Bikesharing: effective tool for encouraging citizens to cycle

In a recent email discussion on Bixi and bikesharing in Toronto, Mikael Colville-Andersen
of copenhagenize.eu, made some good points about bikesharing: 1) bikesharing, to be successful, is aimed at citizens, not tourists, 2) bikesharing needs to be ubiquitous within the launch area, 3) the sudden surge of bikes makes it an effective tool for change and triggering better bike infrastructure. Just to clarify, Mikael is responding to some other comments that bikesharing was meant only for tourists, and it's not to imply that City staff were ever focusing on such a narrow demographic, quite the contrary.

Read his comments below:

Interesting following the discussion from the sidelines.

One thing that is worrying is the focus on tourists.

Every successful bike share programme in the world is not aimed at tourists, but rather the locals. There are 26 cities in France alone with successful bike share programmes and the local population is the focus. In fact, there are cities that make it difficult for tourists to rent them. In Seville, in Spain, your application takes a week to process. The main reason is to discourage tourists from using it. Otherwise it'll just end up as a gimmick.

Another thing is that visitors to a city won't use a bike share system if they don't see locals riding around on the bike share bikes or private bikes. Especially without sufficient infrastructure. So it's unlikely that tourists will be the main users in Toronto.

In lieu of visionary politicians who invest in necessary infrastructure and who tackle car traffic, a bike share system is the singlemost effective tool in the urban toolbox for encouraging citizens to take to the bicycle. It is a shame that the system may be delayed but the only way to ensure that such a system is a success is to go hard or go home. Carpet-bombing the city with racks and bikes is the first key to success. A few stations here or there is fuel on the fire of the sceptics. "See! They don't work! Nobody uses them!"

With a massive amount of bikes showing up from virtually one day to the next, it shows a city that the bikes are here to stay. Get used to it. Washington DC has a handful of bikes at a handful of awkwardly placed stations. Nobody uses them. If waiting for a more effective launch means more bikes and stations from day one, then that may be a good thing.

Since Vélib started in Paris, 2 million bicycles have been bought by Parisians. Vélib has been a massive success and has transformed the city. The people you rode the metro with are now waiting for the red light with you. Making the bicycle the quickest way to travel around a city is the surest way to ensure success and a bike share system is the golden opportunity to start the ball rolling.

It's important for all involved to realise these things and to work towards these common goals.

best regards,
Mikael

Tags:

bikesharing

bike infrastructure

Comments

Cullen (not verified)

I think a bike share system

Wed, 03/03/2010 - 08:17

I think a bike share system should be easy for EVERYONE to use, both tourist and local. Making it easy to walk up to a bike share vending machine a put in a credit card. There should be no need for a sign up for a one time ride. Now... if we want a frequent user plan which takes a few days to sign up for, that's great. But let's make it easy for walk up never before users to try it out. Otherwise, it'll never catch on.

Seymore Bikes

Everyday People

Wed, 03/03/2010 - 09:25

I have spoken with several people who raved about Velib, but only one used it; the tourism value is apparently more image oriented than transit.

Antony (not verified)

I have a feeling that Toronto

Wed, 03/03/2010 - 10:19

I have a feeling that Toronto isn't ready to do bike sharing right. Until the municipal election is settled, there won't be enough political certainty to get a large enough bikeshare network endorsed. And going with a compromised small-scale install will be worse than nothing.

Seymore Bikes

Screw the Politicians

Wed, 03/03/2010 - 11:42

Get this done before anybody can induce political scuttle.

Martin Reis (not verified)

Bixi

Wed, 03/03/2010 - 17:43

Went to Montreal over the Labour Day holiday last Summer. The city was filled with tourists on Bixis from around the world. I think we need to look at the track record of our beloved city as far as bikes are concerned and not expect too much.

brian

Velov

Wed, 03/03/2010 - 22:25

Hi all,

I used the Velov system in Lyon, France, back in 2008. It was "interesting". I hadn't even heard of the system until I arrived in Lyon, and had only previously heard tell of CBN's Bikeshare system here. I own three bikes, and readily fly with any of them, all over the world.

Velov was easy to use (mostly because my host took care of the reservations and payment herself) and the bikes were somewhat simple and easy to ride (I compare with my 21" Trek 3700 commuter). The Velov "hybrid commuter" bike was solid and stable, and its integrated cargo rack was its best feature. I would have preferred my own saddle, and could have done without the cargo basket on the handlebars.

