Suddenly it's the flavour of the month, as I've been engaged in a number of discussions on what sort of public bike / cycle hire schemes we need to have for our town/city etc.  In the UK this is doubtless being driven by several of the Local Sustainable Transport Fund bids, calling-up a bike hire scheme within their LSTF prospectus but unsur of what sort of scheme would work.

Going back a few years, I was involved with the early automated system (1996) used for Portsmouth and Rotterdam (Bikeabout), which had the automated version of the DBS bikes used in Sandnes, and Trondheim, that launched the first heavily backed system in Rennes (Adshel - which developed through many stages to the Clear Channel bikes that launched in Barcelona slightly ahead of Ve'Lib, and without the ransom of handing over an exclusive street advertising concession, and some very impressing key ratios - average number of hires per bike per day, number of subscribers per bike, etc.

However the bike share model DOES NOT work for tidal flows, such as commuters travelling from a railhead to offices and factories for the day.  Th Dutch OV-Fiets is a far better model for this, and can in some places work with a minimum number of bikes that actually need to be 'parked' at a station, of the daytime inbound commuter demand can be matched by an evening use by those who commute out from the same station - I can see one prime location for this being a well balanced traffic - between Edinburgh and Glasgow, a busy commuting corridor in both directions, helped immensely by the fact that a 'weegie' working in Edinburgh, cannot wait to get back home to Glasgow and vice verse.  It will be very interesting to discuss this next Tuesday, at the Cycling Scotland Annual meeting.   

Then there is a further class of user which modern charging system can accommodate - someone who takes the bike out on a continuous block rate hire, this can be delivered with the same bikes as a public bike and a daily hire scheme, but perhaps the winning way for a city with high density housing, and office space, where both seek to minimise the floor area required to park cars or bikes, is to deliver a folding bike system, and this is being seen in the form of Brompton Dock, in the UK and some manual hire systems (C-TEC with the Belgian operator SRWT being launched in 2009, at around the same time as SWT started a manual Brompton Hire operation, that developed market models for automated 24/7 operation of Brompton Dock, which emerged about 2 years later.  Unlike a bike sharing scheme which typically requires a 150% dock to bike ratio for fixed hire points, and seems to be working best with a minimum of number of subscribers per bike (and possibly a maximum - factored to convert casual day users to a regular user equivalents) but a figure of 25-40% is more likely for a long term hire (lease) operation, and dock-less schemes present a completely new paradigm for their 'operating ratios'

We are just about beginning to see transport being 'sold' in the same way as energy, and telecom utilities, and with this cycle 'hire' and car 'hire' in the widest sense will be through the range of tariffs and user deals as varied as those for energy and phone service.  Montpelier does this already, using a common bike for differint tariffs, and some of the newer more flexible bike hire schemes do have a portfolio of choices for cycle use - see Hourbike, Nextbike etc, and even Brompton Dock, has pricing to reflect the cost of operating alternative   

Spain has seen several different operators emerging, and Paul de Maio (Metrobike LLC) has taken on the enormous task of keeping track of it all.  Some of the massive Chinese operations are interesting in that they have many details that come back to the systems that were there in that 1996 Bikeabout project.

Dave Holladay

+44+ 7 710 535 404


On 07/11/12 20:59, Esther Anaya wrote:
[log in to unmask]" type="cite">For the case of Spain I have produce some documents, the latest with Alberto Castro, who worked in the Obis project and developed his thesis on the same data. 
Here is a recent interview to both of us by a specialized magazine, it's in Spanish, but I guess that google translate can help you http://www.ciclosfera.com/ficha.php?id=83
Our last publication http://www.fundacionecabv.org/content/balance-general-de-la-bicicleta-p%C3%BAblica-en-espa%C3%B1 (it has a brief summary in English)
Our blog (where you can find Alberto's thesis between other documents) https://bicicletapublica.wordpress.com/
And Alberto is going to make a presentation about the publication in the next Polis Conference, this will be in English and we can send it to you once it is presented, if you are interested. 
Let me know if you want some more details about the Spanish case.
Best,
Esther

2012/11/7 John Meudell <[log in to unmask]>

Personally, and professionally, I remain unconvinced by the economics of the bike hire schemes currently in place.  The use of docking stations away from principal interchanges means that for a considerable periods it is difficult, if not impossible, to match demand with supply, meaning expensive re-positioning operations.  Furthermore, all the larger schemes rely heavily on some form of sponsorship (aka subsidy ).

 

It would also be interesting, if not enlightening, to examine cost per kilometre and load factors (number of hours per day the wheels are turning), data which the larger schemes must have gathered electronically.  I’m pretty sure these would compare unfavourably with asset utilization in generically similar schemes (I was thinking shipping containers, for instance).

 

I have to say I am staggered at the annual running cost per bike of the TfL scheme, which is patently unsustainable.  That sort of money would be far better spent increasing the number of (preferably covered) parking spaces at key interchange points or employment/education centres.  Furthermore, if bike hire is desirable, from a visitor and uptake point of view, it would be more economic based around parking/servicing complex, as is the case in many Dutch railway stations.

 

Bear mind that the UK’s 23.5 million cyclists own somewhere between 40 and 50 million bicycles, an asset which only a fraction of which is used on a daily basis.….surely mobilization of that asset is more important than providing expensive, highly subsidized and under-utilised hire bike schemes…..

 

Cheers

 

John Meudell

C.Eng, MIMechE

 

 

 

From: Cycling and Society Research Group discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Adrian Lord
Sent: 07 November 2012 16:46
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Cycle Hire schemes

 

Hi

 

We are working on cycle hire in Ireland and reviewing experiences of cycle hire schemes to date.  Also considering cycle hire as part of a strategy for an English city.  Obviously I’ve reviewed the available literature such as OBIS etc but I’d be interested to hear any first-hand accounts of what is / isn’t working in the UK and elsewhere given that so many schemes appear to be struggling to survive.

 

My own interpretation (by which I mean guess!) of what is happening in Britain is that:

·         Many towns/cities just too small to generate transport business unless there is a decent leisure route as well;

·         Public transport is as quick and cheap (compared to £4+ minimum fare and congestion in London) so the short trip market isn’t there;

·         Very little cycle infrastructure/roads too busy etc – and in smaller/hilly towns there are not the sort of quieter parallel routes that you get in central London ;

·         Scheme itself is too small – i.e. not enough places to pick up / drop off to make it convenient;

·         The technology – mobile phone, registration etc is just too awkward and clunky to use

·         The Boris Bikes and Velibs are maybe perceived as ‘cool’ because they are distinctive compared to some of the cheaper/garish hire bike designs on offer?

 

You may of course wish to respond privately and I won’t quote you!  I just want some practical advice!!

 

Thanks in advance...

 

Adrian Lord

Associate

 

Arup

Admiral House, Rose Wharf, East St, Leeds, LS9 8EE  United Kingdom

t +44 (0)113 242 8498   d +44 (0)121 213 3650 

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