The Bike-sharing World: First Week of April 2012

Europe:
   
     Slovakia

The City of Bratislava is looking for bids for bike-share. A tender offer is asking for submissions by April 27, 2012. The Bratislava Automated Bike System offer calls for at least an 11-station system as a start. What, you don't read Slovak? Here is an English synopsis and article about the tender. More and more cities in Eastern Europe are realizing the benefits of bike-sharing. A quick look at the Bike-sharing World Map sees the growth of new systems there.


    Poland


OsedomRad is one of the first bike-share systems that offers pick-up and drop-off stations in two counties! This 500-bike, 60-station system operated by neXtbike is based in and around the recreational areas of the Isle of Osedom in northeast Germany, close to the Poland border. A bike checked out from a station in Ahlbeck, Germany can be returned in Świnoujście, Poland and visa-versa! This is just another example of cooperation in the bike-share world that brings us a step closer to inter-operability.


Warsaw Public Bicycle which is scheduled to begin in June 2012 is operating in the Bemowo District of the city. Ten stations are reporting activity on a system map. According to a report in Eltis, it is the first District of many to have a program in the 
Polish capital.





This month NeXtbike Poland is to complement its 140-bike, 17-station Wroclaw City Bike program with a similar system in Pozan. It will open with 80 bikes in 7 stations on April 15th. We will watch as the Warsaw program expands this summer.


    The Netherlands


CallLock in Middelburg, near Belgium and the North Sea, began as a free pilot in November 2010. The system has 40 bikes in 6 stations. This year the system is to become a full fledged subscription payment operation.

                                               

India’s Bike-sharing Tipping Point

Guest post by Bradley Schroeder

Bike-sharing in India is on the verge of exploding in terms of the number of cities looking towards implementation. Both for-profit and governmental bodies are reviewing models that could work. I was privileged to be invited to India in November 2011 by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy to work on bike-sharing –- both at the national level, as part of a team creating a policy document for national funding, as well as at the municipal level with various cities. What I experienced was reminiscent of the China I experienced when working there in 2008.

The concerns for safety and the image of cycling being only for the poor are probably the largest concerns for India right now. Similar concerns have been echoed globally by sceptics, but it’s important for India to go down the same path as other societies have, and to build a model that will work in the Indian context.

While various attempts at bike-sharing have been made, most lack the basic concept and confuse it with bicycle rental. Also lacking is the technology that makes 3^rd generation (high tech) systems a success and the coverage area to account for anything more than a small pilot project. But the lack of existing systems did not deter the Urban Mobility India Conference in Delhi from holding a session on bike-sharing which was well attended with quite vocally opinionated stances on whether bike-sharing is needed and how it would succeed in India.

But the wheels are turning. Cycle Chalao has won a tender in the City of Pune to put a pretty decent-sized system in place. While the contract lacks two key components of successful bike-sharing systems globally, stipulation of full automation and payment according to service levels, it does allow leeway for a robust system to be installed and showcase bike-sharing’s potential in a large Indian city.

South of Pune, Kerberon Automations has set up shop in Bangalore with a few stations in what looks like the beginnings of a well-designed 3^rd generation system using an advertising-based business model.

India is at the tipping point. If bike-sharing is planned and implemented well in the first few cities who truly adopt it on a grand scale, there is little reason why it would not take off. Indian cycling is historically a poor man’s way to travel, but a new emerging higher-class recreational cycling effort happening presently in many cities can give cycling the image facelift it needs to become an acceptable way to travel for all.

It is up to local governments to educate themselves on best practices of bike-sharing globally and to apply them to the Indian context. Through our discussions with local manufacturers, we found there was interest and ability to design and supply the ideal bicycles, stations, terminals, docks, and technology needed to make bike-sharing a success. Putting the package together in India seems very plausible.

