Arlington County Residents Can Pay With Cash for Membership & Usage Fees on Capital Bikeshare

A common complaint about bike-sharing is that one needs to have a credit or debit card in order to use the service, which is not the case with most public transit. However, unlike other modes of transit that accept cash, the customer is not given the key to the vehicle and ability to drive it away. With bike-share bikes costing upwards of $1,000, bike-share services typically require customers provide their credit or debit card upon registration so that the operator has recourse for the replacement cost of a bike in the rare event that a customer does not return their bike. The unintended consequence of this is that the unbanked – those who do not have a checking/savings account or credit/debit card – are unable to use the service. One can be unbanked due to a past history of poor credit or because they have chosen to not use these financial institutions in favor of check cashing establishments to better meet their needs. Regardless of why they are unbanked, the unbanked need access to bike-share as it’s one of the most economical modes of transport, as well as healthy for the rider and good for the environment.

Capital Bikeshare’s owner jurisdictions have encouraged the unbanked to get banked through our relationship with Bank on DC, which provides a checking account and debit card to individuals through local financial institutions. Customers also get $25 off of the annual membership price of $75. But more is needed to open Capital Bikeshare to the unbanked.

Arlington County has developed a solution for its residents to pay with cash for a bike-share membership and usage fees – likely the first of its kind in North America. Arlington will vouch for its residents, so that they don’t need to provide a credit or debit card. We will do this through our Commuter Stores, owned by Arlington County Commuter Services (ACCS) which has five Commuter Stores which sell transit fare passes; and provide transit, carpooling, vanpooling, biking, and walking information. Four of the Commuter Stores are "brick and mortar" shops and one is an RV (Commuter Store on wheels) with a weekly schedule. The Commuter Stores started providing walk-up Capital Bikeshare membership registrations in May 2014 where the membership fob is provided on-the-spot, so would-be customers need not wait the 5 – 7 days to receive their fob in the mail as with the standard online registration.

The Commuter Store’s accounting system allows cash to be accepted due to its transit pass sales business. Now Arlington residents can visit any Commuter Store location with a current government-issued photo ID with their Arlington address shown, such as a driver's license. Or they can show their passport, Permanent Resident Card (“green card”), or Employment Authorization Card (work permit), along with a copy of a utility bill dated within the past 60 days with their name and Arlington address. The Commuter Store representative will verify the individual’s identity and assist them in signing up for an annual membership with monthly installments ($84/year and paid as $7/month) or annual membership ($75 and paid at once).

An account can be opened with as little as $16 in cash towards the standard price of an annual membership with monthly installments. This covers the $7 per month membership fee for two months plus usage fees for trips beyond the first 30 minutes which are at no additional charge. Another option is paying $100 in cash for the annual membership cost of $75, and the remaining $25 will be used towards usage fees.

Credit reports will be sent weekly by the Commuter Stores, as will debit reports be sent weekly by the operator, Motivate (former Alta Bicycle Share), to Arlington’s Capital Bikeshare program manager. The credits and debits will require manual tabulation presently, but improvements in the bikeshare system’s back-end will allow this to be automated in the near future. When a customer's account goes below $2, the County will contact the individual to add more money to their account. At $0, their account will be closed until more money is added, with any month's missed membership fee paid for as well.

This solution should work well for Arlingtonians over the next year during this pilot. It’s a step in the right direction for Arlington and Capital Bikeshare and better addresses bike-share’s equity issues. More can and will be done to assist low-income Arlingtonians use the service by building on top of the Commuter Store’s bikeshare customer registration and now cash acceptance for payment. This solution is not a one-size-fits-all for other bike-share municipalities and operators, but hopefully this step will lead to more innovation in assisting the unbanked use bike-share services nationwide.

MetroBike serves as Arlington County's Capital Bikeshare program management consultant.

Article cross-posted on BikeArlington.com.

Capital Bikeshare Cost Recovery in Arlington, VA

How did Arlington’s portion of Capital Bikeshare do in its second year of service? Are Arlingtonians and visitors using the service? How many trips are made and how much was spent? These questions and a lot more are discussed in Arlington County’s “FY12 Summary Report on Capital Bikeshare”. The report’s highlights include the service’s continued cost recovery growth, annual key indicator data, member survey analysis, and accomplishments.

Not to spoil the conclusion for you, but yes, the service had a good year. The County expanded Capital Bikeshare throughout the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor during this time period, more than doubling its number of stations from 18 to 41 and bikes from 123 to 286. With the additional stations and bikes came an increased cost recovery ratio – the percentage of revenues divided by expenses. Fiscal Year 2011 had a 53% cost recovery ratio and FY12 saw an increase to 64%. 

