Their pricing structure seems super confusing. There's two full paragraphs talking about it.
ViaCycle (YC S12) Is A Zipcar For Bikes, Coming To San Francisco Soon
11–20 of 137 posts
Re: ViaCycle (YC S12) Is A Zipcar For Bikes, Coming To San Francisco Soon
#12Puget Sound Bike Share ( http://pugetsoundbikeshare.org/ ) is in the early planning stages of getting something similar set up in Seattle.
I'm surprised Bcycle hasn't moved into Seattle yet to be honest. They're setting up bike-shares all over the country (started here in Denver).
Re: ViaCycle (YC S12) Is A Zipcar For Bikes, Coming To San Francisco Soon
#13Good luck
We have this type of system( Bixi) in Toronto. When I first heard of it I kind-of sneered at it. I wasn't sure who would actually use this system.
But it's pretty popular. Not sure if it makes any money though.
Re: ViaCycle (YC S12) Is A Zipcar For Bikes, Coming To San Francisco Soon
#14ViaCycle should sell its locking system then anyone with an unused bike can participate in the program!
Re: ViaCycle (YC S12) Is A Zipcar For Bikes, Coming To San Francisco Soon
#15In Germany we have a system like this called call-a-bike (it's run by the german railway!). It works surprisingly well. You're allowed to leave the bikes wherever you want and if they are left unused for a while a truck will come and move them back to a central location. I really like what via cycle has done with the SMS unlocking. Back when I was in Germany, almost three years ago now (!), you had to call a service…
Call a bike in Germany is definitely a great system! viaCycle strives to improve on this by geo-fencing the bicycles when they need to be checked back into the system (and so you are no longer charged for usage). This helps maintain distribution and gives users reliable, structured locations to get bicycles, so they're not just strewn across cities.
Yea, and logistical problems like that are what gets me excited about this.
In grad school I did research on a on increasing the average vehicle occupancy in cities and we took a lot of inspiration from the bike sharing programs.
Have you considered offering dynamic pricing based on the likelihood that the bike will be used in the near future? I.e. riding into the city should be cheaper than riding out of the city in most cases.
Re: ViaCycle (YC S12) Is A Zipcar For Bikes, Coming To San Francisco Soon
#16Puget Sound Bike Share ( http://pugetsoundbikeshare.org/ ) is in the early planning stages of getting something similar set up in Seattle.
5 bucks a rental though, kinda steep if you are only going a few blocks. Very good if you are renting the day.
Re: ViaCycle (YC S12) Is A Zipcar For Bikes, Coming To San Francisco Soon
#17Interesting. I'm in Montreal, the birthplace of Bixi, which runs the London bike share program, and the upcoming NYC program as well as many others. Works fairly well, but apart from the cost the docking stations cost the city parking revenue. One major administrative cost is moving bikes around. People tend to take them downtown during the day, and out of the town at night. Even if you don't need docks, you still ha…
Definitely true. Redistribution is always a hurdle, though with viaCycle's realtime data, we can do some very cool things with incentives and pricing to help the system balance itself.
Bixi takes a lot of parking spots partly because finding space for large stations is difficult. By using existing bike racks, we can often put in bikes without modifying anything. Plus, although parking is lucrative, replacing room for one car with 10 bikes that 100 people can use is a good trade in our book.
Re: ViaCycle (YC S12) Is A Zipcar For Bikes, Coming To San Francisco Soon
#18How do they tackle the stolen/abandoned/damaged bike problems that plague every community bike program?
This was a major factor we considered in our design. Every bicycle is GPS tracked, so you know their locations. The bicycles are designed to be rugged so they hold up to abuse, and regular maintenance is part of operations. There will always be issues, but nothing that can't be solved.
There are hundred of modern programs in operations around the world, and it seems the theft issue has been overblown: http://www.startribune.com/local/minneapolis/149446485.html
Re: ViaCycle (YC S12) Is A Zipcar For Bikes, Coming To San Francisco Soon
#19About time. In the US, we seriously need more emphasis on bikes and encouraging people to use them for shorter commutes. We either have to drive or walk (mostly). I once met a european lady (from Amsterdam I think) who would not stop talking about how behind the US in terms of bike culture, hardly any bike lanes on roads etc.
Re: ViaCycle (YC S12) Is A Zipcar For Bikes, Coming To San Francisco Soon
#20Puget Sound Bike Share ( http://pugetsoundbikeshare.org/ ) is in the early planning stages of getting something similar set up in Seattle.
I'm surprised Bcycle hasn't moved into Seattle yet to be honest. They're setting up bike-shares all over the country (started here in Denver).
Seattle is very hilly and rainy so can make for harder biking.