Vancouver Readies for 2012

The City of Vancouver, Canada has a Request for Expressions of Interest (RFEOI) out for a company "to develop, install, own, operate and finance a Public Bicycle System (“PBS”)... targeting launch in Spring 2012 or earlier." (It's interesting that there happens to be a company named Public Bicycle System Company that is also in Canada. Merely a coincidence tho'.)

It's interesting to see cities are getting smarter and turning the outdoor advertising business model of bike-sharing on its head. Instead of cities doing a public tender for an outdoor advertising program and getting a "free" bike-sharing service, the trend is to now to do a public tender for bike-sharing through a bike-sharing service contract and getting it for free. It keeps things simpler and the revenues cleaner.

Pedal hard, Vancouver! The service should be up and running in time for your hosting of the Velo-city Global conference in Spring 2012.

image: Destination360

Canadians think BIXI Bike-sharing a Capital Idea

Just four weeks after its inauguration in Montréal, the BIXI bike-sharing system began a 4 month trail of 50 bikes in 4 stations in Ottawa, Canada’s capital city on June 8, 2009. Canada News reports, that the program — which allows residents, workers and visitors in the National Capital Region to travel in a greener way — is also part of a feasibility study for a permanent bike share program which would bring 300 to 500 shared bikes to the region next year. At CDN$3.00 for a daily pass, BIXI Ottawa-Gatineau is a bargain compared to Montréal’s BIXI CDN$5.00 daily pass.

Even at CDN$5.00, 22,000 of the 75,000 trips on BIXI has been by casual or non subscriber riders since the start on May 12^th. There are now almost 4000 yearly subscribers. With around 4500 daily trips in the system, it has a healthy 3.45 usages per bike per day!

Canadians on the west coast are also getting a BIXI “fixie” this weekend in Vancouver. From Friday June 12^th through Monday June 15^th there is a hands-on BIXI demonstration near the Science World geodesic dome.

Image: BIXI Ottawa-Gatineau
Statistic Public Bike Systems

Russell Meddin www.bikesharephiladelphia.org