Arlington’s portion of the service had $411,000 in revenues from memberships, user fees, and sponsorships and $473,000 in operations expenses, plus $170,000 in management and marketing – totaling $643,000 in expenses. The number of trips starting and ending in Arlington increased by about 280% to 88,613 (trips starting) and 86,438 (trips ending). The number of miles ridden in Arlington increased 343% to about 95,000 miles, which helped remove nearly 64,000 pounds of CO2 from the air. The service also got us more active and we burned over 4.1 million calories to be fit.

The Report also discusses our accomplishments, such as our partnership with Bank on DC, Transit Development Plan, map panels design updated, marketing campaign, and call center improvements. The report can be found online at BikeArlington.com. 

(cross-posted on BikeArlington.com)

Capital Bikeshare - Less Driving, Money Saved

The Washington, D.C. region's Capital Bikeshare (CaBi) service released the third-party analysis of its 2011 member survey yesterday and it has some impressive results. Analysis shows that members save an average of $891 per year and collectively reduce their driving miles by 5 million annually.

Other highlights include:

• 83% of respondents said they were more likely to patronize a business that was CaBi-accessible
• 82% of respondents reported increased bike use since joining Capital Bikeshare and 70% said CaBi was an important reason for this
• CaBi was a major or main factor for 56% who reduced car use

Over 5,000 CaBi annual members responded to the survey questionnaire during November - December 2011. The survey and executive report have been made available by Arlington County and Washington, D.C., which administer the bike transit service.

Capital Bikeshare - D.C. Stations Announced

With Arlington's stations announced in July 7's post "Capital Bikeshare Readying to Ride", Washington's D.C.'s stations were announced today, thereby fleshing out the initial 114 stations of the Capital Bikeshare network. On the District of Columbia's Department of Transportation website, a map of D.C.'s 100 stations is provided covering all eight wards of the city. Downtown is densely covered with stations every couple of blocks with inner neighborhoods also well covered. More distant neighborhoods will have to wait until the service gets more funding, so that D.C.'s network isn't stretched too thin at the launch.

I'm also happy to report that there is a station two blocks from my home. This truly brings a tear to my eye. I lobbied for a station closer to my home, however, didn't want folks entering my living room at all hours of the day and night.

In other news, our temporary CapitalBikeshare.com website is now live. Visit us and leave your email address so we can tell you when registration opens - likely in early August.

Stay tuned... Lots more good stuff happening with Capital Bikeshare!

UPDATE (7/20, 3pm): DDOT will be making live a revised station map later today.

Capital Bikeshare Readying to Ride

With the launch of Washington, D.C. and Arlington, Virginia’s bike-sharing service just two months away in September, the buzz is spreading over the region as to the name and look of the bike. Through a public voting process, the name “Capital Bikeshare” won the most votes. The bikes soon will be found at over 114 locations in the region with a fleet of 1,110 bikes, making it the new largest service in the U.S. and one of the few regional services in the world. The Arlington portion of the service will be comprised of 110 bikes and 14 stations. This map shows the likely locations of Arlington’s first phase of stations.

The bike design is coming together as well. While other bike-sharing services throughout the world have bikes colored gray to fit in with the historic architecture of some cities, and others are neon colors to make them eye-catching, Capital Bikeshare bikes will be dark red to match D.C.’s Circulator bus (and upcoming streetcar) branding. The color is unobtrusive, yet energized.

With organizations like Barclays, Rio Tinto Alcan, and Blue Cross/Blue Shield sponsoring bike-sharing services elsewhere, the Arlington service is now open for sponsorship too. Sponsorship opportunities are competitively priced and provide organizations a way to support a clean, green, and healthy transport mode for the 21^st century. Contact MetroBike for more information about Arlington’s service or station sponsorship opportunities.

DC and Arlington's New Bike-sharing Service

As MetroBike, LLC is the consultant on the project, I'm very happy -- make that elated -- to report on The Bike-sharing Blog that Washington, DC and Arlington, VA have announced a joint service with over 1,110 bikes at 114 stations and is set for a Fall 2010 launch. The service will use the Bixi system and be operated by Alta Bicycle Share, Inc.

What's news-worthy about this service is that this service will be the largest in the U.S. (Denver had pulled away with this title last month with its launch.) Also, this will be a regional service as DC and Arlington are not just separate jurisdictions, but are in separate states. Ooooooh, aaaaaaah. Yes, it can be done. The contract with the vendor was written with a regional rider to allow other jurisdictions in the region to climb on-board as well to use the same pricing as developed in Arlington through its public tender process. Rather than being through an outdoor advertising contract, as is the SmartBike service presently being offered in DC, the new service was initiated through the public tender process. This gives more flexibility to the jurisdictions to create the type of service they want, but also allows jurisdictions who don't allow outdoor advertising to have bike-sharing. There are not many regional bike-sharing contracts globally (Paris comes to mind), so this is an exciting example of one.

