Potential Austin Bike Share Station
Here is an article that proves it - http://www.theatlanticcities.com/commute/2013/02/if-you-build-bike-share-riders-will-come/4673/ , but wait there is more proof.
In a recent RFP from the City of Boston, it states that PUBLIC BIKE SHARE has increased bicycle ridership in the City of Boston by 80% over ridership in 2007 – 80%!!!
The increase in ridership in Miami Beach and Washington DC must be off the charts!
Derrick
“Forget lugging a helmet around in case you fancy an impromptu ride when, or if, Vancouver gets a bike share system.
The city – set to decide later this spring whether to launch a bike share system with preferred vendor Portland-based Alta Bicycle Share – paid $50,000 to Richmond-based SandVault Group Global Solutions Corp. to develop a prototype of a bike helmet distribution machine.
In just 41 days after the city awarded SandVault the contract in November, it built a noggin-protecting prototype that it showed off to Metro on Thursday.
SandVault’s helmet dispensing machine. (Metro/Jennifer Gauthier)
Using the solar powered machine was as easy as swiping a card, selecting a size and style on a keypad and removing a helmet from a dispenser that’s integrated with a bike system.
“If you want to wear a helmet, there’s a helmet right there,” business development manager Derrick Moennick said. “It should be as easy as possible.”
The helmets are equipped with radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags so when users drop them off they are “quarantined” and not rented out until they are cleaned and checked for safety. Maintenance crews would sanitize the helmets as part of the system’s operating cost, which the city has previously pegged at about $1.9 million annually.
In Melbourne, the city’s helmet law led to lukewarm adoption of its bike share system, as helmets there must be purchased at retail locations or from vending machines. Alta told Metro in June it was working on an integrated system to avoid the mistakes made in Australia.
While Vancouver awarded the prototype contract to SandVault, it is still exploring various options and suppliers for helmet distribution, according to director of transportation Jerry Dobrovolny.
SandVault, which operates the world’s only non-subsidized bike share at tourist hotspot Miami Beach, applied to operate Vancouver’s bike share system but lost to Alta.
The company also built systems in Long Beach, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Golden, B.C. and will soon launch one in Sao Paulo. Its technology is still operational after Hurricane Sandy slammed into the N.Y. operations.
“It’s important for government to support local industries that employ people and produce exports,” company owner Richard Murray said.” – Metronews.ca
“Imagine a new public transportation system for Sacramento, flexible, cheap and sustainable, providing cardio-workout benefits and devouring near-zero energy. The system is neither experimental nor destined to become obsolete in a few years. In fact, it’s been tested in various formats for years and is established globally as a marvel of engineering logic.”
DecoBike Partners with sponsor Heineken for the Mural Project in Miami.
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2012/12/09/us/20121208-WYNWOOD-8.html
For any US City thinking about exploring public bike share systems, below is great information and one of the best places to start.
http://www.fta.dot.gov/documents/Informal_Q_and_As_Final_6-14-12.pdf
Are you interested in receiving our public bike share newsletter, or information on public bike share equipment?
If so, please send me a quick e-mail: derrick@sandvault.com
Great Information on Public Bike Share Systems in the United States (Sept 2012):
http://publicbikeshare.com/community/
Let me get this correct. PBSC has to sell the export side of the company because Bergeron’s report pointed out that under the city’s charter, it has no legal right to be involved in a commercial enterprise, they have a 108 million dollar loan guarantee from the City of Montreal, the original technology provider is now suing the company for 26 million dollars – - so does this mean the potential owners of the system would now have a 26 million dollar lawsuit to contend with?
How will this affect the future of the 10,000 bike system going into New York, the 3000 bike system going into Chicago, let alone the pilot program in San Fransisco and other pending systems? If this doesn’t bring a little uncertainty to city officials nothing will, maybe more than just Montreal tax payers will be on the hook for the popular bike share system?
“Few people know that it is 8D Technologies that developed the core technological solution that powers the BIXI bike-sharing system, which in turn has greatly contributed to the worldwide reputation and recognized success of the system, which is currently deployed, using 8D’s technological solution, in a dozen cities on three continents.
8D’s wireless, solar-powered 8D BSS (Bike Sharing System) technological solution primarily contains the following hardware and software components, which were conceptualized and are owned by 8D Technologies: the payment terminals (designed by Québécois industrial designer Michel Dallaire), electronic boards (for the terminal and bike docks), a comprehensive back office software solution that fully addresses the management and operational needs of the bike-sharing schemes regarding payments, operations management, accounts, billings, subscriptions and payments, power control (solar energy), user interaction, communication between bike docks and payment terminals, configuration, monitoring and operations. From a services point of view, 8D manages the majority of the bike-sharing schemes in the cities around the world, from its installations in Montreal, the hosting services being part of the solution it provides. 8D also created the Spotcycle mobile application for iPhone, BlackBerry Android, and the Spotcycle Web application.”
“Montreal’s auditor general says the city missed several crucial steps in the creation and management of the Bixi bike-sharing program.
In a report released Monday, Auditor General Jacques Bergeron said the city didn’t properly study the program’s feasibility before its launch. He also said the city it has no authority to market and export the concept, and the Bixi service will cost taxpayers millions for years to come.
Bergeron wrote in his report that basic elements of management were neglected, including risk and cost-benefit analyses, and allowance for a financial margin of error.
In May, city council approved a $108-million bailout package for the program, including $37-million to cover Bixi’s deficit, and another $71-million in loan guarantees to export and develop the system abroad.
Exporting the concept is a major source of income for the program.
But Bergeron’s report pointed out that under the city’s charter, it has no legal right to be involved in a commercial enterprise.”
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2011/06/20/bixi-report-mtl.html
What does a core technology change for BiXi mean?
Please comment if any of this information is incorrect.
Sanitary On Demand Helmet Solution
It’s not surprising Vancouver is dragging its feet on implementing the city’s promised bikeshare scheme – it’s one of the few major cities in the world with a law mandating the wearing of helmets by adults. There seems to be good reason for Vancouver to be nervous: the available evidence indicates bikeshare has failed in the only three cities its been tried in where helmets are compulsory i.e. Auckland, Brisbane and Melbourne.
These failures prompted a vigorous campaign in Australia and New Zealand for the repeal of mandatory helmet laws. The aim of advocates extends well beyond the welfare of Australasia’s ailing bikeshare schemes – most want the wearing of helmets to be made a matter of individual choice for all adult cyclists.
New figures released this week show usage of Melbourne Bike Share’s (MBS) blue Bixis reached a record high in January. Still, the performance is poor. On average, each Bixi only gets hired once per day. No data on typical hire times was made available but the pattern in other countries suggests each Bixi is used for less than 30 minutes per dayon average.
It looks like 74 stations and 750 bikes coming to Portland!
http://bikeportland.org/2011/12/08/equity-concerns-raised-as-metro-approves-bike-share-funding-63345
