The bikesharing thread

[Cirrus]

^
SF BABS bikes are 7-speed instead of 3-speed.


photo by @theoverheadwire on twitter

[fflint]

Former forumer DubbaG rides BABS up/downhill every school day--it's his "first mile/last mile" solution for quickly getting between home and the train station on Market Street.

[Eightball]

Even though this article is negative, doesn't sound like a terrible start for BABS (especially given the small roll out) in comparison to DC/NYC. Article is also unclear how much the daily usage has been improving by the day.

http://sf.streetsblog.org/2013/09/12...ge-data-shows/

[sentinel]

Here's a link to some of the latest, national statistics apparently through August 2013 (apologies if it's been posted before):

http://www.earth-policy.org/data_hig...3/highlights40

Some highlights lifted from the link:

"The largest bike share in the United States is in New York City, where some 6,000 bicycles are available at 332 stations in Manhattan and Brooklyn. The program opened at the end of May 2013, and in less than 3 months hit 2 million trips. On busy days, each bike gets checked out seven times or more, a remarkably high borrowing rate. The city ultimately hopes to expand the program to other boroughs and grow to 10,000 bikes.

The other large bike-sharing debut in 2013 was in Chicago, where 1,500 Divvy bikes now grace the streets. The program hopes to double to 3,000 cycles by the end of the year, ultimately growing to 4,000 strong—reinforcing the city’s efforts to dramatically boost biking. In addition to making shared bikes readily accessible transit, Chicago plans to extend the path and trail network to within a half-mile of all residences..."

[Nouvellecosse]

SF certainly is ambitious, isn't it?

[fflint]

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

SF certainly is ambitious, isn't it?

Well, the idea is to extend bike share throughout the region--not just the city. There are already about 350 BABS bikes available outside SF proper, in cities like Palo Alto and San Jose.

[Nexis4Jersey]

wrong thread

[Eightball]

Nice update Sentinel, very interesting. I didn't know St. Pete and Tampa were planning on rolling out 300 bike each systems soon. That is good news and a decent initial size system. Hopefully they are successful!

[Eightball]

Originally Posted by fflint

Well, the idea is to extend bike share throughout the region--not just the city. There are already about 350 BABS bikes available outside SF proper, in cities like Palo Alto and San Jose.

Many of the Peninsula cities were bike havens prior to the bikeshare rollout. I think Palo Alto is a gold rated cycling city, correct?

When are they expanding to the East Bay?

[202_Cyclist]

Originally Posted by Eightball

Many of the Peninsula cities were bike havens prior to the bikeshare rollout.

They certainly are! I lived in San Jose for a half year and the Peninsula has some of the best cycling in the US. It has an extremely active and competitive road bike community.

[fflint]

Originally Posted by Eightball

Many of the Peninsula cities were bike havens prior to the bikeshare rollout. I think Palo Alto is a gold rated cycling city, correct?

The League of American Bicyclists has ranked four of the five communities with current BABS service: Palo Alto and San Francisco are rated gold; Mountain View is rated silver; San Jose is rated bronze. Redwood City hasn't yet been rated.

When are they expanding to the East Bay?

I am unaware of any plans to expand BABS to the East Bay, although that would clearly make sense considering it also has a huge bike community.

[Cirrus]

Should I change this thread title to become more generic? Like "The Bikesharing Thread"? It seems like people are using it more for that purpose.

There's also a 2012 version floating around somewhere. I've been making a thread like this every year since Capital Bikeshare launched.

[Cirrus]

Speaking of Capital Bikeshare, it expanded to Montgomery County, Maryland today. It's now in DC, Arlington, Alexandria, and Montgomery County.

Originally Posted by CBS-DC

[url=http://washington.cbslocal.com/2013/09/27/capital-bikeshare-cruises-into-montgomery-county/]

Capital Bikeshare, the bike-sharing system that started in the District three years ago, opens in Montgomery County on Friday.

There will be about 50 bike stations that will service the Bethesda, Friendship Heights, Silver Spring, Takoma Park, Rockville, Shady Grove and Life Sciences Center areas, with more than 400 cycles available for rent.

Only 14 stations opened today. More in the coming weeks.


source: WABA on flickr

[Eightball]

Photo: NYT
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/12/ny...it_ur_20131012
In a conspicuous sign that frustration is giving way to acceptance, the public bikes have been welcomed into that most intimate corner of civic life, the wedding.

At times, they have assumed the role of post-ceremony, honeymoon-bound transportation, missing only a “Just Married” placard on the back wheel. Photographers have compiled small portfolios of two-wheeled work, as the bikes have begun to appear, Waldo-like, in the albums of couples in reception regalia. And for those who have crossed the Atlantic to be married in New York City, accompanying snapshots of the bikes have become a must, joining Grand Central Terminal and the Brooklyn Bridge as oft-used backdrops.

They are something borrowed, for $9.95 a day plus tax, and something blue.

[Matthew]

Free Bikesharing in Winston-Salem:

I just discovered that Winston-Salem has free bike sharing.

After being told about two years ago that Winston-Salem would gain a B-cycle bike sharing system when the rails-to-trails project was complete, a group of local business people decided they didn't want to wait on it and created their own bike sharing.