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What's going on with bike-sharing in your part of the world? Be a guest blogger on The Bike-sharing Blog. Contact us with more info.

image credit: Chris Kost, ITDP India

NACTO Exacto

The National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) organized a Bike-share Workshop with other partners which occurred March 22-23, which was the first of its kind in the U.S. with this focus. For two days participants from municipalities with existing services and those which are in the planning stages, came together to:

• Hear the experiences from leading bike-sharing programs around the country.
• Learn about bike-sharing emerging best practices.
• Help identify how bike-sharing can better integrate and coordinate with local transit operators.
• Better understand which business model is right for their jurisdiction and what are the key factors to consider before implementation.
• Identify the political, social, and community factors to be considered for bike-sharing to succeed.
• Share concerns about the capital and funding requirements, operational challenges, and data management needs for bike-sharing.

The event, although not widely publicized, drew 90 bike-sharing professionals from around the country, many of whom were in town for the National Bike Summit as well. Personally, I found the event to be quite good as it was an opportunity for folks from around the country to finally get together at one location and share their array of experiences in this nascent field. I met folks from other existing bike-sharing services, such as Denver and Minneapolis, and those who are months or a year away from realizing their own service. With transit operations being a fast-paced world, taking a breath to stop and learn from others about their best practices is always nice. In addition, the new B-cycle station was there and had bikes with built-in rear panniers. Very cool.

Russell and I at The Bike-sharing Blog look forward to working with NACTO to make more materials available to bike-sharing professionals around the U.S. and the world, to further sharing of documents, experiences, and learning for all to benefit. NACTO's future bike-share site is not yet live, but should be a good resource.

Additional coordinating partners included the Federal Transit Administration, Federal Highway Administration, American Public Transportation Association, League of American Bicyclists, National Center for Transit Research, and National Bus Rapid Transit Institute.

DECOBIKE in Great Shape Its First Year

With Decobike, life is a beach

March 15th marked the first anniversary of DECOBIKE. Everyday each DECOBIKE is used on average 5 to 6 times by residents, tourists, and the Beautiful People who flock to Miami Beach, Florida. DECOBIKE is the first privately funded city-wide bike-sharing system in North America. It has completed its first year by logging close to 720,000 rides, with 100,000 in the last 30 days.

Starting with 550 bikes, there are now 800 bikes in the system. Soon there will 1,000 bikes rolling through the Miami Beach streets and next to the ocean. In its first year, 4% of the City's residents have subscribed to the long-term membership option. The program is celebrating its anniversary financially in the black.


Next week, DECOBIKE expands into the neighboring community of Surfside just north of Miami Beach. Even further north in May, a new DECOBIKE system with 400 bikes debuts in Long Beach, New York, just outside New York City.


As with all bike-sharing systems, DECOBIKE proves that all bike-share users are Beautiful People.


image: DecoBike


Russell Meddin    bikesharephiladelphia.org

Alta lands Chicagoland Bike Share

 

Alta Bicycle Share reaches new heights today with its selection as the vendor for the Chicago bike-sharing 3,000 bike - 300 station system planned for this summer. With Chicago, Alta will garner management operations for the largest bike-sharing systems in the US: New York City and Washington, DC. Both New York and Chicago seem to be working on the same deployment schedule. It will an interesting race to see which city is first to make bike-sharing sizzle this summer! According to The Chicago Tribune & The Mayor's Press Release, the expected cost for the Chicago program is $21 million. Most of the money is coming from the US government in the form of grants with only $3 million coming from the City. The Chicago bike-share plan calls for an expansion in 2014 to 5,000 bikes in 500 stations.
images: Alta, Chicago

Russell Meddin   bikesharephiladelphia.org

Boris Bikes Ballooning

Area of most of the new Barclays Cycle Hire stations (circled in red)

Londoners woke up this morning to a newly expanded Barclays Cycle Hire.  2300 new bikes in 200 new stations mostly on the east side of the city. These new stations had been scheduled for 2012 since the launch of the system in July 2010, but it was impressive that new bikes were put out and the stations turned on over night.


In other London news, according to the Daily Beast, Queen Elisabeth was diplomatic about her thoughts on the Boris Bikes. At an event with Mayor Boris Johnson, the Queen said, "At least I didn’t have to come down here on one of your bikes, The mayor responded,"Oh gosh, don’t you like my bikes?" Then she said,"Oh yes, I think they’re lovely. In fact I notice the bike racks are often empty!"