MetroBike, LLC assisted in developing the RFP, locating stations, and is managing Arlington's contract. MetroBike will work towards making the yet-to-be-named bike-sharing service one of the best in the world. Starting in the fall, come visit Arlington and DC and let me know what you think about the service. Both places are very bike-friendly and there is simply no better way to get around than by bike-sharing bike.

Update: Here's the contract on Arlington County's website.


Here's the press release:

For Immediate Release
May 21,2010
Media Contact: Mafara Hobson, EOM 202-727-2807
Karyn Le Blanc, DDOT 202-671-3490
Chris Eatough, BikeArlington 703-247-6981
Alison Cohen, Alta Bicycle Share 215-248-1984
Bérengère Thériault, Public Bike System Company 514-497-9380


District of Columbia and Arlington Launch Regional Bike Sharing Program
· Expansion of popular transit system brings new transportation system to the region
· Will be the largest bike sharing system in the U.S.
· Public invited to participate in naming the bike sharing program

(Washington, D.C.) – Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, Arlington County Board Chairman Jay Fisette and District Department of Transportation Director (DDOT) Gabe Klein today announced a joint effort to expand bike sharing tenfold in the Washington area. Both Arlington and the District have each signed contracts for what will become a regional bike sharing system later this year.

“We are extremely excited to lead the nation once again in bike sharing,” said Mayor Fenty. “The response to the bike sharing program has been unprecedented and we are pleased to be able to join with Arlington in our expansion efforts.”

This expanded, regional system follows the success of SmartBikeDC, launched in 2008. The new system will launch later this year with roughly 1100 bikes at 114 stations and will be largest of its kind in the U.S.

“It will be terrific for residents and visitors to be able to pick up a bike in DC and drop it off in Arlington, and vice versa,” commented Chairman Fisette. “This new system will connect with our existing transit network, and provide even more options for people to get around. This is a wonderful example of regional cooperation.”

“The District continues to move forward with our initiatives to provide a more balanced approach to transportation,” said DDOT Director Klein. “Biking provides a healthy and efficient way to get around town and with the installation of this new system almost anyone who can ride a bike will enjoy the benefits.”

The new system will be similar to the one the Public Bike System Company (PBSC), based in Montreal, produced, commonly known as BIXI. The BIXI system has been running in Montreal since 2009 and will be arriving soon in Minneapolis, London, and Melbourne, Australia. BIXI bike sharing stations are solar powered and use wireless technology to allow for easy installation and adjustments. It may look different, but the BIXI bicycle has many of the same features as the Smartbike: 3-speed, internal hub gears, fenders, chain guard, lights, and a front rack. Annual, monthly, and daily memberships will be available for area residents and visitors.

Alta Bicycle Share will operate the system. Alta Bicycle Share is a US-based company focused on management and operation of bicycle share systems globally. Its sister company, Alta Planning + Design, is the largest bicycle and pedestrian consulting company in the United States. Alta Bicycle Share is implementing or consulting on similar programs in Australia, Europe, China, and other locations in the United States.

Name that bike

The District and Arlington County are also asking the public to get involved by participating in a survey to help pick the name of the new bike sharing system. Go to www.goDCgo.com to vote for your favorite name or to suggest a new one. Everyone gets only one vote but you should vote quickly. The voting will only be open for a limited time and all votes must be submitted by 5 p.m. on June 4, 2010.

Visit the following websites for more information on the partners and their bike programs or products mentioned in this release:

DDOT www.ddot.dc.gov
BikeArlington www.bikearlington.com
Public Bike Share Company – BIXI System www.bixisystem.com
Alta Bicycle Share Company www.altabicycleshare.com


image credit: fotosearch.com

Let's Stimulate with a Major Bike-sharing Program

The following post is by David Alpert and from Greater Greater Washington:

Arlington hopes to launch a bike sharing pilot this year. DC plans to expand its 120-bike, 10-station SmartBike program by another ten stations as well. That would be great. But at the recent DDOT oversight hearing, Mount Pleasant ANC Commissioner and bike and pedestrian advocate Phil Lepanto asked, why not 50 new DC stations this year, and another 50 every year? Or more?

To really make bike sharing work for everyone, systems need to have bikes in a wide range of locations. A station at the Reeves Center and one at Dupont is nice and useful for people who work on U Street and live on the Red Line, but to serve everyone, we need stations within a couple blocks of most places people want to go. And as Lepanto pointed out in the hearing, we also need stations where a lot of people live but where there's no Metro. Finally, we ought to have a one-day pricing plan and stations at all the major tourist destinations.

Paris's Vélib has 20,000 bicycles in 1,450 stations, with stations in the city center averaging only 300 meters apart. Now, anyone walking around Paris sees Vélib bikes everywhere. Bike sharing experts say systems should ideally have one bike per 150 residents. That means DC ought to have about 4,000 bikes, and Arlington around 1,400.