The bikes are grouped in several locations around downtown and WEV/Ballpark areas. You call the number on the bike and receive the code that unlocks it. Ride as long as you want and return it to one of the bikeshare locations when you finish. It's free to use and didn't cost taxpayers anything! They are rolling advertisements for those who paid for them. They also have a tag to use for sharing photographs of them in use.


Free Bikesharing in Winston-Salem!

You can see the phone number on the bike, used to unlock it. According to those behind Winston-Salem's free bikeshare, they are most commonly used for short trips between apartments/condos and a store or from an office to a restaurant for lunch or to travel between sites on business. Proof that IQ District leaders and city leaders could bring B-cycle to the city without having to wait on a bike commuter system's construction.



All photographs from LT Bikeshare.

[Chef]

An article about Nice Ride Minnesota in today's Star Tribune:

Nice Ride Minnesota: Ambitious plans set for 2014 season
Article by: TIM HARLOW , Star Tribune
Updated: October 28, 2013 - 10:18 AM

Nice Ride Minnesota got off to an extremely slow start this spring due to the late-arriving warm weather, but 2013 turned out to be a banner year for the bike-sharing program thanks to the warm and dry summer and fall.

Daily membership (those who took out 24-hour subscriptions) grew by more than 13,500, and collectively users took more than 305,000 rides on those shiny green bikes, an 11 percent increase from last year. The service greatly expanded its presence by adding 228 bikes and opening 24 new stations in several Minneapolis parks and along the Mississippi River and on the Lake Street and Hiawatha corridors. It relocated its call center from Canada to Minneapolis to better connect with its users. In late August, it launched its new “Hidden Wonders in Minneapolis Parks,” a website featuring a wealth of lesser-known information and scenic spots in Minneapolis parks.

And on Aug. 3, the bike-share program recorded a single-day record when riders took 3,451 trips.

But Nice Ride, which shuts down for the season on Sunday, won’t be resting on its laurels, says spokesman Anthony Ongaro. It has some ambitious plans in the works. “We’re looking forward to 2014.”

For starters, Nice Ride plans to strengthen its urban core by adding more bikes and stations in Minneapolis and St. Paul. Even with 170 places to check out and return bikes, there are gaps in the system, Ongaro said

http://www.startribune.com/local/229475001.html

[CCs77]

Chicago Bike-Sharing System to be Biggest in U.S.

Source: http://www.nbcchicago.com/blogs/ward...#ixzz2jyNissOk

The city of Chicago says its bicycle-sharing program is poised to become the biggest in North America next year thanks to a $3 million federal grant that will allow it to expand.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced the funding Wednesday and said it would allow the city to install 75 more sidewalk docking stations full of the bright blue bikes. It already had plans for 100 new stations next year.

With the extra funding, the system known as Divvy will grow to 475 stations next year. By number of stations, that would put Chicago's system at the top of the rankings in the United States and Canada.

The expansion will also spread the bike share system to the borders of Chicago and into Oak Park and Evanston.

Since Chicago's system opened four months ago, it has logged 650,000 trips. Some 11,000 people have signed up for annual memberships.

Source: http://www.nbcchicago.com/blogs/ward...#ixzz2jyNzjRly

[CCs77]

In SF, Bay Area Bike Share’s Bikes Get Almost Three Trips Per Day

http://sf.streetsblog.org/2013/11/06...trips-per-day/

Following an underwhelming start, Bay Area Bike Share now sees an average of at least 2.5 trips per bike per day within San Francisco, according to the SFMTA. Since September 10, the average rate in SF has held mostly steady at about 2.7, and goes as high as 3.7.

For the entire five-city system, the average is about 1.9 trips per bike per day, up from the rate of 0.92 during the first 12 days after the August 29 launch. At two months in, Bay Area Bike Share’s usage exceeds that of DC’s Capital Bikeshare at the same point in time, according to SFMTA Bike-Share Program Manager Heath Maddox, who told supervisors Monday that the usage rate is “gratifying to see.”

In this graph it is interesting how the daily usage has it lowest on weekends but the casual users has it peak on weekends. Obviuosly in weeks days it is more used by commuters while in weekends it is more used by casual riders for leisure and/or tryout.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

[CCs77]

No Riders Killed in First 5 Months of New York City Bike-Share Program
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/05/ny...gram.html?_r=0

To many, the ingredients for New York City’s bike-share program suggested a sort of sadistic alchemy.

Start with notoriously unforgiving traffic. Add thousands of bicycles along the city’s most congested corridors. And see how perhaps the world’s least understanding drivers would cope with the new additions.

And one more thing: Many of the cyclists would be helmetless novices — or worse, tourists — careening into and out of lanes with the whimsy of a youngster pedaling through a suburb.

As of Monday, though, after more than five months and five million trips, none of the program’s riders have been killed on the bikes. About two dozen injuries, most of them minor, have been reported.

Last year, according to the city’s Transportation Department, 18 cyclists were killed in car crashes from January through October, compared with 10 so far this year, though citywide, cyclist injuries have remained consistent. There was one cyclist death this year in the neighborhoods served by the bike-share program, in parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn, though the cyclist was not riding a Citi Bike. Over the same period last year, there were two bike deaths in these areas.

[Cirrus]

I changed the title of the thread. After a while I'll remove the parenthesis.