still try to accommodate both during their evaluation phase? But frankly Alpharetta generally does consider the transportation cyclist prominently in their planning - at least it was prominent in their long range planning documents for Greenway expansion, and when other questions of cycling infrastructure arise. So I am very skeptical that the policy makers have that view, that bikes are only recreational items.

I also read between the lines that expanding the program - if it works - will mean stations near commercial centers and/or residential areas. If you look at zagster.com, they are exclusively oriented towards transportation and utility. Connections between popular community locations that are "too far for walking and too close for driving." There isn't even any ad copy about recreational use. I just don't believe that 3 or 4 mile rec rides was the intended use case, either for the city or for Zagster.

FenderTL5

I have no disagreement with your observation/opinions. You certainly have a much closer insight than I. I was just making an anecdotal based comment from how it is here.

We have several bike share stations across the city. Most are situated near parks or a trail/Greenway head. There are a few in commerce centers and one near the main transit station downtown. I don't know of any that are intentionally located near housing/residence.
Without any data to back up the notion, I've simply presumed that locally the primary target audience is tourists not locals.

I'm familiar with Alpharetta, Lived in Gwinnett Co. for 17 years, the last few in Sugar Hill. My wife worked off Windward Parkway in the 80s (DCA). My office was in nearby Cumming. That said, I haven't been in that area in about 15 years. I'd likely not recognize the place.

ramzilla

My $.02 : You have to either be pretty aggressive or an absolute lunatic to ride a bike anywhere in Atlanta traffic. Atlanta commuters are way below average in driving skills. Check out the statistics on pedestrian & cyclist deaths here. OMG! I love the PATH system, Stone Mountain, & all the other cycling opportunities here but, I try to stay off the roads as much as possible. The minute they start putting bikes out near Atlanta area streets it's gonna git ugly!

bikecrate

Well you got to start somewhere. In Tampa they started a bike share program. I don't know all the details, but it sounds like a similar type of bike the OP describes. Surprisingly, I see them used quite a bit. However, at least in my observations, they are only around the downtown area on the new Riverwalk or Bayshore. I don't think I've seen any out on the open road. If I took a guess they are used by tourist or locals out for a little cycling adventure, but not for commuting or as a vehicular alternative. I could be wrong though.

Scraper

"Free"? The fundamental problem is the government getting involved at all, and forcing people to pay for these "free" bikes.

wphamilton

I see that you haven't many posts here so you probably didn't realize, there is a Politics and Religion sub-forum for expressing political opinions. You have to ask for access I think - I don't have access myself, which is probably why my first reaction was "that's just silly". It's probably normal fare there; ask a Mod to set you up.

TimothyH

Kennesaw here.

The bike stations have been set up along the Noonday Creek Trail here in Kennesaw. There is maybe four miles of decent riding along the creek before one has to cross busy streets in the vicinity of Town Center Mall yet the racks are nearly empty on any given Saturday or Sunday afternoon.

Don't discount people's relative lack of physical fitness. Lets face it, most people will drive to the store even though it is so close that their car won't even warm up. Suburban Atlanta isn't set up for anyone to ride to the bank/store/post office/church anyway so people running errands and transit really can't be the target audience.

I did want to try it, just out of curiosity but my daughter was with me and we needed two separate accounts. I agree that this is a design flaw. Yet the racks are nearly empty on weekends.

For many people, five miles on a Zagster is an accomplishment and you will be surprised at how many people actually see it as a destination and drive there to use it. Apartment dwellers are a prime market. Give it time is my advice.

TimothyH

I ride downtown often. If you have not done so then you should. Riding intown is actually wonderful and on Saturday or Sunday morning there is almost zero traffic and lots of bikes out.

Atlanta has done a lot to increase bicycle usage. Lots of bike lanes and such. Cobb or Gwinett might be another story but downtown, Georgia Tech to Piedmont to Little Five Points, Cabbagetown, MLK historic area and the skywheel/aquarium are all great areas.

wphamilton

Good points and Kennesaw was one of their models I think in deciding to give it a try. It may be no more ambitious than that, but if so the city is missing the opportunity. I can imagine myself standing at the bus stop, waiting to get started on my three or four or five mile trip, in front of six of these lined up in the business parking lot. Maybe I see someone walk up, enter his code and ride off down the street while I'm waiting there. It wouldn't take too many times before I tried it.