The biggest complaint I had was not knowing the rules of the road in Lyon, or the "common behaviours" of Lyon cyclists. In France, cars very much have the right of way on roads, and getting in front of a car, no matter whether right or wrong, will earn a cyclist a good earful of horn. It's very contradictory to most rides here in Toronto. The other notable exception was my lack of helmet, which made me feel underdressed, and thus more uncertain about my riding. Foremost on my mind was "don't do anything that could cause a fall!" Fear of being injured predominated my rides. Neither of these things had anything to do with the Velov system, but they affected my experience nonetheless, and I equate them with having used a bikeshare in a foreign city, which one could argue is part of the "tourist" experience.

All that said, I have nothing remarkable to note about the Velov system, or its stations, or how it worked. In fact, the only noteworthy thing I would mention is that JCDecaux was the prime motivator behind the system, and that to me adds up to private-sector startup funding. If it were a business proposition for our municipal government to consider, I would opine that Toronto is not ready for such a system, because the business case study isn't in; and my own perception, having done research on bikes-to-population in my ward, is that our citizens already have plenty of bikes available; people are just not interested in cycling because of their perceptions, not because of a lack of bikes.

Hope this helps.
Brian

simplicius2wheels

A visit in Montreal using the Bixi system

Thu, 03/04/2010 - 07:38

I documented my experience last year. Here's what I noted:

# The bikes seem well-designed: easy to ride, with three gears somewhat in the low range to make allowance for the many hills in Montreal, wide tires that can cope with difficult road surfaces, an easily adjustable seat, simple pedals. I lucked out and had a new 7-speed model on one leg of the trip and thought it to be great! One thing is apparent, though - good maintenance of these bikes is key for customer safety and satisfaction. The bikes I rode were in good or excellent condition with one exception. It's brakes were marginal - a quick tuning would have fixed it. I doubt that one can rely on users reporting problems - few folks will take the time and go through the reporting process, no matter how simple it is. If there isn't a regular inspection of all bikes at the garage, there should be one.

# The payment system is simple: straight-forward rules with an intuitive pay mechanism via credit card. Being new to it, I had some minor problems:

* I could not find the dock's keypad for entering the five digit code that associates your payment with the bike that you have selected. I was looking for something like a phone key pad - with nine or ten buttons. After three failed tries the machine rejected my credit card and caused me a minor panic. I tried at the next box station not far away, and there it dawned on me that there were only three unique digits in the code and thus easily noticed the "key pad" - it has only the buttons: 1, 2, and 3...
* When not being able to return the bike, it would have been nice if the station would have told me where the next available stations would be.

# Finding a bike station was easy in the down-town area (Rene-Levesque E and St. Denis) and there were ample bikes available on the Saturday morning. My route down to the port and along the Lachine Canal gave me a chance to return the bike and pick up another one several times without trouble. But a visit to the popular Atwater Market ran into trouble. The bike station there had no empty docks and thus I could not return the bike. Neither could I park it and visit the market because there is no lock on the bike. I waited for a while, beyond my grace period and started to rack up extra minutes on my credit card. After a while, I followed two cyclists who had the same problem but they knew where the next station was. It turned out that that one was full as well and so was the one beyond it. I ended up returning to the core of the city and I returned the bike outside the train station at Place Ville-Marie.
The problem seems to be caused by pattern of travel to this attraction: the market is a popular destination for BIXI users and thus "everyone" is there at the same time thus overloading the facilities. It may be smart to visit such places choosing a time that avoids the "rush".

I commend BIXI for their website and clear info at the bike stations themselves. A nice added touch is the Google map with up-to-date info on bike status for each station. I sure could have used an internet-enabled cellphone!

About interaction with cars:

Cycling safety is generally good because motorists seem to be aware of cyclists and are tolerant of the sometimes generous interpretation of traffic rules by cyclists. There is less tension on the road - I saw none of that testosterone-laced attitude of Toronto's drivers towards cyclists. I guess Montrealers are more mature.
As an out-of-towner, I realized that at times I was not familiar with the written and unwritten rules of the road. But because of the usually well laid-out paths and the tolerant attitude of fellow road users, I never was in trouble and felt safe at all times. Click here for the link to Bixi's advice on Montreal's traffic rules...

http://www.yip.org/~erhard/using_a_bike_in_montreal__2009.htm ****