Finally have time to reply to nobody. Will also be posting lots of new bike lane pics soon.
And my g key is not working right, so if a g is missing and I dont catch it, my apologies.
All quotes below from nobody.
That's good for b-cycle. Lets keep 30 station systems in perspective though. I mean in the next 12 months Capital Bike Share is adding something like 80 stations in DC and 50 in Arlington. Plus you are likely to see Hubway to add 20 stations in Cambridge and a few more in Brookline/Somerville next year.
My intention was just to report news, not have a penis measuring contest.
I just want to clarify something. You appear to have mistaken my intentions. I don't, and never have worked for B-cycle. I don't hate Bixi, Alta, or anyone. Indeed, I want bikeshare to be wildly popular in Boston and all of NA. I feel that Boston is posed to be the most successful bikeshare system in the country in terms of use (obviously not total size, that will be NYC).
My criticism of Alta are because I want to see the system done right, and they've made lots of amateur mistakes. Nothing to kill the system, but stuff that's kept ridership down. That's bad for a whole bunch of reasons. A lackluster acceptance means federal funding becomes harder for Boston and others. It means the city may become more hostile to expansion and so forth.
I want Hubway to be extraordinarily successful. After all, I started working on bike share in Boston in 2008. While Im no longer involved, I obviously am still highly invested in it personally.
On another topic. How do you feel about that timeline? 10 months from being awarded the contract to the actual launch? I actually think it's pretty reasonable.
I feel like Baltimore was unfortunate to wait so long to finally hand out a contract. The Baltimore process has been ongoing since 2008...I was involved in it as well. Lots of false starts.
DC and Boston also didnt get their systems online until late summer. It's far from ideal.
I can tell you though that Alta/Bixi were out of the running a long time ago, mainly because of the financials of the deal.
You should keep track of those financial issues as well. B-Cycle has to raise 1.2 million to pay themselves for the stations and the beginning of operations. It will be interesting to see if in the end they get to 1.2 million or if they have to eat much of the cost by giving the stations away for less than they want to.
1.2 million is quite frankly, not very much at all. That's, what a single green line train?
Whats interesting is that what Baltimore is doing is what they said theyd do from the start.
It's also what Boston had initially said.
-No taxpayer monies, 100% financed by bike company
-You even pay to use street parking (repay lost meter monies).
Of course, as we've discussed, Boston threw all this out and issued a new RFP with a giant money bag. In part, thanks to the MBTA application and winning of funds.
First, this "This is a change of policy. " Here is the language from the actual user agreement each user agrees to when they sign up. It's easily found on the join page of the website.
Change of policy from what was originally announced, not what was launched. Like how the 61st station was never installed.
Removing 60 stations in 3-4 days would be a terrible idea because you'd incure huge costs uncessarily.
To remove/drop a station you need a crane truck, a flatbed and at least 4 staff. On a perfect day one team could do 6 stations. So to do all 60 in 3 days you'd need 3+ teams of crew + trucks.
Now, how many trucks do you think Alta has at hand? Why would they keep 4 crain trucks on hand, what would those trucks do all year? I'm guessing Alta has a single crain truck and they rent another truck when they need to. So in order to remove all 60 in 3 days Alta would have to rent a minimum of 3 more trucks, with certified crane operators, 3 flatbeds and have another 12 people working with those 3 extra crews. You add all those things up and you are talking easily over 5 figures a day in 'extra' costs.
I dont know how many trucks Alta has. But Alta has one big advantage. By operating Boston, DC, and future NYC, they can share assets.
Montreal closed up November 15th. I dont see why Alta couldnt have used the Montreal trucks 2 weeks later for Boston. These same trucks can then head down to Arlington/DC to help with their winter expansion. Then, they could coordinate to launch NYC and reopen Boston and Montreal in the spring.
Quite frankly, it is quite dumb to have independent materials for each city. So I hope they do this, for their own sake. As you said, these trucks are idle most of the time. Put them to work.
Plus, I'd imagine the city/alta have looked at the numbers and they know which stations and station pairs are getting the bulk of the trips and which are seeing no more than 2-4 trips a day. In systems like this, especially at this time of year, I would estimate that 80% of the trips begin/end at a subset of the stations that is less than a 3rd of the whole network.
Its a network. Its incredibly foolish to look at individual station numbers or even station pair numbers, unless certain portions of the system operate independently (ie, DC and future Alexandria, Boston and future east Boston etc).
Its also a customer service problem, because not everyone is always informed about whats happening. What will ruin a day, and indeed the concept, faster than someone biking to a station that was there yesterday and is now gone?
Shut down the entire system at one point, remove the bikes, and then start removing the stations, just like startup in reverse. Yes, you "punish" the informed riders....but its worth it.
Also, from the facebook
STATION REMOVAL LIST FOR NEXT WEEK (Mon & Tues).
MONDAY, 11/21/11
BU Central,Brigham Circle, Buswell/Park, Overland/Brookline, Dudley Sq.
TUESDAY, 11/22/11 (Pie Ride - see post below).
Agganis Arena / 925 Comm Ave, Boylston / Mass Ave, Yawkey Wy /Boylston St, Milk / India, Chinatown