My own area is actually pretty good for utility biking - at least everything is an accessible distance. Groceries are 2.5-4 miles away, a little far maybe but I'm coincidentally midpoint between all of them. I see people on bikes. I think it would work.

SloButWide 

Quote:

I don't get it. Why not put at least one station where people actually go for transit?

Because, clearly they don't intend the service to be used for transit. That is curious. Perhaps they perceive it as a "quality of life" thing, and not a transportation mode. Even "it's cheap, let's wing it and see what happens" is better than doing nothing. My suburb has an extensive set of trails, but they were designed (planned) as recreational more than transport. They're pretty extensive North-South, with few East-West, and lots of tie-ins into neighborhoods and parks. By luck, they're great for my commute, but would be almost worthless if I worked outside of this suburb.

Columbus' bike share, COGO is designed around your concept. The stations are stretched along the main downtown thoroughfare and the hipster bar district south of town. I'm expecting it to extend onto OSU's campus (population 50,000+ students) soon.

tjkoko

...been familiar with those areas, Alpharetta and Smyrna, since the mid-90s and they just ain't setup for bicycling unlike Amsterdam and Paris. Totally different and way more hills in Georgia.

Seattle Forrest

Seattle has a bike share system called Pronto, which was also designed to fail, but for mostly different reasons. But there's some overlap. Like yours, ours can only be used for one bike at a time, which isn't especially family friendly. (We have other rental options in the city though, which would be better choices for this sort of thing.) A rental is good for 24 hours, but only 30 minutes at a time. The idea is you ride the bike from a station near you to a station near where you're going (grocery store, for example), do what you need, and ride the bike to your next destination. Sadly we don't have enough stations, they're cluttered heavily in a few parts of the city, occasionally the stations are full so people trying to return their bikes can't and this can result in extra charges (even during the 24 hour period you paid for). And the bikes are seriously lousy, the brakes are barely up to the city's hills.

mrchaotica

I bike commute from East Atlanta Village to Midtown, and have to say that most of the traffic (at least ITP) is starting to get used to having bikes around now. Obviously I prefer the Beltline and/or roads with cycle tracks, but Peachtree Street, Decatur Street (in Downtown before the reversible lane starts), etc. aren't bad.

IMO, the first successful metro-Atlanta bike share program will be in Midtown or along the Eastside [Beltline] Trail.

Sangetsu

Unfortunately, these bike-share programs are often money losing operations designed to make cities look cycling friendly, while diverting taxpayer money to the typical political cronies.

If cities wanted more people to ride, the police departments could simply clean up and give away the countless bikes which clog up their impound lots each year. When I was a police officer, the department would sell off these bikes twice a year, most of them ended up as scrap metal. And there were some nice bikes mixed up among these, I once got a beautiful lugged steel Paramount. But the buying system was so crazy that even working for the police department, I couldn't buy the bike directly, I had to wait for the scrap metal dealer to pay for it, and then buy it from him.

These programs remind me of the bike share program in Paris, in which half of the bikes have been stolen, and countless others vandalized. The company which operates the program is trying to get out of it, as they are losing money in the deal.

There are better and less expensive ways to get people on bikes.

canklecat

Fort Worth's bike sharing, and overall bicycling vibe, seems to be promoted successfully by a convergence of factors:

