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bike share is coming

Yale Cohen sent me this photo of this sign near the convention center downtown today. I've transcribed it:
City of Pittsburgh Department of Public Works INSTALLATION NOTICE BIKE SHARE STATION This is a notice that the City of Pittsburgh plans to install a bike share station at this location. This station will be one of fifty stations proposed throughout the City for Pittsburgh Bike Share, scheduled to launch in summer of 2014. For site specific details, please visit http://pghbikeshare.org or contact the Bicycle/Pedestrian Coordinator for the City of Pittsburgh, Stephen Patchan at (412) 393-0150.
(Patchan's web page also lists this email address: Stephen.Patchan@city.pittsburgh.pa.us ) yay!
paulheckbert
2013-07-11 16:40:40
Someone facebook-tagged me a picture of the same sign posted at Federal and Isabella, directly outside PNC Park.
epanastrophe
2013-07-11 16:47:58
Bike share is coming IF we get enough sponsorship money to launch it and operate the system. If you work for a major local corporation and have an "in" with the executives, tell them they should support this and sponsor it. We're pitching corporations right now. This is not a 100% done deal as it stands today. Posting the station locations is part of the public outreach strategy so to avoid a lot of the negative stuff that happened the first week of the launch in NYC with people there saying they had no idea that it was coming or what the stations would look like. The bike share team is trying to give plenty of advance notice that this is in the works.
scott
2013-07-12 11:27:48
Seems like the perfect opportunity for our non-profit overlords UPMC to ante up.
lou-m
2013-07-12 11:50:28
Yeah, maybe Mayor Luke can ask them...
jonawebb
2013-07-12 12:03:53
By the way, you will probably want to call and/or email your councilperson and the mayor's office to tell them how excited you are for bike share to be coming to Pittsburgh. They are only hearing from "irate" callers who don't want it right now.
scott
2013-07-12 16:00:56
What? I don't remember any "maybes" in the bike share press conference a few months ago, it sounded like a done deal.
salty
2013-07-12 17:37:40
It's not a done deal. Everyone speaking said we needed corporate support. Read the articles in the paper that followed. The press conference announced that we got federal funding, were heading into the public process.
scott
2013-07-12 21:21:05
Bike share (is) coming to Pittsburgh: http://localhost/2013/03/11/mayor-ravenstahl-announces-bike-share-system-coming-to-pittsburgh/ :) Well, the situation is what it is, but up until today I was under the impression it was definitely going to happen (even the article you linked to uses the word "will" everywhere but the headline) and we didn't have to do much but sit back and wait. Now it sounds like there's some doubt about it and people should be taking some action - which is unfortunate, but good to know. BTW, I finally took my first ride on a BkSq bike yesterday. I know those aren't necessarily the same bikes for the citywide system, but I thought it was decent - although if it were up to me I'd swap the 3 speed hub for 7 (Shimano does make a 7sp roller brake version).
salty
2013-07-12 22:45:20
No action needs to be taken other than by corporations, whom we're meeting with every week. Well, if you'd like to call or email councilpeople and tell them you support it, that would be terrific, but they all voted for it back in March. We have a new nonprofit set up to operate it, a business plan, a location plan, the local match of $400k for $1.6M in federal funding (not to mention political will). We've raised $2M to purchase the equipment but that's not what the system costs to launch and operate. I am very very confident that a corporation will step up to the plate and take advantage of this product that will give them much more value in branding than what we are asking, but as of today one hasn't. This sponsorship money is built into our business plan, however, so without it we won't have the revenue to run it. Per our timeline with the state and Feds, we have another 8 or 9 months to get a sponsor.
scott
2013-07-13 05:58:33
basically, if i'm reading correctly, we're just looking for someone to be the 'Citi' in our 'CitiBike' ... ?
epanastrophe
2013-07-13 07:04:44
Indeed
scott
2013-07-13 09:42:09
@Scott...out of curiosity, are any of the Universities with downtown student populations stepping up? (Duquesne, Art Institute, Point Park)? Seems like an asset that would benefit them, too.
