Machka 

Machka 

Looks like New York City's CitiBike program is going well ...

CitiBike Smashes Bike Share Records in 2015 | Bicycling

denis123

Yes, Montreal was the first city in North America to have a large scale bike share program called BIXI. It started in 2009 and now has 460 stations and 5120 bikes. It is very popular. There is more than 30000 regular members and 3 millions rides a year. It had financial difficulties and the company that started it went bankrupt but the system is now profitable under a new administration. There was also a lot of vandalism in the first few years and I found it very disappointing. I once took a bike in which someone put a large needle in the handle so I hurted my hand on it. Fortunately, this has completely stopped now.
The program started a few months after I sold my car and it was a very good timing. I had not biked for more than 30 years except on a few occasions during my vacations before I became a member of BIXI. The last time I rode a bike in Montreal before, a car passed very close to me at about 50mph and I was scared to death. So when I sold my car, I didn't think about using a bicycle but the new program changed that. So, I started very slowly first riding through the park and in empty streets. I slowly gained confidence and used it more and more up to the point that I used it for all my local trips. There are several stations within a 1000 ft and the system covers most places I have to go to. It is much less scary to ride a bicycle now. There is a lot of bicycles in the street and drivers are much more careful.

Here are my statistics:

Number of trips
2255
Average usage time per trip
12 minutes 46 seconds
Distance traveled (estimated)
5,762.7 km
Distance average per trip (estimated)
2.6 km
Gas saved (estimated)
562.4 L

cooker

We have had a few attempts at bike share or even free bikes for public use over the years. We got BIXI a few years ago but it didn't make a profit and eventually the city took it over. I assume they see it as a tourist draw even if it is not profitable in it's own right. There is a big stand outside my office and I do see bikes coming and going. There is no provision for helmets. Technically the laws call for helmets but the Provincial Government and Toronto Police have publically announced they are not enforcing that for adults.

As an aside, one time I saw the current Premier of Ontario (who was then, ironically, Minister of Transport for the province, and thus perhaps responsible for the non-enforced helmet law) out biking with her wife or girlfriend and neither was wearing a helmet. I thought momentarily about getting a video and posting it on Youtube, but it's not really my style to publicly embarrass or harass people.

denis123

Same thing for me. Bike sharing failed everywhere a mendatory helmet law was enforced.

Ekdog

Yes, I'm convinced that certain anti-car forces actually put through these mandatory helmet laws in an effort to reduce the number of transportation cyclists.

I-Like-To-Bike

Reducing the number of transportation cyclists is a goal of certain anti-car forces? Why? Whom might those forces include?

Doesn't make any sense to me.

Ekdog

Machka 

It might be interesting to find out what New York is doing differently from some of the other places where bike share programs aren't doing so well.

I-Like-To-Bike

Having the financial support of a giant bank absorbing much of the costs of establishing and running the operation might be a big factor. If CitiBank loses interest in this program and no other organization, private or public takes its place as a financial sponsor, the NYC Bikes Share Program may face a reckoning.

1nterceptor

I think it's a combination of things. Bike lanes expanding, increasing number of docking stations, price not too bad + most NYC
apartments are really tiny(500 sq. ft. versus the average US home at 2,500 sq. ft.). If I didn't have a folding bike; I might sign up.
I used it once; the Scandinavian Tourism board paid for anybody use it for a day. I thought the bikes were okay:

Citibike New York City by 1nterceptor, on Flickr

denis123

It is doing well because it is a big city with very high population density and because they have put a large number of stations and bikes. It is then very convenient because you can always find a station within short distance. It is also working well in other dense cities like Paris, London, Mexico and in many cities in China.

Mobile 155

This was one of the closest ones to us along with Fullerton. I ride in these areas a lot but I tend to prefer my own bike.
Company pulls the plug on its bicycle-sharing program in Anaheim - The Orange County Register
they didn't give right away and tried again.
But alas same result.

Orange County Transportation Authority

now there is is talk about one in LA but they are not sure if it will mix with ones in local adjoining cities like Santa Monica and Long Beach.
Southern California bike sharing programs may not work together | 89.3 KPCC

For now I am thinking about adding a SS/FG to my stable so I don't have to worry about renting when I visit my old stomping grounds.

jon c. 

The university here went through the same exercise some years back with similar results. Although I've recently seen a bike in our rack that appears to be a remnant of that program.

flattie

New York City has a bikeshare program that is used quite heavily. It launched in May of 2013. There is a running thread in a regional forum you can read through if you like https://www.bikeforums.net/northeast/...e-started.html

Citibike (name of the bikeshare) is privately funded with Citibank as one of the main sponsors (hence the name).

You can get usage stats here if you are so inclined - System Data

Aside from snow, ice, really cold or pouring rain, Citibike is my preferred means of travel for part of my commute. I ride a commuter rail and in lieu of a subway to complete the final 3.5 to 4 miles of my commute I use the bike share. I pay $150 USD for an annual membership. It is well worth the money.

