[*BCM*] boston's bike sharing program

[Dimitri Kountourogianni]

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.
>
>   

Technically you are buying a membership for $5 (canadian) for 24 hours. 
This gives you the right to take out the bike for 30 minutes at a time 
without further charges. The second half hour of a reservation is $1.50, 
the third is $3.00 and the subsequent half-hours are $6.00. There are 
monthly and yearly memberships too ($28 and $78).

see here for more info: http://montreal.bixi.com/home/slide1

They structure the fees so that people give back the bike when they get 
to their destination so that it's available for others. There's not a 
good way to lock the bikes to anything but the bixi stand anyhow so you 
pretty much need to return the bike when you get to where you're going.

I tried bixi out when I went to Montreal a few weeks ago.  It's wildly 
popular, so it can be hard to find bikes. There were a few technical 
glitches too like bikes or card-readers being broken. About half the 
time I tried to use it I couldn't get a working bike. I think that the 
service is not as reliable as say zipcar.  I didn't feel like I could 
count on it and I also wanted to go places outside the service area so I 
ended up just renting a ten-speed/lock from a local bike shop for the 
weekend.  However, I still managed to make use of bixi a few times on 
the Sunday after I had to return the rental.

Glitches notwithstanding, I think it's a great thing to have access to. 
It would never replace my bike, but I can still see using it when I 
don't have my bike for some reason - the times when I now resort to a 
taxi or public transit. And I think it would be great for people who 
aren't committed enough to own a bike but are still interested in riding 
one occasionally.

Bike-sharing is a good way to build the cycling critical-mass we all 
want, but we do have a long way to go. Montreal is a biker's paradise 
compared to Boston; it's not a given that it will succeed at the same 
level here, but I hope it does.

-Dimitri