pseudacris
2013-07-13 13:52:32
We are definitely keeping the large institutions on our radar, but we're not approaching them first since none of them would want to underwrite the entire system. Selling off the naming rights to individual stations is an option, though.
scott
2013-07-14 08:45:44
I was just in Palo Alto, CA for a few weeks and happened to be there when they rolled out the SanFran BikeShare which includes stations in San Francisco, Redwood City, San Jose, Mountain View and Palo Alto (link) When I previously went out there in March, this street space was parking spots. Now they've gone the Park-ing Day Route, put a wooden deck down, and turned the car parking into bike share parking. I thought it was fantastic. (The bike in the foreground is what I was riding out there, a Rivendell Betty Foy mixte. But I think you can see the BikeShare bikes, and how the deck for the docking station sits on former parking spots) But what was doubling amazing for me was: What does the owner of the retail shop that lost these two parking spaces in front of the business think about this? What I found surprising was: the business is a bike shop, and they don't see any conflict at all with half-hour-free bikes, or short-term-cheap bikes right in their doorway. They see it as enhancing their business, not detracting from their business. I thought that was pretty enlightened. Imagine, for instance, a car dealership embracing Zip-Car parking.
vannever
2013-09-09 09:41:52
Maybe instead of running commercials disparaging each other Highmark or UPMC should sponsor? You know, healthy living and all that nonsense. :)
“This is a seasonal system. We'll have to watch the weather. Boston does the same thing,” Patchan said. “I would expect by mid-November, these things will be off the street.”
Is this true? Do some stations remain open or does the whole system shut down?
rsprake
2013-09-09 09:54:42
rsprake wrote:Highmark or UPMC should sponsor?
+1
vannever
2013-09-09 10:29:50
Two thoughts: A) Highmark AND Upmc should sponsor, equally. B) How do setups like these work in four-season places where they are ubiquitous, like Paris? Certainly it snows in Paris. Do they shut the whole thing down there five months out of the year? I can see them taking a bunch of them out of service during low-demand months, but even in the dead of winter, we get those marvelous days when everything's nice and clear, and there might just be some demand. Whatever they're doing, let's try a few here that way, too. But let's get them in here at all, first.
stuinmccandless
2013-09-09 11:06:20
rsprake wrote:Maybe instead of running commercials disparaging each other Highmark or UPMC should sponsor? You know, healthy living and all that nonsense. :)
Will they fight over sponsorship too?
rustyred
2013-09-09 11:23:33
StuInMcCandless wrote:How do setups like these work in four-season places where they are ubiquitous, like Paris?
I don't recall hearing that the share bikes are removed in Montreal, either, nor that they would be in New York...
epanastrophe
2013-09-09 11:35:45
Somebody or somebodies in NYC who doesn't like CitiBank or maybe Corporations in general has made a bunch of stickers and a few people are putting them on CitiBikes, changing the logo: ShitiBikes
vannever
2013-09-09 15:56:46
The BIXI bike-share system in Montreal is 3-season. They put them away for the winter. I don't know how well you can see it in the pic, but the stands are attached to a plate, and the whole thing is in the street. Trust me, Montreal is not the place for winter cycling.
ahlir
2013-09-09 16:34:05
Argh. Post apparently got eaten by the trolls under the messageboard bridge... Suffice it to say that while numerous bikeshare systems, including Montreal, Boston, Kazan, and Warsaw close during the winter, there are a bunch of others that stay open all year, including Boulder and Denver, CO; Washington, DC (hey, it does occasionally snow there); Columbus, OH... and pretty much the entire Swiss national share system.
