Charlotte Bike / Scooter Sharing

[kermit]

Not sure about the liability angle. NC is a contributory negligence state (so if the bike rider is 1% to blame for the accident then Bcycle has no liability) so in combination with the release for you sign when getting a membership or day pass Bcycle should be well protected regardless of infrastructure.

[SgtCampsalot]

Good point. I suppose the rationale is purely safety-related. The director(s) are bike enthusiasts that wouldn't want novices to get injured because they made a bad decision on location.

[radiosimon]

On 3/8/2016 at 2:27 PM, SgtCampsalot said:

Me too, but there's no way they'll go where the bike infrastructure doesn't connect seamlessly to uptown. Too much liability when someone on a bcycle gets hit riding on the road, or navigating the skinny sidewalks. While the N Davidson St area will be well-connected soon, PM is still stuck until Central Ave gets retrofitted for bikes somehow up to the bridge.

Agreed we need better infrastructure...but I believe there are bike lanes (or markings?) along Pecan and Hawthorne? Getting to Uptown would be nice, but so would going to Elizabeth....and NoDa...

[Midwoodian]

I thought I remember hearing a B-cycle was going in with the apartments that will wrap The Thirsty Beaver at Central and Hawthorne?  Did I make that up?

[kermit]

^ I remember that too. Their last round of expansion was promised to be five new stations, I think we only got two out of it (New Bern and Bearden). At least two of those new stations were penciled in for Central / Plaza -- but they just vanished.

[Spartan]

On 3/7/2016 at 1:24 PM, Matthew.Brendan said:

Every time I'm out walking and see a Bcycle station I think "awesome, I'd love to hop on a bike and ride around." and then I remember it's $8 just to unlock the bike and then $X per hour after the first 30 minutes. So that quickly turns into "ehh, I guess not".

I think they changed it to 1 hour. So, as long as you dock the bike every hour, you can immediately check it back out at no additional cost. As long as you're smart about it, you can "rent" the bike for the whole day for $8. 

 

On 3/8/2016 at 2:27 PM, SgtCampsalot said:

Me too, but there's no way they'll go where the bike infrastructure doesn't connect seamlessly to uptown. Too much liability when someone on a bcycle gets hit riding on the road, or navigating the skinny sidewalks. While the N Davidson St area will be well-connected soon, PM is still stuck until Central Ave gets retrofitted for bikes somehow up to the bridge.

It has more to do with distance from other stations than anything else. The infrastructure is the street. Anywhere there is a street, you are allowed to ride a bicycle and the expectation is that most users will ride in the street (Even if they choose not to). My understanding is that in general they try to space them around 1/2 mile apart or less. We can be certain they're going to add stations in NoDa because the light rail is being extended up there. If you put stations at 9th, Parkwood, 25th, and 36th stations then it only accounts for 4 out of 20. That's 16 other stations to spread around, so the odds are pretty good that Elizabeth, Dilworth, Wilmore, Greenville, Brightwalk, NCMF, Belmont, Villa Heights, Cherry, 1st Ward, Park Road Shopping Center, etc. could get stations.

[Matthew.Brendan]

If they have in fact raised it to 1 hour trip time that certainly makes it more enjoyable. 30 minutes just felt punitive. The one time my gf and I tried it out we rented them from Freedom Park, did 1 loop around the lake and then went straight to Metropolitan (at a more-than-leisurely pace) and barely made it with any time to spare. The prospect of then having to dock/unlock another set of bikes just to beeline it to the next station didn't really seem like fun.

[kermit]

per the web page, 24 hour passes only get the first 30 minutes free, annual memberships get the first hour free. Seems like a strange way to sell day passes (which were intended to be the primary revenue generator)

https://charlotte.bcycle.com/top-nav-pages/rates-membership/rates/rates-membership

FWIW I own a bike but I still find my annual membership to be well worth the cost for commuting purposes. The membership is particularly handy if I just miss my train leaving uptown after rush hour. Its much faster for me to bcycle home than to wait for the next off-peak train.

 

 

Edited March 11, 2016 by kermit

[archiham04]

Bumping this thread.  Went looking for b-cycle expansion info and it is getting a bit scattered since recent announcements are in conjunction with apartmentsI guess...  Here is the most recent mention I have found from the agenda promising 2 b-cycle stations in a single block (doubtful) in Plaza Midwood... and one at Crescent/WholeFoods uptown.  Any others?

[kermit]

^ IRRC the apartment project at Parkwood station will also have a station (but I may be misremembering)

Much to my dismay UNCC is deploying bike share but they are using a different system.

[deleted]

1 hour ago, kermit said:

Much to my dismay UNCC is deploying bike share but they are using a different system.

This really is unfortunate and makes it likely that only UNCC students will use that system (and that they will lose access to bikes Uptown when they use the light rail).  Wonder why they made that decision..?

[archiham04]

There was a well informed discussion on the Urban Institute site about it... I'll try and link if I find it again.

 

[archiham04]

Seattle is too hilly, too rainy and maybe not very well managed apparently:http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/mayor-ed-murray-kills-seattles-bike-share-program-pronto/

[kermit]

^ The tweeterverse is pretty focused on Seattle's helmet laws as the primary cause of death. Hills and weather seem a bit less likely since bikeshare in both Portland and Vancouver is doing well.

 

[deleted]

https://www.charlotteagenda.com/82294/bike-sharing-expanding-south-north-east-charlotte/

Good news...

