Comment 117702

By mdrejhon (registered) - website | Posted April 15, 2016 at 18:15:52 in reply to Comment 117535

Mark-Alan Whittle,

Are you aware that SoBi bikeshare breaks even operationally at half rides per day than BIXI?

Smartbike systems such as SoBi breaks-even at only 2 rides per bike per day average, and I interviewed SoBiHamilton during their anniversary party, for an upcoming RTH article. They break-even operationally.

Sure, they need capital for expansion, but, operationally break even. Huge cost savings occur because bike rebalancing is partially crowdsourced. (Riders get a reward in bike credit when returning an offdock bike to a dock). Full docks don't need an emergency rebalance (SoBi electronic U-bar allows docking nearby pole, tree, fence or regular bike rack).

I own a bike but see the allure of this system. While I still drive to Aldershot GO for more flexible all-day GO service -- personally if I am up early enough in good weather, I now use SoBi to commute to the GO station. My SoBi+GO commute actually competes with my Aldershot drive+GO commute. The 1-way biking convenience allows park-and-forget without the usual weather/theft worries. I can take a bus or taxi "in the other direction" on the bad days. On pay-per-use (the cheapie $5 membership), that 10 minute bike commute to the GO station cost only ~80 cents (the $4/hr is pro-rated to the second), which is cheaper than a bus fare! I was so impressed a year ago, that I upgraded to a monthly membership.

Let's be VERY glad we didn't choose a BIXI type system for a lower-density city -- the smartbike system allowed larger number of dumbdocks spread over a larger lower-density city than Toronto. Ours is 45 sq/km compared to Toronto's 15 sq/km coverage.

Comment edited by mdrejhon on 2016-04-15 18:27:12

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