Biking in Boston

Nobody, do you know where one can find the contract Alta signed with the city? It should be publicly available. Does one have to go to city hall, or file a freedom of info request?


It sounds like a lot has changed since 2009. In 2009...

(concerning this point)
whighlander said:
Jass __ MAPC Can not sign anything which has financial obligations of tax payers -- I t has no money of its own -- it has no legal existence -- it is strictly advisory and consultative
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-All financing was to be done privately. Not a single dollar in public money. In fact, the city was to charge the operator for lost revenue at parking meters used for stations.
Today, all the financing apparently is public (fed bucks which the MBTA applied for)

-All liability was to be on the operator
-Apparently, today thats not the case

-All operations, marketing, station location choices etc would be made by the operator
-Apparently, that is not the case

In 2009, all that the cities would do is approve/permit locations. Thats it.


Why did that change? Why was the 2010 RFP so radically different from what was proposed in 2009?

From a resident of the city's perspective, it seems like the 2010 RFP is a big downgrade because clearly things are working much slower than they would have had the 2009 RFP been used. We should be looking at 160 stations right now, not 57 "sometime soon"

And from what you say, it's also not good for Alta because they dont get to make any decisions.

So why did Alta jump in and take the 2010 RFP instead?

Was it just because it would be less work? Alta hasn't had to do any outreach or advocacy stuff, like running campaigns directed at motorists.
 
jass said:
Nobody, do you know where one can find the contract Alta signed with the city? It should be publicly available. Does one have to go to city hall, or file a freedom of info request?


It sounds like a lot has changed since 2009. In 2009...

(concerning this point)


-All financing was to be done privately. Not a single dollar in public money. In fact, the city was to charge the operator for lost revenue at parking meters used for stations.
Today, all the financing apparently is public (fed bucks which the MBTA applied for)

-All liability was to be on the operator
-Apparently, today thats not the case

-All operations, marketing, station location choices etc would be made by the operator
-Apparently, that is not the case

In 2009, all that the cities would do is approve/permit locations. Thats it.


Why did that change? Why was the 2010 RFP so radically different from what was proposed in 2009?

From a resident of the city's perspective, it seems like the 2010 RFP is a big downgrade because clearly things are working much slower than they would have had the 2009 RFP been used. We should be looking at 160 stations right now, not 57 "sometime soon"

And from what you say, it's also not good for Alta because they dont get to make any decisions.

So why did Alta jump in and take the 2010 RFP instead?

Was it just because it would be less work? Alta hasn't had to do any outreach or advocacy stuff, like running campaigns directed at motorists.
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Jass -- One Word -- STIMULUS aka American Re-investment Act -- aka Shovel Ready

Last spring -- The administration in DC and the administration in the "Corner Office" were desperately searching for projects where they could show the Stimulus actually did something measurable -- Hubway apparently met the criteria

The dirty downside is of course there is no more stimulus money in the pipeline -- who pays after the money is gone?
 
I knew it was Obama's fault. That.... LIMOSINE rider.
 
whighlander said:
Jass -- One Word -- STIMULUS aka American Re-investment Act -- aka Shovel Ready

Last spring -- The administration in DC and the administration in the "Corner Office" were desperately searching for projects where they could show the Stimulus actually did something measurable -- Hubway apparently met the criteria

The dirty downside is of course there is no more stimulus money in the pipeline -- who pays after the money is gone?
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Not exactly. DC applied for bikeshare money 3 years in a row and got declined. However, their system hasn't stopped growing.

This page shows the DC expansion timeline (a wee bit outdated, but you get the general jist of what's on the ground as of March 2012)
http://beyonddc.com/log/?p=2946

The Boston grant was to the MBTA, which is odd because they werent even really involved with the first RFP. They just said "we're game"
 
They reinstalled the Copley Sq. Hubway rack today. I'm happy to report that they changed the orientation to parallell with Dartmouth St. and it no longer cuts off the sidewalk in front of the BPL.

Edit:
Upon further review, they actually placed the rack smack dab middle of the sidewalk. There are no bikes in it now, but it's a double-sided rack, and once bikes are placed on both sides this will certainly be a major obstacle to pedestrians, especially in the summer when the sidewalks of the Back Bay are packed with people. This placement may me somewhat better than before, but it still sucks. Why not two single-sided racks up by the bollards at the EDGE OF THE SIDEWALK? This is the better solution and it's pretty obvious. It's amazing how oblivious these people are.
 
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Delayed launch date finally announced as March 15. Originally planned on March 1st, including announcements made just days before.

HOWEVER, the system wont be anywhere near "complete".

New Balance Hubway is pleased to announce that our system will reopen for both annual and casual membership use on Thursday, March 15 with approximately 60% of Hubway stations live and operational. Hubway will continue to work on installing stations through the end of the month, with full system deployment by April, 1.
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Since when does it take 4 weeks to deploy all stations? It certainly didnt last year. When the system expands will it take them 2 months...?

Despite the mild winter, Hubway and the City of Boston are conscious of the potential for harsh weather during the New England spring season. If severe weather occurs during the next few weeks, Hubway’s operations will be impacted and full system deployment may be postponed in consideration for the safety and security of our staff and equipment.
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Then why did you announce a March 1st date last fall, knowing perfectly well that Boston gets blizzards well into April?

And throwing the weather excuse on one of the mildest winters in the last decade doesnt give much confidence in next year.

Please monitor Hubway’s deployment progress! Visit the Station Map page of our website to view what stations are live and operational, displayed by green icons. Additionally, follow Hubway on Facebook and Twitter for relaunch announcements and events. Finally, Hubway recommends that you download the free Spotcycle application to your smartphone, which will help you to navigate to and from live stations during relaunch while you’re on the go.
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Facebook (I dont use twitter) is not very useful. They havent even posted this very announcement on there.

http://www.thehubway.com/news/2012/03/09/new-balance-hubway-relaunch-begins-thursday-march-15


These people REALLY need to get their business in order.
 