Well at least the system is being used enough for the Queen to notice. Good work London!


image: TfL


Russell Meddin      bikesharephiladelphia.org

Hangzhou & Beijing Updates

It's official, the China Low Carbon Science and Technology Museum will acquire the now retired bike #1 of the Hangzhou Public Bicycle Transport Development Service. The bike went into service on May 1, 2008 and was used nearly 7,000 times. It is one of the original 2,800 bikes removed from service at the end of last year and replaced with newer ones. The actual serial number on the bike is the six digit #800-001, the 8 meaning 2008. The new bikes now have seven digit numbers. 

Newly installed Beijing bike-share station

Station kiosk and card touch dock

As Hangzhou retires its first bike-share bikes, Beijing is about to deploy its first municipal bike-sharing service. Beijing bike sharing system stations are spotted being installed in the Dongcheng and Chaoyang Districts of Central Beijing. Unlike the terminated private company bike-share system of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, this service will be owned by the city. They plan to have 20,000 bicycles in 1,000 stations by the end of this year and 50,000 bicycles by 2015, according to the Beijing Radio Network. The launch date has not been set.

images: Hangzhou Service, Beijing TV


Russell Meddin    bikesharephiladelphia.org

Bubi Busting Out in Budapest

From Budapesti Közlekedési Központ:


“bubi” (Budapest Bicycle) will be Hungary’s first public bike-sharing system, similar to already existing European models. It is to be operated by BKK, the Centre for Budapest Transport, the new transport authority of Budapest. An Information Day is to be held by the future system operator (BKK) in Budapest, on Wednesday, March 21, 2012. The one-day event will be structured in the form of a roundtable discussion about the most important aspects of the implementation and operation of a public bike-sharing system in Budapest. Due to the limited number of attendees, we would like to invite companies who operate or produce such bike-sharing systems.

image credit: BKK

Starck Reality of Bordeaux Bike-share

PIBAL is not 3rd Generation Bike-sharing

Contrary to what has been written in the news about the new City Streamer bicycle "PIBAL" for Bordeaux, France, it is not a replacement bike for the V³ bike-sharing system there. These bicycles, which were designed by Philippe Starck and manufactured by Peugeot at the request of the City of Bordeaux, will be used to replace the fleet of the city's long term bicycle loan system, Vélo Ville de Bordeaux (VVB). 


In addition to their bike-sharing systems, many French cities like Lille, Montpellier, and Strasbourg, have fleets of bicycles which the city loans to its inhabitants for longer periods of time. This is generally a rental period of three months to a maximum of one year. This information was confirmed by the V³ operator, Keolis and the City of Bordeaux.


PIBAL is a very interesting bicycle. It will be built with fluorescent tires, a dynamo for front and back automatic lights, internal hub brakes and shifting, heavy duty front and rear racks to carry heavy loads, and it can be pushed as a scooter or ridden as a bike. Also, these bikes will be available for sale at around €300 ($400 US). According to the bicycle loan agreement for a VVB, it is not advisable to share!

image: Décision-Achats


Russell Meddin    bikesharephiladelphia.org

Weather or Not to Bike-share

Snow-covered London's Barclays Cycle Hire

Is it ever too cold to bike-share? A rather mild North American winter and a pretty rough Central European winter is causing a lot of thought on whether or not to bike-share in winter weather.

As was posted here on December 12, 2011, many bike-sharing systems around the world went into hibernation in December. A notable exception is Canada's Toronto bIXI. It has stayed open and enjoyed the milder winter. Last month, Toronto celebrated the "Coldest Day of the Year" bike ride. It was not very cold and one can see the bike-share bikes are right up front in the photo below.

