Bike Share in Waterloo Region

[mpd618]

"They" as in the municipalities?

Yep. The cities have, or should have, quite different goals for bikeshare than the Working Centre.

Meanwhile, considering how little use the Working Centre bikes get and how hard the system is to use, the current programs is no better than just giving out bikes to people who need them.

Do you really think the number of bikeshare users is less than the total number of bikeshare bicycles?

The bikes are hardly the only cost of the program - they have to set the bikes out and bring them back in seasonally, they need to maintain them, deal with vandalism, potentially rebalance, maintain the key system, sign people up, maintain memberships, etc. There's overhead. And honestly? I'm actually not sure that Community Access Bicycles does have more users than it does bikes.

[Canard]

They always look rusty and unused whenever I see them.

I've seen exactly one person riding one in all my riding around in the past year and a half or so. It's a really crappy system.

Bring on SoBi!

[clasher]

It seems to me CAB is tailored to serve a specific demographic rather than be a more general bike-sharing program. Personally I think it's a bit of a waste but whatever. I think most people that use it can't store a bike anyone or they've had so many stolen that it's not really possible for them to own/keep a bike.

[Canard]

I've always used bike share programs when visiting other cities. It'd be basically impossible for a visitor to try and figure out how to use our system for a half a day visit to the Region. Can you even use it on a "per-use" basis? I'm of the impression you need to sign up, be a member, have a special key etc...

[clasher]

It seems like they have a smart-phone based system too now: http://cabikeshare.org/ but I've never used the CAB system before so I have no idea how it works. CAB also uses (or at leasts asks for) volunteer labour and that doesn't really jive with me so much, I would hope they get a free membership out of it or something more tangible than "warm fuzzies" for their work.

I recall some other bikeshare system was trying to start up a year or two ago but AFAIK they never got off the ground. If there's a system to emulate though it would be Hamilton's sobi, it seems to be a real success unlike a lot of other cities bikeshares. I used bixi once in Toronto and found it kind of expensive for doing any kind of real riding... ended up going up and down the Don Valley trail so it wasn't really what bixi was designed for. I guess there's probably a place in Toronto to rent a bike and that's what I should have looked for.

[highlander]

Meanwhile, considering how little use the Working Centre bikes get and how hard the system is to use, the current programs is no better than just giving out bikes to people who need them.

Do you really think the number of bikeshare users is less than the total number of bikeshare bicycles?

From an article in The Record today:

There's been a bikeshare system in Kitchener since 2013, when the Working Centre started a program called Community Access Bikeshare, or CAB for short, with four stations and 30 members. Since then, the system has grown to 12 stations with 80 bikes, but membership is relatively flat, with about 70 members.

[tomh009]

From an article in The Record today:

There's been a bikeshare system in Kitchener since 2013, when the Working Centre started a program called Community Access Bikeshare, or CAB for short, with four stations and 30 members. Since then, the system has grown to 12 stations with 80 bikes, but membership is relatively flat, with about 70 members.

This boggles the mind (from the same Record article):

CAB was set up to provide an inexpensive way for people to get access to a bike, and hasn't focused much on gaining membership, said co-ordinator Paulina Rodriguez.

Why on earth not?  If getting people to use the bikes is not the goal, then what is?  (Edit: I am not blaming Paulina Rodriguez for this as she has just taken over the program, but I really do question the priorities.)

[panamaniac]

From an article in The Record today:

This boggles the mind (from the same Record article):

CAB was set up to provide an inexpensive way for people to get access to a bike, and hasn't focused much on gaining membership, said co-ordinator Paulina Rodriguez.

Why on earth not?  If getting people to use the bikes is not the goal, then what is?

Providing an amenity to the economically disadvantaged.

[tomh009]

This boggles the mind (from the same Record article):

Why on earth not?  If getting people to use the bikes is not the goal, then what is?

Providing an amenity to the economically disadvantaged.

So ... if there are 70 members, does that mean there are only 70 economically disadvantaged people?

[panamaniac]

Providing an amenity to the economically disadvantaged.

So ... if there are 70 members, does that mean there are only 70 economically disadvantaged people?

Living in the core, wanting a bicycle, not having obtained their own, and aware of Bikeshare?  Seems possible to me.  Keep in mind that the Working Centre is not driven by market principles.

[Canard]

It's not just that. It's people visiting. When I go to another city on a trip, I would love more than anything to swipe a credit card or download an app and go for a bike ride.

Can I do that in KW? Nope - neither can friends or family who come here who I might like to go for a bike ride with.

Also I think you have to put the bikes here back exactly where you found them, right?

I know I sound like a broken record - but SoBi is really the best system I've used, it's so, so flexible.

[highlander]

Also I think you have to put the bikes here back exactly where you found them, right?

No, you can return to any station

   

While I'm grateful for the work that the Working Centre does, I'm hopeful that a future bike share system will be run by the region, with low or no cost memberships available through a partnership with the Working Centre to capture the current users. I'd really like to see the system well integrated with GRT, both for payment/access (i.e. easygo card) and in terms of station locations (at/near Ion and iXpress stops in particular).

[tomh009]

So ... if there are 70 members, does that mean there are only 70 economically disadvantaged people?

Living in the core, wanting a bicycle, not having obtained their own, and aware of Bikeshare?  Seems possible to me.  Keep in mind that the Working Centre is not driven by market principles.

Right.  It seems to me that awareness needs work if the membership is stuck at 70.  That, and making obtaining "membership" less onerous so more people can take advantage of it.

I don't think this has anything to do with market principles, but if the goal is to provide a service to the community, I would think that would mean making the service as well-known and as easily accessible as possible, removing barriers for people who might be interested in using it.

[Canard]

Also, a bike sharing service you have to be a "member" of is a failure, to me.

It should be "I want to ride a bike!" and in less than a minute, you are.

[ijmorlan]

From an article in The Record today:

This boggles the mind (from the same Record article):

CAB was set up to provide an inexpensive way for people to get access to a bike, and hasn't focused much on gaining membership, said co-ordinator Paulina Rodriguez.

Why on earth not?  If getting people to use the bikes is not the goal, then what is?  (Edit: I am not blaming Paulina Rodriguez for this as she has just taken over the program, but I really do question the priorities.)

This is a particular area in which operating “like a business” is something more organizations should do. There is no point in running some great program if it hardly benefits anybody. If something is a good idea, it should be expanded to help all those who can be helped. And if a program would be excessively expensive to run in a way that would help many, than almost certainly it is also too expensive to run for the small group, given the small number of people who benefit.