[*BCM*] boston's bike sharing program

[Hiroyuki Yamada]

The other thing to note (not sure if these details are available yet) is 
location of the stands -- will there be ones out in the 'burbs, where 
there actually useful for pre-post-train trips? e.g. davis, porter, 
lechmere, etc. If they are only situated in the City of Boston (i.e. NOT 
cambridge, somerville, brookline etc) then they will serve less purpose 
-- once you're in the back bay or downtown there are T stops close 
enough that you might not need to bike.

Something I can see them being useful for is biking TO the grocery store 
(or other errands -- pharmacy, bank, etc), dropping the bike off while 
you shop, and then biking back home, dropping the bike off a ~5-10 min 
walk from home. Granted, most people don't want to carry a backpack able 
to hold their groceries, but for small trips and such, it'd be nice to 
not have to, again, spend more than 1/2 the time of the trip just 
walking to or from their destination/bus stop/train station.

Pofitability might be an issue, especially at first -- are there any 
provisions for the City to pad their early losses to allow the program 
to settle in?

Also, as with Zipcar, are the rates past 30 min/each increment dastardly 
high? I know people who've gotten zipcars back 2-5 minutes late, and had 
to pay $50-75 as a result (some of these have been argued against and 
won, but still..)

Overall sounds like a pretty good program though..

-Yuki

On 08/14/2009 12:26 PM, Ben Hunrichs wrote:
> I used the one while visiting Montreal in May, and it was pretty cool.  
> The bike stands were everywhere, so without fore-thought, you could 
> pretty easily jump on a bike, ride for less than 1/2 an hour, then leave 
> it at another stand.  They way they had it set up, you didn't need to 
> buy a membership, you just swiped a credit card, and only got charged 
> for anything if you kept the bike for more than 30 minutes.  According 
> to locals, you could serially ride multiple bikes for short hops, still 
> at no charge.
>
> It is good for tourist use, but I think it also could be good for short 
> pre/post subway trips.  When I don't ride my own bike, I often take the 
> T, and end up spending more than half of the commute time walking to and 
> from the train.  As far as I'm concerned it would be awesome to have a 
> free or nearly free no-hassle bicycle waiting for me at either end.
>
> The bikes themselves were funcitonal, comfortable, but definitely not 
> the kind of thing anyone would want to steal.   (besides, they have your 
> credit card number).  The thing that worries me the most about this not 
> working, is just the brutal, fuck-everyone vandalism impulse.  People 
> can be dicks.
>
> ben
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