2 weeks late and still only slightly more than half of the system deployed? I don't care if Alta's real customer is the city and not the Hubway members, that's unacceptable and I hope Freedman holds them to some level of accountability for that.
 
I don't think March 1 vs March 15 vs April 1 is going to significantly affect the utilization of the system once it's fully installed. People will gradually use it more and more as the weather becomes more consistently warm.
 
Ron Newman said:
I don't think March 1 vs March 15 vs April 1 is going to significantly affect the utilization of the system once it's fully installed. People will gradually use it more and more as the weather becomes more consistently warm.
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Ron, the data in DC shows that people ride throughout the year. Yes, theres a drop off in the winter, but the system is far from idle.

Its essentially a whole other month that the system could have been used, but isnt. Like December.
 
Most years in Boston, biking in March and December is exclusively for the hardcore, ie those of us who have our own bikes. The more casual cyclists and tourists who are Hubway's main customers, do not care whether it's March 1 vs. March 15. They won't ride before April, anyway, even though this year the weather is already fine.
 
HenryAlan said:
Most years in Boston, biking in March and December is exclusively for the hardcore, ie those of us who have our own bikes. The more casual cyclists and tourists who are Hubway's main customers, do not care whether it's March 1 vs. March 15. They won't ride before April, anyway, even though this year the weather is already fine.
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Henry -- I think a major factor is the impact of the Hubway system on the clearance of snow from emergency arteries, etc. In Lexington, parking your car on the street is banned from Dec-1 though March 31 -- this is the case irrespective of the weather in any specific year. It's just based on statistics -- no significant snow before Dec-1 or after April -1 although there are exceptions such as this year on the early side and the infamous April -1 Blizzard with 25+ inches of snow on the late side.

This year cars could park on streets and people could bike nearly every day during the Dec through February period -- its just that you can't build policy around anomaly.
 
Lurker said:
2 weeks late and still only slightly more than half of the system deployed? I don't care if Alta's real customer is the city and not the Hubway members, that's unacceptable and I hope Freedman holds them to some level of accountability for that.
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There's actually a huge amount of irony in this statement.

The permits for the on street stations are only good for one year, so the DOT has to give new permits every spring before Alta can place the stations back on the street.

A while back someone made a big assumption. The assumption was that they could get the DOT to make the permits available by March 1st. In the end they were very wrong and the DOT couldn't be talked into giving them out before 'late' March. Can you guess who that person was?

So Alta can't deploy the on street stations until they get their new permits. That's why they can only start with 60% of the stations.

So who gets to take all the heat for one person making a bad assumption and telling everyone to plan on a March 1 launch based on that assumption?
 
Nobody, theyre running a business. How about less time running around pointing fingers and spreading blame, and more time doing their job?

I find it odd that Alta has to deal with all these business-destroying obstacles that no one else seems to have to worry about.

Either they have terrible luck, or they're simply not doing a good job.

People bought annual subscriptions and were told to expect that subscription would be live on a specific date (weather permitting). Weather wasn't a problem, which means they misled their customers.


BTW, on their official facebook page, you know who first announced the March 15th date? Some random user. Alta couldnt be bothered to copy and paste their very own website announcement to their facebook page.
 
HenryAlan said:
Most years in Boston, biking in March and December is exclusively for the hardcore, ie those of us who have our own bikes. The more casual cyclists and tourists who are Hubway's main customers, do not care whether it's March 1 vs. March 15. They won't ride before April, anyway, even though this year the weather is already fine.
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"Capital Bikeshare set a new record for one-day ridership on Wednesday. They had 6313 rides, crushing the old record of 6044 recorded on the 4th of July last year. I don't think this record will stand very long. Only 16% of those trips were by short term members. And no wonder it's doing so well, it's the fastest way to get around downtown according to science. "

https://twitter.com/#!/bikeshare/status/180286635617947649


So much for people not riding in March!

And so much for the "main customers" being tourists.


Shame that hubway missed the highest ridership day of the year. March 14th.

DC also installed 2 new stations on the national mall yesterday.



In other news, Alta and Bixi have won the contract for Chicago. Good news for them, bad news for Boston, as stations and staff will be spread even thinner. Chicago is placing a much larger station order, so will probably skip ahead in line.
 
Ron Newman said:
DC's typical March weather is quite different from Boston's.
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While the temperatures in DC and Boston wont be very different on Sunday -- both will be quite pleasant -- The Cherry Blossoms are all out in DC. Even with this very mild winter and what looks to be an early Spring in Boston - don't expect much in the flowering tree category until around [highlight]Patriot's Day****[/highlight]

There are plenty of times when quite unpleasant weather for casual bike riding persists in Boston well into May. Note due to the Atlantic Ocean still being cold -- this time of year Lexington Center can be 10 degrees or more warmer than City Hall Plaza -- and in addition with a particularly chill wind blowing across the windswept City Hall Plaza

**** -- just noticed that this is [highlight]my 1775 post to Arch Boston[/highlight] -- what a coincidental reference
 
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Ron Newman said:
DC's typical March weather is quite different from Boston's.
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As Ive said before, deployment should be based on actual observed annual patterns, and not whats typical.


As for Chicago, Id assume their system will also be seasonal and would probably mimic the Toronto schedule? Ive never been to either city though.
 
I can't understand how this DC comparison is meaningful. I reiterate, nobody but the hardcore bikes in Boston in March. Regardless of whether Hubway users are tourists or locals, annual members or one time rentals, they are not the hardcore, they are not biking in March in this city.
 
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