BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

First, its awesome to see this stuff in the US. I guess it was pretty popular in parts of Paris (Vélib').

Second, the cost is crazy. You can rent a zipcar for a little more than $65 a day. And that includes gas and insurance.

Someone is making a killing on these things and should reevaluate their pricing models. I don't understand how a $1000 bike rented for 24h can cost as much as a $30,000 car rented for the same time, when most of that fee is gobbled up in gas and insurance costs. I guess there are vandalism issues, but that still can't make up the huge price difference.

Someone is making a killing on these things and should reevaluate their pricing models.

If they are making a killing, they won't. What is needed is a competitor to undercut their price.

I don't know about their cost structure, their insurance costs may be high. Vandalism and theft

are an issue though..

But this latest French utopia has met a prosaic reality: Many of the specially designed bikes, which, when the system’s startup and maintenance expenses are included, cost $3,500 each, are showing up on black markets in Eastern Europe and northern Africa. Many others are being spirited away for urban joy rides, then ditched by roadsides, their wheels bent and tires stripped.

With 80 percent of the initial 20,600 bicycles stolen or damaged, the program’s organizers have had to hire several hundred people just to fix them.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/31/world/europe/31bikes.html

I've seen rental bike racks like this in DC too, but not sure how it works--probably similar.

Here are the details:

B-cyle intends to be "multimodal." The idea: Leave your car at home, take a light rail or bus into the city, then bike to work or other errands. Reverse it to get back home.

A 24-hour membership is $5; seven-day is $20; 30-day is $30; and an annual membership costs $65. Students and seniors ages 65 and up can receive discounts, bringing their annual rate to $45.

Usage fees apply per ride. If bikers can get to their destination and return their cycle to a kiosk in under 30 minutes, the ride is free. But the charge begins to escalate after 31 minutes, starting at $1.10 with a daily max capped at $65.

If you, um, forget, to bring the bike back, it will cost $1,000 to replace. And that's a direct debit right out of the credit card you listed when you signed up. Lose a B-card? That's a $5 fee. And it costs $10 to replace a B-cycle key.

Sign up for an annual membership and get a coupon toward the purchase of a helmet at Bicycle Village stores. The discounted price is $26.99.