According to the Gazette, the spokesman for both the Montréal and Toronto bIXI systems, Michel Philibert, indicated that they will watch Toronto's experience, as that city embarks on its first winter with a bIXI service to determine if Montréal should stay open through winter as well. He also had respectable usage numbers for Toronto's system on the winter days that are above freezing. The most northern systems in Asia are the Tianjin Binhai New Area Public Bicycle and the pilots programs in Beijing, China which are open and operating in the winter cold. Although the most northern system in Europe, Trondheim, Norway's Bysykkel is in winter hibernation, the northern German city of Hamburg has StadtRAD rolling. Even in winter with snow or just cold, it seems there can be bike-sharing in the world's upper latitudes.

bikeMi in Milan, Italy this month

Anyone can ride in the winter 

Not only latitude, but altitude also effects the weather. At the foot of the Rocky Mountains at 5,400 ft (1,650 m) above sea level, Colorado's Boulder B-cycle has left two of its stations open for the winter. The locations near the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research will test how the stations, bikes, and users fare in the extreme temperatures. They hope the lessons learned will allow year-round service. 

As for bike-share users, here is a link on tips from ICEBIKE for the winter cyclist. Enjoy riding in the snow, if you have some!

images: Barclays Cycle Hire, The Torontoist, bikeMi on CNTV, Rider from Flickr: comedy_nose

Russell Meddin    bikesharephiladelphia.org

San Francisco Bay Area Bike-share Pilot Tender Opens

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) for a Regional Bike-sharing Program for the California cities of:
- San Francisco with 500 bikes in 50 stations, 
- Redwood City with about 100 bikes in 10 stations, 
- Mountain View with about 100 bikes in 10 stations, 
- Palo Alto with about 100 bikes in 10 stations, and 
- San Jose with about 200 bikes in 20 Stations. 


The RFP calls for this pilot program to begin operation on July 1, 2012. This will be the largest bike-sharing system on the West Coast of the United States. It will cover a larger area than the regional systems of The New Balance Hubway around Boston and Capital Bikeshare around Washington, DC with less than half the number of bikes. Each on these cities of this pilot program are along the Caltrain rail system to facilitate easy commuting.


The timetable called for in this RFP will make for a very interesting summer for bike-sharing in the USA. Within a month, Chicago, New York and now San Francisco are expecting to launch bike-share.


image: BAAQM RFP


Russell Meddin - ain't no bikesharephiladelphia(.org) for this summer! Why not Philly!

Bike-sharing World Map's 2 Millionth

The Bike-sharing World Map is the number one resource to find localities with bike-sharing. It was referenced over one million times in the last 11 months. While it took a few years to reach it's first millionth page views, it is now in constant use. We at The Bike-sharing Blog are delighted to bring you this service.

Capital Bikeshare Striving to Become Financially Self-Sufficient

For a new mode of transit and a fledgling service, Arlington’s portion of Capital Bikeshare (CaBi) finished its first year with a cost recovery rate that other transit providers in the U.S. would find admirable. The regional CaBi service launched on September 20, 2010 and Arlington’s portion achieved an 81% a 53% cost recovery – the ratio of revenues to operating costs – during its first year. Compared to other bikesharing services in the U.S., CaBi did well considering it was the only year-round service at the time. Compared to other modes of transit in the U.S., Europe, and Asia, CaBi fares well, but still has a way to go.

Bikeshare Systems                       Ratio   Year
Capital Bikeshare (Arlington)         53% 81% 2011 (operates year-round)
Capital Bikeshare (DC)                 120%*   2011 (operates year-round)
Denver Bike Sharing                      149%*   2010 (operates 7.3 months/year)
Note: Percentages for the latter two do not include management and marketing costs.

Rail Systems                                 Ratio   Year
U.S.A.
Chicago (CTA)                              53.1%  2010
New York City (NYCT)                71.7%  2010
Philadelphia (SEPTA)                    51.1%  2010
Washington, DC (WMATA)          62.1%  2010

Europe
Amsterdam                                     41.3%   2007
Berlin                                              70.3%   2010
Brussels                                          35.2%   2007

Asia
Hong Kong (MTR)                        149%   2007
Taipei (MRT)                                119%   2006

Bus Systems                                Ratio   Year
Arlington, VA (ART)                    35.5%  2011
Chicago (CTA)                             38.2%  2010
New York City (NYCT)              36.6%  2010
Philadelphia (SEPTA)                   28.5%  2010
Washington, DC (WMATA)        19.4%  2010

Arlington’s portion of the CaBi service had $218,000 in revenues (from memberships, user fees, and sponsorships) and $270,000 in operating expenses from Alta Bicycle Share. Additionally, marketing and management costs were $142,000 for a total Year 1 expense of $412,000, which equates to revenues covering 53% of program expenses. Operating expenses were $155 per bike per month. If not including marketing and management expenses, then Arlington's cost recovery is 81%.

