CitiBank Sponsorship opens new branch in Miami for CitiBike

The Bike-sharing World, First Week of October 2014

USA:

CitiBank has found that sponsoring bike-sharing is good for business. It now has signed up to be the title sponsor for DecoBike in both Miami Beach and Miami, Florida.

CitiBank and DecoBike announced today that the combined Miami Beach and soon to launch Miami, Florida bike-sharing programs will be called CitiBike. This is in addition to New York City's bike-share service which operates under the same name. CitiBike Miami's website is www.citibikemiami.com. The combined cities will have over 1,750 bikes in 170 stations. The new Miami CitiBike, opening in November will bring to South Florida a new shaft-drive bicycle and new solar powered stations with touch screen kiosks.

Last year in a Digiday article about CitiBank sponsoring bike-share, Elyssa Gray of creative marketing for CitiBank indicated that after only a few months sponsoring bike-sharing that it was headed in an extremely positive direction. “People are talking about and sharing the program in such a positive way — it’s really becoming a part of the fabric of [the] City,” said Gray, “These kinds of opportunities for a brand don’t come by every day.”

In South Florida: "We are very excited to have the commitment of CitiBank as the title sponsor for our successful Miami Beach program as well as for our new expansion into the downtown Miami area and surrounding neighborhoods," says Colby Reese, co-founder of DecoBike. "Miami is an ever-growing metropolis and bike-sharing has already been embraced by our residents and visitors who have logged more than 4.5 million rides in Miami Beach, and we expect similar usage in downtown Miami and its surrounding neighborhoods."

The Bike-sharing Blog believes that title sponsors for bike-sharing programs is a policy to bank on!

image: Citibikemiami.com

Russell Meddin            bikesharephiladelphia.org

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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

DecoBike a concession to the Art Deco of Miami Beach

Today in Miami Beach, Florida, an experiment in bike-sharing begins. DecoBike starts its operation in what is considered the crossroads of North and South America. A city of almost 90,000 people will have 1,000 DecoBikes in 100 DecoStations making it the service with the best ratio of bikes to population in the Americas. DecoBikes takes its name as a nod to the Art Deco buildings along the beach.

The service is not part of a street furniture contract, nor is it run by a non-profit that oversees operations for the city, nor it is a public-private scheme, nor is it a publicly owned and funded system. It will be one of the few services set up totally as a private venture as it is run as a concession within the city. In fact, as a private venture, the company already has all of the DecoBikes sponsored by KLM-Air France to publicize its upcoming new air service from Miami to the world bicycle capital, Amsterdam!

With a concentration of stations, the service is made to work for both residents of Miami Beach and the many tourists that seek its Art Deco hotels and warm beaches. The pricing for using the service differs from most other bike-sharing programs. For residents, the longest term for a membership is monthly at $15. There is no yearly membership. For both residents and tourists, there is a daily access pass for $14, a 3-day access pass for $30 and a special 5-day access pass for $49. All of these passes allow unlimited trips during the term with each trip 30 minutes or less at no charge. Each additional 30 minutes is billed at $4. The stations not only allow sign-ups for access passes, but also allow the borrowing of a DecoBike on an hourly basis. The hourly rate is thirty minutes for $4, sixty minutes for $5 and 120 minutes for $10, in each case, it is a single use. Most of these options are available at the easy-to-use stations.

Now with bike-sharing in sunny Florida, those bike-sharers whose services hibernate for the winter will have a place to enjoy the beach and the bikes.

images: DecoBike

Russell Meddin bikesharephiladelphia.org

Fast Deployment in the Bike-sharing World this Week!

This week saw extremely quick deployment and launch of bike-sharing services on two continents:

Asia:

In the burgeoning world of Chinese public bicycles, Guangzhou (Canton) which only last month was just talking to consultants, ITDP & Alta Bicycle Share, about starting bike-sharing, began its service today. Eighteen of 50 stations along Guangzhou's Bus Rapid Transit Line opened this morning. The service starting with 4,800 bikes will have 10,000 bikes by the end October. There is no charge for the initial hour and one yuan (15¢ US) for the next hour, as reported by Guangzhou News.

Europe:
This week stations of Valenbisi began to open up, The Bike-sharing Blog reported on April 15, 2010 that JCDecaux had just signed an agreement with Valencia, Spain for 275 stations and 2,750 bikes. In two months, the system was up and running. The yearly subscription is a reasonable €18 ($22 US) and the first 1/2 hour of usage is at no charge.

These two cities demonstrate how quickly, once a government embraces bike-sharing, services can be put into place.

Elsewhere in the bike-sharing world, Savona, Italy opens its branch of Bicincittà on Saturday.
It is a small system of 7 stations and 70 bikes for this city near Genoa. Here, the first hour of usage is at no charge.

North America:
B-cycle has gotten the approval from the San Antonio, Texas City Council to operate a system with its "Texas maintenance partner" -- Bike World. This will be done through the nonprofit Bike Share San Antonio; a bike-share, rental, and tour service with 14 stations and 140 bikes. The stations and bike will be similar to Denver B-cycle. According to the San Antonio Business Journal, watch for an opening at the beginning of next year.

Even more B-cycle news: Chicago will have a B-cycle demonstration system with six stations and 100 bikes this summer and into the fall, according to Chicago Now. For $35 for a month, $45 for two months, and $55 for three months residents, commuters and visitors in Chicagoland can taste real bike-sharing.

By far the most sexy bike-sharing is coming to Miami Beach this summer with DecoBike. You don't have to take our word for it, just watch the video below:

images: Guangzhou, Valenbisi, Savona

Russell Meddin bikesharephiladelphia.org