• * Bike rental stations at many public transportation stations around downtown and toward the popular cultural and touristy outskirts -- the museum district, Stockyards, Trinity Trails and popular parks, etc.
• * A geographically flat downtown (the outskirts are progressively hilly, although never mountainous).
• * A reasonably well planned downtown revitalization that's been going on gradually for 20 years. It attracts visitors and locals to rent bikes from the local bike share plan.
• * A current mayor who's a cycling enthusiast herself (Betsy Price), and participates in many cycling events year 'round.
• * Retirees who are active cyclists and promoters of cycling.
• * Younger adults riding their own cruisers and hipster bikes in the revitalized neighborhoods near downtown.
• * Active groups of mostly middle aged cycling enthusiasts leading and participating in weekly and more frequent group rides around the downtown and nearby areas in the evenings and at night.
• * A decent combination of bike lanes and sharrows, particularly in Fort Worth and adjacent Benbrook just to the SW of Fort Worth.
• * Fairly effective social media updates (could always be better, but it's not bad).
• * Signs to remind motor vehicle drivers to share the roads with cyclists. I've seen these as far west as Willow Park, a semi-rural area 20 miles west of downtown. Fort Worth is putting up even more bicycling signs.
• * Lots of supportive bike shops at all levels of the economy (although, alas, it appears Benbrook Bicycles is closing shop this week -- it's one of the more affordable shops that carried good used bikes).
• * Not least (or last, I've just run out of ideas), our local bicycle mounted law enforcement and private security folks. They help set a good model. And they accompany some group rides. When drivers see uniformed cyclists, it conveys an important message.

This stuff doesn't happen successfully without a concerted effort -- or at least a coincidental effort -- by many factions. In Fort Worth a lot of credit goes to the self-directed groups who sponsor public rides several times a month.

Rollfast

I have three bikes. Just go buy a bike.

ramzilla

[QUOTE=TimothyH;18796067]I ride downtown often. If you have not done so then you should. Riding intown is actually wonderful and on Saturday or Sunday morning there is almost zero traffic and lots of bikes out.



I've got a spectacular three park ride I often do inside Atlanta City limits. I start on Highland and ride down Cumberland & around Piedmont Park. Then hit the beltline & PATH & ride around Candler Park. Then, back on the path across Boulevard & past MLK Center on Jackson St., cross I-20 on Cherokee and, go around Grant Park. It's a little over 20 miles. It's about 2/3 trail & 1/3 street. So, don't worry too much about getting mowed down. I've been riding in Atlanta streets since the 1960's. Grew up in Candler Park. I remember riding out to the Chattahoochee River back when it was all pastures & orchards out there. Now a days you would have to be literally out your mind to try and ride out to the river. I get some of my best deals on Vintage bikes from people out there. Basically, because you really can't ride a bike anywhere in the angry driver Atlanta suburbs. Be good & have fun.

mrchaotica

At this point, we're actually tantalizingly close to having a reasonable connection from Midtown across to the Chattahoochee, or even to the Silver Comet Trail. Consider this route -- other than the high-traffic bit along Howell Mill, it's not bad at all. Once they put some bike facilities on South Atlanta Road between the river and Cumberland Parkway it'll be great! (Actually, even that isn't necessarily a problem, because I just realized that this could be a long and hilly but halfway-reasonable detour.)

ramzilla

Dude, my best wishes. May you be safe on your bicycle journey. Let's pray for a slower safer Atlanta. A town too busy to hate. Peace out.

Spoonrobot 

I would not recommend this route. I ride in this area frequently and the only times I would recommend riding the section of Paces Ferry from the intersection with Woodland Brooke to the Silver Comet connector at Spring Hill is during the very early morning and very late evening. This section is narrow, no shoulder and extremely high traffic as there are commuters, school traffic and general traffic heading over the river and 285. During rush hours there will be a solid line of cars heading west all the way east down to Cobb Parkway. The roads are so narrow before the railroad tracks a bicycle rider cannot fit between the car and curb.


There are two alternates below. The first includes 2 fairly steep hills on Cochise and Stillhouse but it avoids pretty much all the highstress roadways and puts you right onto the Silver Comet connector on Cumberland Boulevard/Akers Mill intersection. The second takes advantage of the new trail on Cobb Parkway and gives you a slightly less steep hill to connect.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/14005343

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/14005343

This area is very hard to move around in by bicycle, the hills are very steep and the automobile traffic is often under time-pressure and very aggressive.

TimothyH

[QUOTE=ramzilla;18798966]Cool.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/10201402

buck1973

Ohio State has its own bike share which is separate from COGO and is a better deal for students ($35 annually). Students can ride 1 hour at a time weekdays and 3 hours on weekends ($3 each additional hour). COGO is limited to 30 minute trips ($3 each additional 30 minutes). The OSU bike share bikes use U-locks to lock to the stations, so students can lock up in other locations if they wish.