We’ve blogged about bikesharing being an economical transport mode for both customers and local governments, but now we have the data to document it. CaBi began operations with 14 stations and 110 bikes and completed its first year with 18 stations and 113 bikes. Only three bikes were needed to be added as the service shifted from a 67% bike-to-dock ratio to 50% to improve bike balancing operations. Arlington’s portion of CaBi benefitted from being a regional service with D.C.’s 100 stations.

We have lots of impressive data to share on CaBi’s first year of service from 9/20/10 – 9/19/11. Here are some interesting Arlington-specific CaBi facts:

• total trips starting in Arlington: 50,372 trips

• total trips ending in Arlington: 50,115 trips

• total trips regionally: 999,759 trips

• total miles of trips starting in Arlington: 46,776 miles

• average Arlington trip length: 1.04 miles

• average trip duration: 19 minutes

• total CO2 saved from trips starting in Arlington: 6,268 pounds

• total calories burned from trips starting in Arlington: 2,011,368

• total minutes of trips starting in Arlington: 1,180,830 minutes (21,293,622 minutes regionally)

• number of Arlington members of each type:  1,165 annual, 111 month, 144 5-day, 4,228 1-day

• number of crashes in Arlington: 1 crash

• bikes stolen in Arlington: 0

We’re well into our second year and now up to 23 stations and 145 bikes. Service expansion is continuing in the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor with 21 more stations and 144 more bikes coming online in the spring, nearly doubling the size of Arlington’s service. Additionally, we have funding to add another 25 stations in FY13. We look forward to increasing CaBi’s impact in the County by reaching more neighborhoods and folks, making CaBi an integral part of everyone’s lives – whether you live, work, or play in Arlington.

Sources:
Denver Bike Sharing 2010 Annual Report
National Transit Database Data
Wikipedia Fare box Recovery Ratio

Cross-posted on CommuterPageBlog

Have Card, Will Travel

B-cycle in the snow

DecoBike in Miami Beach

One of the hallmarks of the 4th generation of bike-sharing will be the single transportation card. A pass that is operative on the bus, metro, tram, light rail,  taxis, car-sharing and car parking. We wrote about the experiment with the  Mobilitätskarte (Mobility Card) of Berlin in our Bike-sharing World -- June 2011 as a step in this direction. Another hallmark will be an inter-operative card between bike-sharing systems. A good example is Boulder B-cycle members can use Denver B-cycle and visa-versa. In Germany, a registration, by card or telephone, with Metropolradruhr or nextbike will work in all their locations. Bicincittà is in the process of making all their bikes available to all their card holders.

Haikou Public Bicycles Haikou, China

Last week, the bike-sharing service in Wuhan, China (currently the largest in the world with 5,000 more bikes than Hangzhou) announced an intent with the bike-sharing service in Haikou, China to give reciprocity to each other's card holders to use each other's system. Wuhan is in central China on the Yangtze River and has harsh winters. Haikou is on a large island in the South China Sea with warm winters. According to reports by the Chinese Bicycle Association, the intent is to allow leisure and business travelers to enjoy bike riding in the tropical climate of this ocean city! What a complementary pair of services.


This conjures up whole new avenues for bike-sharing. The systems of Scandanavia, such Stockholm City Bikes, could have reciprocity with Barcelona's Bicing with less harsh winters. The Polish system in Rzeszow, RowRes, could exchange with Batumivelo on the Black Sea. B-cycle in Madison, Wisconsin could let its University of Wisconsin members enjoy spring break with B-cycle in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida in the USA.


