B.C.’s first public bike share program is just two weeks into its soft launch and already has drawn a heftier ridership than many expected — including those running the system.
More than 2,800 people have purchased a collective $315,000 in annual Mobi memberships, giving them access to a few hundred bikes scattered around downtown Vancouver, the system’s area of operation.
Mia Kohout is the general manager of Vancouver Bike Share, a subsidiary of parent company CycleHop, which received $5 million from the city to run the system for five years. She said she was “totally blown away” by the number of members who have signed on to date.
“It was our hope, obviously, when you launch a system to see numbers like this, but it is beyond what we expected,” Kohout said.
She put the membership numbers in perspective, drawing on experience that CycleHop has had running bike share programs in cities across the United States.
CycleHop has run Breeze Bike Share in Santa Monica, Calif., for about a year. The city has about 500 bikes and 407 active members. Vancouver has 387 bikes to date (with a target of 1,500) and 1,761 active users — they being members who have taken at least one trip.
On a member-per-bike basis, “cities that have been operational for years have those kind of numbers,” Kohout said. “This has been extremely successful right out of the gate.”
But membership numbers only tell part of the story. As early adopters — and those who had considered joining — have found, it’s not possible to pop a few coins in and test out Vancouver’s system. Instead, users have to pay annual fees for unlimited ride schemes that start at $99, an introductory rate that ends Aug. 15.
In the experience of CycleHop, casual users can outweigh members 50 to one. Mobi has yet to tap into Vancouver’s casual user market, and that will change when the system fully rolls out.
Daily and monthly passes will soon be available for purchase online and from payment terminals in high traffic areas. Vancouver’s day pass will cost $7.50 and include unlimited 30-minute trips. In comparison, hourly rates in other systems CycleHop runs go for around $8 and monthly rates tend to start at $15.
Because the pricing scheme for Mobi bikes is so different than that of car-share programs, they are hard to compare on a value basis. For reference, members can borrow a car2go for $65-85 a day,$10-15 per hour or $0.41 per minute.
When asked if CycleHop sees car-share programs as competitors, Kohout said: “Not so much.” Rather, she saw those who are used to the sharing economy as potential Mobi members, “especially when it’s beautiful outside.”
There is a drawback to the system that some riders have experienced so far, and it has to do with parking. To complete a trip, riders need to park in one of 34 active stations (150 stations is the target). But those stations can fill up and when they do, riders need to pedal to a different station which could be blocks out of their way, or wait for a “rebalancing crew” to come along and free up space. CycleHop has solved the problem differently in other cities like Phoenix, where users can park at a public bike rack for a small fee.
There are some people who have shown almost no interest in Mobi bikes whatsoever — thieves. The company has not lost a single bike, wheel or saddle to theft, and just one helmet has been pinched, Kohout said.
“People have been so respectful of the equipment and we’re really thankful and grateful.”
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