Bixi Lands Boston, London: Game-Changer for Public Bikes?
Montreal’s bikesharing system, known as “bixi,” is coming to Boston and London. Photo by amesis.
London and Boston made big announcements this week, both naming Montreal’s Public Bike System – known as Bixi (short for “bicycle taxi”) – as their preferred bike-share provider. Could Bixi’s foray onto the world scene be a game changer for public-use bicycles?
Beginning in spring 2010, Londoners and Bostonians can sign up for a personal key card ($78/year CND in Montreal) providing 24-hour access to thousands of convenient bicycles for short-term use. Members can hop on bikes at hundreds of stations throughout the city center, and ride them one-way to other stations, with up to 30 minutes for free. The concept, already taking Europe by storm, is clean, affordable, and super convenient.
London plans an impressive 6,000 bicycles at 400 stations. Boston envisions 2,500 bikes at 290 secure racks, before expanding to 5,000 bicycles at 475 locations as the system reaches Cambridge, Brookline, Arlington, and Somerville.
This week’s news signals a major shift for the bike-sharing industry. To date, advertising giants like ClearChannel and JC Decaux have operated the largest systems, mostly in Europe. Public Bike System is the first mobility company, focused on bicycles, to compete and win a major city contract. Make that two.
Why is this important? Public Bike System plans to manage the system locally and responsively, with the goal of making neighborhoods healthier and more sustainable. Its business is bikes.
I wrote in July about Washington, D.C.’s contrasting experience with the bikes-for-advertising model, in which ClearChannel seems reluctant to expand its 100-cycle SmartBike pilot unless D.C. donates more public ad space to subsidize the program:
ClearChannel’s business is advertising, so its mission compels it to focus on billboards, not bikes. Moreover, because the city owns all the bike-share revenue, while ClearChannel owns all the cost, better service and more business mean LESS profit for the operator.
Bixi promises to fix this conundrum too. The Boston engagement commits Public Bike System to providing its own capital and implementing a system that covers all its costs. If successful, Bixi may become the first large, self-sustaining bike-share system in the world. Financial self-sufficiency could pave the cycle track for hundreds of new cities to bike along.
Public Bicycle System is not the only new mobility company winning new bike-share business. Veloway (by Veolia) operates a small system in London and soon will serve two cities in France plus a university. And B-Cycle (by Humana and Trek) plans to roll out small systems in Denver, Miami Beach, and Honolulu. Meanwhile, ClearChannel continues to win new business too — with news this week of planned system in Mexico City.
Bixi’s job will not be easy. It will have to balance service quality, societal benefits, and financial pressure, in a new service model with many unknowns.
Will Bixi demonstrate a better service and superior business model, in practice? Or will it prove, as many competitors say, that bike sharing must receive large public subsidy to be truly green, convenient, and affordable? The answer sure will be exciting.
Hein ??? avez vous vu ça ?
Comment faire pour emprunter un BIXI gratuit!
FREE BIXI ??
Free public bikes failed in Amsterdam and other cities years ago. Will paid, secure bikes solve the problem – could be, since theft and lack of funding where the main problems. But then, in the 30 years since, bikes have flourished as a mode of transport in Amsterdam, which raises the question if a paid bike system is the total solution, or a road and safety infrastructure that supports biking much better is. Also, people are lazy, and want to stay clean and dry for work. Electric bikes, could be important then, as will support for new bike designs that will keep you dry.
[...] this video about B-Cycle, a bikesharing service in Denver, Co. that we’ve already mentioned here, here, and [...]
Kevin,
Thanks for leaving a comment! It is interesting to understand how a cultural shift occurs, isn’t it? Of course, it’s also hard to measure…
While there is a “je ne sais quoi” quality about whether or not bikesharing takes off in a given city, it’s also important to emphasize that private companies and public authorities need to provide the right tools and services in order for bike culture to blossom. It has to do with creating a good brand that’s affordable, accessible, large-scale and integrated with the rest of the city’s transit options.
It’ll be interesting to see how this works in the U.S.!
Thanks again for reading,
Erica
The truly great benefit from big, well organized bike sharing efforts like Bixi and Velib is CULTURAL, not immediate green or financial – and that’s likely why they have happened so big so fast in French cities. More bikes in the streets, more new cyclists, more smiling tourists, and more je ne sais qoui of grabbing a bike from here to their. The French understand the value of culture, and invest in theirs in an English speaking world.
Cities need to be unaffraid to invest in bike culture in a car driving world. They will be giving themselves a head start on the future.
Bike share break-even is not the goal. If it is, we are all on for disappoinment.
Ah, true! Minneapolis was first in the U.S. to announce it was moving forward with a large-scale system — also Bixi. And in Minneapolis a local non-profit will manage the system. It’ll be interesting to see which city opens first, and how the operating models compare.
Minneapolis announced last year that it would create a bixi system of 1,000 bikes. I think it’ll be the first larger system to open in the US.
http://www.twincitiesbikeshare.com/
[...] this video about B-Cycle, a bikesharing service in Denver, Co. that we’ve already mentioned here, here, and [...]