[tozmervo]

I'm not sure "on a roll" is how I would describe what sounds like a very small expansion compared to expectations

[deleted]

7 hours ago, tozmervo said:

I'm not sure "on a roll" is how I would describe what sounds like a very small expansion compared to expectations

Oh, I didn't realize more was promised/expected.  I rarely see people use these so even though I love the concept I'm surprised and pleased that it's succeeding to even this extent.  I'd do it myself but the bikes look awful (probably fine, just perception) and the membership requirements felt onerous when I last checked.  Really hoping a dedicated bike lane happens in Uptown...

[kermit]

17 minutes ago, JBS said:

Oh, I didn't realize more was promised/expected.  I rarely see people use these so even though I love the concept I'm surprised and pleased that it's succeeding to even this extent.  I'd do it myself but the bikes look awful (probably fine, just perception) and the membership requirements felt onerous when I last checked.  Really hoping a dedicated bike lane happens in Uptown...

Bikeshare is HUGE leverage for transit. There really shuld be stations at every blue line station and another a half mile away from each station in both directions. 

The network effects of bikeshare are an order of magnitude bigger than for transit. Our network should move from "barely viable" to "iconic urban feature" with this expansion. Those network effects would be juiced if the CRVA payed for 24 hr memberships that uptown hotels could give to guests.

Edited February 24, 2017 by kermit

[nonillogical]

19 minutes ago, JBS said:

Oh, I didn't realize more was promised/expected.  I rarely see people use these so even though I love the concept I'm surprised and pleased that it's succeeding to even this extent.  I'd do it myself but the bikes look awful (probably fine, just perception) and the membership requirements felt onerous when I last checked.  Really hoping a dedicated bike lane happens in Uptown...

I live in Dilworth and work along the rail trail in Southend so I seem them ALL DAY. Also extremely high numbers along LSC greenway. I ride my own bike around town a lot but am fairly experienced, and would rate riding in Charlotte as relatively "high difficulty". Considering the meager infrastructure and many tricky areas of town to get through it looks like a huge success to my eyes. 

[videtur quam contuor]

I was on my bike on the greenway Freedom Park area twice on last Saturday and the BC/BS B cycle bikes were rolling all around and there were just two or three remaining at the band shell station as I went past.

[Matthew.Brendan]

$8 for a "day pass" sure, I'll cough that up. Oh wait that actually means 30 mins "free" or start paying $4 per every 30 mins?!

I was floored by this. I honestly can't believe people will spend $12-20 for a 1-2 hour bike ride. Sure sure, you can dock it and unlock another (woo, fun!) if you can make it to another station in <30 mins, but unless you plan to make that the whole focus of your trip it's just burning money by the minute. 

[kermit]

10 hours ago, Matthew.Brendan said:

$8 for a "day pass" sure, I'll cough that up. Oh wait that actually means 30 mins "free" or start paying $4 per every 30 mins?!

I was floored by this. I honestly can't believe people will spend $12-20 for a 1-2 hour bike ride. Sure sure, you can dock it and unlock another (woo, fun!) if you can make it to another station in <30 mins, but unless you plan to make that the whole focus of your trip it's just burning money by the minute. 

Its not as bad as you make it out to be. 30 minutes is enough time to pick up a bike at First Ward park, ride down to LS Greenway and peddle-down to Freedom Park. Dock the bike, hang at the park and ride back when you are ready. Its also plenty of time to ride from the Square down to Triple C. Its a commuting tool, not meant to be for leisurely Sunday rides.

The day pass was envisioned to be for tourists, its a cheap way to trundle from place to place. Annual mamberships were intended for work or shopping commuters (I frequently use it to get from Southend to uptown for work and Knights games). Annual memberships would make more sense in Charlotte if there were more stations in places like PM, NoDa and Elizabeth -- then bikeshare becomes a pretty reasonable commute mode. It would also help if annual mamberships cluld be payrol deducted pre tax dollars like parking. The current Charlotte system is really too small to motivate tourists or attract commuters so I truely hope they can pull off the expansion.

Edited February 25, 2017 by kermit

[southslider]

30 minutes is enough time for a commute or an errand. At an hour, it's more likely a recreational ride, but even then, the price is competitive with bike rentals.

[videtur quam contuor]

Not directly related to Charlotte B Cycle but Montreal was an early adopter of the city bikes program and while I was there recently I could look out my window at Ontario Street, a major connector toward the center city, and there was a steady flow of city bikes headed to town in the 7:30-9 am period. Many riders were clearly commuters from clothing, shoulder bags, and other signs. A younger group and they may use the Metro in bad weather. Still a sign of adoption for commuting. Anyone on the way in town daily in Charlotte see any evidence of this here?

[Spartan]

On 2/25/2017 at 9:48 AM, tarhoosier said:

Not directly related to Charlotte B Cycle but Montreal was an early adopter of the city bikes program and while I was there recently I could look out my window at Ontario Street, a major connector toward the center city, and there was a steady flow of city bikes headed to town in the 7:30-9 am period. Many riders were clearly commuters from clothing, shoulder bags, and other signs. A younger group and they may use the Metro in bad weather. Still a sign of adoption for commuting. Anyone on the way in town daily in Charlotte see any evidence of this here?

Anecdotally, the only direction that this type of commuting would even be viable is to/from South End and maybe Five Points because our system doesn't extend far enough into residential neighborhoods (yet).