Initially when it launched the software was bit buggy and docking/undocking bikes could be troublesome. Likewise in the beginning the rebalancing process (moving bikes from full bike stations to empty ones) meant rider frustration in terms of not being able to get a bike or return one. The rebalancing efforts have been vastly improved from my perspective.

I have around 650 trips which Citibike estimates as covering @ 1550 miles based on a usage time of 208 hours. My average trip lasts between 17 minutes and 24 minutes.

noglider 

The Citi Bike in NYC program is growing. It has not been able to keep up with demand. Docking stations are often one to three blocks apart, and some have 60 bikes each. (20 blocks equals one mile.) Often, when you reach a station to get a bike, it is empty. Then you walk to the next and get a bike, ride to your destination, and the docking station is full and you have to find another one with an empty slot. The managing company uses trucks and bikes towing trailers to balance the bikes throughout the day. Most of the problems the system has are results of unexpected success.

In the program's most recent expansion, usage went to capacity almost immediately. In other words, people who didn't have it before started using it in numbers that would make you think they had had it for a long time.

[h=1]Citi Bike Logged 10 Million Rides In 2015[/h]

wilfried

Citibank has committed an additional $70.5 million through 2024, in addition to its original $41 million, so funding is reasonably secure.

I-Like-To-Bike

Interesting. Citibank must feel that the goodwill, brand recognition/advertising of their name is worth the expense. Does Citibank receive any cash revenue from this enterprise?

wilfried

Nope. They bought advertising and branding rights.

tandempower

Why don't they just offer rides at a discount or free to people willing to check out a bike at a full station and ride it to an empty one?

noglider 

It's a good idea but it may not be possible to implement in NYC. The stations go from full to empty throughout the day. The incentivized routes would change rapidly, and how do you find out about them? It's not like Paris where the uphill stations have empty docks and the downhill stations are full of bikes. There you can ride for free if you go from downhill to the uphill station. I think I read that even that hasn't been sufficient. Not many people are willing to ride up the hill. It's really big and steep. So far, the service area for Citibike in NYC is in the flattish parts of the city. It will be interesting to see what happens when it reaches the hilly parts. Some people don't know it, but we definitely have some real hills.

I'm spending a few days in Florida, and I see Citi Bike in Miami. The models are not the same, and neither is the operating company.

wilfried

The problem isn't the the occasional station that's empty or full, but mass flows at commuting times, so whole neighborhoods are left either bikeless or dockblocked. I am where I am, and I gotta go where I gotta go. If I'm somewhere bereft of bikes, or have to go somewhere with too many bikes, there's not much I can do. If a dock is empty, I'll go a few blocks to find a bike, if I can, but I can't magically transport myself to a bike-heavy area and ride back (and heck, I'd already be in the place I was trying to get to in the first place). I don't see how incentives can change people's riding patterns very much. Balancing bikes will be a perpetual issue, as they're systemic to how the system works.

Public transportation systems have the same problem. They have to run enough trains for peak flows in one direction, even though it means those trains will be almosts empty for the return trip. Peak fares are more expensive, but that doesn't change the fact that people need to get where they're going.

This is actually the time of year when I find bike share most useful. With lower ridership, balance issues are less extreme, and I'm more likely to want to ride someone else's bike, due to crappy weather.

tandempower

They should advertise free/discounted pickup stations and drop-off locations. Some people will take them up on their incentive, e.g. tourists, students, etc.

Incentivize it as a competitive training game. Offer prizes to people who achieve goals like most bikes moved uphill per week or shortest average trip time between two docking points. Athletes may enjoy incorporating the challenge into their fitness routines.

See above. You just have to find target groups who would benefit from and/or enjoy riding the bikes back to empty docking stations. Tourists and students are good candidates, especially if the bike ride is free/discounted and, for tourists, it might help to include audio-tours along the free/discounted route.

Back in the 90s, there was a fair amount of management literature about tailoring work schedules to fit societal needs. I think there was a backlash to that in the form of business people arguing that they need to schedule and organize their workplaces to meet their goals, not societal goals. Ultimately, I think there could be more flexibility in discussing modifications to work-schedules that would improve societal patterns outside the workplace. People have a terrible defensive reflex that obstructs open discussion geared toward making things better.

I-Like-To-Bike

As if students and tourists have nothing better to do with their time in NYC than wander about aimlessly! For Free!

Perhaps targeting this scheme to wandering troubadours and vagabonds might find a few takers with nothing better to do and who might even be able to pawn the free audio-tour equipment if not the bicycles.

noglider 

@tandempower, I'm all for all kinds of incentives to correct the tendencies of collective behavior, but I just don't think there's capacity. NYC traffic is extremely dense and rather disorderly. Most people are moving in traffic on the conveyances of their choice because they have somewhere to be, and they want to be there as quickly as possible. I don't see an untapped market of people willing to ride bikes for the greater good, nor is there much recreational riding in these streets on work days. We have vast areas of business and industrial areas. Sure, some people live in those areas, too, but most of us are pretty busy no matter where we work or live. If I want to take a fun weekend kind of ride along the river or something, I'm not going to hop on Citi Bike. Well, I have, quickly, but not many times, and I'm sure I'm an exception, not part of a trend.