As bike-sharing becomes more universal and technology takes bike-sharing into the 4th generation, these types of member-sharing across different manufacturers of systems will be common. If two of the largest cable television competitors in the US, Comcast and Verizon, can come together to service mobile telephone subscribers, bike-share companies, and in some cases their municipal owners, can come together to service their subscribers also.


images: LifestyleDenver, DecoBikes, Haikou


Russell Meddin    bikesharephiladelphia.org

The Bike Sharing World - First Week of January 2012

Europe:
     UK:

London's Barclays Cycle Hire shares some pretty impressive statistics as it starts 2012. There are now almost 146,000 subscribing members to the 6,000 bike system. That compares to Barcelona with 120,000 current subscribers for 6,000 bikes and Paris with 209,000 subscribers for 20,000 bikes. Although it does not top Dublin, which has the highest ratio of subscribers to bikes with 38,000 subscribers to 550 bikes, London is very respectable!
Also, a most interesting statistic is that in the one year that 'Boris Bikes' have been open to "casual users" or walk-ups, there have been 2,030,000 of them. That averages to around 5,400 a day! These statistics were posted on the Barclays Cycle Hire web site at Key Facts this week.


Oy!
Bike-sharing is terminated in Cardiff, Wales. OYBike suspended its bike-sharing service there the last week of December. It was not able to find replacement funding for the Cardiff Council's subsidy which covered the £70,000 ($110,000 US) yearly operating cost. The service which started in November 2009, had 2,000 subscribers when it closed.


     Spain:


Barcelona's Bicing increases it annual membership cost from €35 ($45 US) to €44 ($56 US). It is estimated that the 120,000 annual memberships are only paying about 21% of the yearly operating cost, according to El País Catalona. The system is contemplating selling advertising on the bicycles or on the stations as a way to cover more of the operating expenses of the system.  

Update: €4 of the new Bicing membership is a mandatory insurance policy to cover third-party claims, first-party injury or damage and legal assistance for the user.


Asia:
     China:


Wuhan's 70,000 bikes tops Hangzhou's 60,600 bikes!

The City of Wuhan on the Yangtze River is claiming the title of the largest bike-sharing system in the world with 70,000 bikes! The Municipal Government for 2012 is consolidating the non affiliated bike-sharing companies into one system for the city.  New automated stations are starting to be installed in the city. According to Chinanews, the city wants to integrate all public transportation into a unified system. 


North America:
     USA:
Cities in the US have embraced bike-sharing during 2011. Many new systems were launched and many older systems were expanded.  These will be considered minor occurrences compared to the expectations for 2012. Just between New York City and Chicago, 13,000 new bikes will hit the American streets. Add to that, Chattanooga, Baltimore, the City of San Francisco with the Bay Peninsula, the City of Miami, Houston, probably Nashville, Charlotte and Portland will all put bike-share bikes on the street. Let us not forget that the suburban communities of both Boston and Washington, DC will rolling out more stations and bikes too. 2012 will give North America a high ranking in the Bike-sharing World.


South America:
     Brazil:

In Rio de Janeiro Samba now dances with a new name, BikeRio. It is an expansion of the old bike-sharing system which now covers much more of the city, and not just the beaches. There are now 600 bikes spread out over 35 stations with another 25 on the way for the start of 2012. It cost 5R$ ($2.70 US) for the one day or 10R$ ($5.45 US) for a monthly pass. Registration for the system is online for more than the one day pass. While the one day can be acquired by mobile telephone. BikeRio has increased popularity because the original system had cost 10R$ for just one day. There is no extra charge for the first sixty minutes of use, but it cost 5R$ for each additional hour. The new system gained sponsorship by itaú, the Brazilian Bank, at the end of October and has prospered since. BikeRio itaú is operated by Mobilidade same company that ran Samba.


Don't forget to check out bike-sharing in your part of the world on The Bike-sharing World Map.


images: The Bike-sharing Blog, El País Catalona, Chinanews, XinFeida, BrasilAtual


Russell Meddin    bikesharephiladelphia.org