epanastrophe
2013-09-09 19:45:06
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/news/politics-local/pittsburgh-city-council-members-hold-up-bike-share-bill-because-districts-left-out-705817/ Pittsburgh City Council held a bill today that would have advanced the city's bike-sharing project after council members expressed frustrations that their districts were being left out of the project. The stations -- which were cut from a proposed to 100 to 50 after the project lost out on some federal grant money -- are primarily located in the East End, Oakland and Lawrenceville and along corridors between those neighborhoods and Downtown. But there are none proposed for Mount Washington, the South Hills or Squirrel Hill and the proposed station that sits the furthest east is at Bakery Square. "We deserve more than we're getting," said Councilwoman Theresa Kail-Smith, who represents Mount Washington. Her district, along with those of council members Corey O'Connor and Natalia Rudiak, are not included in first-phase plans for the stations.
vannever
2013-10-02 22:10:14
With only limited money available, I think it's reasonable that neighborhoods like Mt Washington and Allentown aren't included. Few enough people ride up those hills as it is: how many would be doing so on bike-share wheels? The viability of the system decreases the farther away the stations are from each other, and with only 50, they need to be pretty close. Squirrel Hill is a little tougher. I understand why it's not included, and why some people wish it was. As it was mentioned at a public meeting I went to about bike share, a neighborhood can do their own fundraising and then offer money to be included in the system when they might otherwise not be. After all, the only thing limiting the scope of the system is money, and right now there is only money to serve these contiguous green areas: Note how SH is not connected.
ted
2013-10-03 09:32:53
The South Hills are really not that bad to ride around in once you get other there. I strongly agree that they need a safe connection to downtown more than they need bike share. But I can see bike share being useful out there, too.
jonawebb
2013-10-03 09:42:33
Yeah, I'd love to see this in squirrel hill. However, I don't see it being viable to remove other stations to make this happen. Squirrel hill, Highland Park, Point breeze, East Liberty, Casino, Manchester, and Mexican war streets could also benefit a lot from this as part of a later expansion along with increasing density in existing neighborhoods. However, I think it's important to build a strong core system and then work on securing funding to expand it outward is the only way to make this work with the funding we have. If it is spread it too thin then it doesn't serve it's purpose. The south hills almost needs a separate system or one that relies very little on circulation between here and lower neighborhoods. These bikes are not great hill climbers, and the inclines are preserved more as historical artifacts than as functional transit (though they do serve this purpose somewhat even now). I'd love to have the inclines be rebuilt using modern technology with more space to accommodate bikes and more passengers. The one in johnstown, while still pretty old, can even carry cars, bikes, and motorcycles up the mountain.
benzo
2013-10-03 10:05:39
Ted wrote:With only limited money available, I think it’s reasonable that neighborhoods like Mt Washington and Allentown aren’t included. Few enough people ride up those hills as it is: how many would be doing so on bike-share wheels?
You might not ride up the hill on a bike-share, but you could ride to a dock at the bottom of the Incline, explore Mt Washington, then grab a bike from a dock on Grandview and ride over to Allentown... I agree that these areas are probably a phase-2 expansion. But I think Kail-Smith and Rudiak's point is that the South and West Hills get left out of, well, just about everything, and there are a lot of people out there who would love to be included in programs like this if anyone would try. (Which isn't--necessarily--to say that nobody is trying. But it can sometimes at least look that way, which is why they want to take a moment and talk more with those involved.)
epanastrophe
2013-10-03 10:25:39
buffalo buffalo wrote:
Ted wrote:With only limited money available, I think it’s reasonable that neighborhoods like Mt Washington and Allentown aren’t included. Few enough people ride up those hills as it is: how many would be doing so on bike-share wheels?
You might not ride up the hill on a bike-share, but you could ride to a dock at the bottom of the Incline, explore Mt Washington, then grab a bike from a dock on Grandview and ride over to Allentown… I agree that these areas are probably a phase-2 expansion. But I think Kail-Smith and Rudiak’s point is that the South and West Hills get left out of, well, just about everything, and there are a lot of people out there who would love to be included in programs like this if anyone would try. (Which isn’t–necessarily–to say that nobody is trying. But it can sometimes at least look that way, which is why they want to take a moment and talk more with those involved.)