Top: Vélib stations in a portion of central Paris. Bottom: The entire SmartBike D.C. system
(This official Google Map is also inaccurate.)

The biggest obstacle is startup cost. Systems cost very little to maintain, since subscription fees and ads cover most of the operating and replacement cost. But cities have to build the system in the first place.

Can the stimulus help? The main pots of money don't work for bike sharing, since the stimulus focused on existing, long-established ways of spending transportation dollars. However, there's a $1.5 billion "discretionary grant" program. States and localities can apply for money for programs that improve transportation but aren't otherwise funded. The catch: projects have to cost $20-300 million. Arlington currently has a grant of about $200,000 for their planned pilot, according to an Examiner article last year, though Arlington Commuter Services head Chris Hamilton says they're hoping to find more money to start with a bigger system. A maximal system of 1,400 bikes of the fancier kind DC uses, he said, would cost at most $6 million for capital and operating costs for the first two years.

We could hit the $20 million mark if a group of jurisdictions joined together. If 1,400 Arlington bikes could hit $6 million, a 5,000-bike super-program in DC and Arlington might be able to meet the minimum. Or how about a regional system including Alexandria, Bethesda, Silver Spring, Hyattsville, College Park and more? The total cost would be a lot less than just scaling up Arlington's numbers linearly, because bigger systems achieve greater economies of scale. The region could get a lot more bikes for lower cost with a big system.

We could also team up with other areas. Denver and San Francisco have been talking about setting up their own bike sharing programs. How about a bike sharing consortium? All of the regions could use the same technology, getting even more competitive rates from a vendor. And then, perhaps, if you're already a member in one city, that membership could automatically allow you to take out bikes when visiting other cities.

Such a program would yield a lot of sexy headlines and ribbon-cuttings across the nation. Plus, they'd create jobs building, managing, and maintaining the systems. And once we've got large numbers of Americans finding bike sharing as convenient and useful as the Parisians have, existing cities will want to keep expanding and new cities will want to start their own programs, creating jobs and reducing our vehicular emissions, oil dependence, and obesity.

Arlington, Virginia Releases Bike-sharing Tender

Arlington County, Virginia has released a Request for Proposals for the operation of the Arlington Bike-sharing Program (RFP #56-09). The tender proposes a unique relationship between a local government and bike-sharing operator. The vendor will be responsible for operating the service, which includes administration, maintaining and distributing bikes, and collecting data. Arlington’s responsibilities will be for marketing the service, finding advertisements for the bikes, and providing some customer care. A pre-bid conference for interested vendors will be held on March 5 and the RFP will close on April 2.

The tender has the vendor purchasing “an off-the-shelf system, if not having a system of its own devise, and operating it for the public’s benefit.” Even just one year ago there weren’t many options for off-the-shelf systems, but now a handful are on the market, including Public Bike System, nextbike, Intrago, Smoove, and B-cycle. Arlington will keep revenues generated from the service, which include the membership and usage fees as well as advertisement revenues. The tender also offers incentives for meeting strict performance standards and fines for not doing so.

Arlington County does not allow on-street advertising with bus shelters, kiosks, billboards, and the like, so it is unable to have a bike-sharing service offered as part of an advertising contract as many cities have done. It is hoping to compensate for this by having advertisements on the bikes, as this form of advertising is legal in the public domain in Arlington, to assist with the financial sustainability of the program.

MetroBike, LLC assisted Arlington County develop its tender.

image credit: BikeArlington

European-style bike-sharing programs head to US

An article titled "European-style bike-sharing programs head to US" by AFP has information about three programs, those of Washington, D.C.; Chicago; and Arlington, Virginia, that are on their way. Washington, D.C.'s program is to launch in March or April of 2008 with 120 bikes at 10 stations. Small, but hey, it'll be the first in North America. D.C. contracted for the 120 bikes four years ago when it released its Request for Proposals for its bus shelter contract. Four years ago, a fleet of 120 was impressive. With larger and successful programs like Velib' (10,600 bikes now with 20,600 planned) and Bicing (3,000 bikes now with 6,000 planned), the relative size of a small program has shifted. D.C. officials are already considering how to expand the size of their program.

Also, Chicago is considering bids from JCDecaux and OYBike for its program. Both companies have yet to enter the U.S. market, however, JCDecaux's programs in Paris and Lyon are much more visible than OYBike's in the London suburb of Hammersmith & Fulham. Unless OYBike had a very appetizing offer for Chicago, JCDecaux's program is rather sexy.

Finally, Arlington, Virginia is considering another model for the provision of bike-sharing - the government provides the service.

image: Saul Loeb, AFP