Where were they in advocating for bike lanes on west carson st?
benzo
2013-10-03 11:03:47
"We deserve more than we're getting," said Councilwoman Theresa Kail-Smith, who represents Mount Washington. Her district, along with those of council members Corey O'Connor and Natalia Rudiak, are not included in first-phase plans for the stations." Seems like if one was a resident in any of the above-mentioned districts, now would be a good time to clarify that as a voter, one supports bike share taking into account the concerns being brought up.
ka_jun
2013-10-03 13:47:34
I wonder how many people there are that would attack any of Pittsburgh's hillier sections but don't already own a bike. I enjoyed the three speed cruisers in Tel Aviv but I would not want to use them around here.
andyc
2013-10-03 13:55:59
If memory serves might right, parts of Mt Washington aren't too hilly within Mt Washington, so people could ride to the supermarket or some other stores and stuff
sgtjonson
2013-10-03 15:38:21
The point isn't whether people can ride bikes on Mount Washington, or to Mount Washington (or any other neighborhood), it's whether a sufficient number of people would use the bike share system to make it worth installing stations. The reason the system is focused on the downtown area is because that's where the density of people is, with lots of potential destinations. It seems like a nice idea to have a bike share station in each neighborhood, but most of them wouldn't get a ton of use and would take away from building a really good system in the center of the city.
willb
2013-10-04 07:56:16
What would be really great is if the bike share station locations were coordinated directly with the plan for rerouting buses out of downtown
czarofpittsburgh
2013-10-04 10:01:34
Bike Share should be available in areas where people need short-distance transit. This is a service not for bike-geeks (who already have bikes) but for people who need to get around. It is not primarily a commuter solution. The issue with Mt. Washington is not whether people will or won't travel between there and downtown but whether people there could use share bikes to get around Mt. Wash / Allentown / Beltzhoover / Mt. Oliver. Asymmetric/dynamic charging can deal with use patterns (e.g. free minutes if you take a bike up to Mt.Wash, extra charge if you take it down the hill). Squirrel Hill is pretty compact; it should also work there (say for Oakland). Velib in Paris does something like this. In any case, since it's Pittsburgh, why couldn't we simply get (say) 7-speed hubs?
ahlir
2013-10-05 16:00:50
An op-ed about New York City's bike share: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/24/opinion/bike-shares-rough-ride.html "IT’S been a year since Citi Bike started in New York City, and the program has been a tremendous success, with more than 100,000 annual members and over seven million trips to date. Or, if you prefer, in Citi Bike’s first year, the program has struggled financially and is in urgent need of tens of millions of dollars. Both are true, so take your pick. ... As Citi Bike enters its second year, it does so having passed both the safety test and the popularity test. Now it faces its biggest and most important test, which is whether we’ll forgive it for being unprofitable and poorly managed in the past, and commit to maintaining and improving it for the future — even if, ultimately, it should prove necessary to use city funds."
paulheckbert
2014-05-24 00:54:53
"...whether we’ll forgive it for being unprofitable and poorly managed in the past, and commit to maintaining and improving it for the future..." Interesting, sounds almost exactly like THE ENTIRE REST OF OUR TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE.
edmonds59
2014-05-24 07:13:33
Exactly. The true cost of private automobile transportation is (purposefully) obscured, while bike share, transit, etc. have nice budgets that make easy targets for criticism. It's bullshit. $10M probably won't even pay for a mile of another shitty unnecessary highway in the middle of nowhere.
salty
2014-06-09 19:51:24
I have been using bikeshare in DC this week, and it really does seem to be designed to get people to think "gee, riding a bike is fun, but it would be much less expensive and a pain in the ass if i just bought my own..."
btotheen
2014-06-10 08:35:27
It can get people to think that way, sure. (That's the hidden agenda of the All-Powerful Bike Lobby!) But it can be a solid addition to public transportation, even if you already bike regularly. There are some situations in which using a bikeshare bike would be easier/more convenient than using your own -- the last blocks of your trip after taking a bus, getting to a sporting event or to a music venue without worrying about locking up, when the roads are all salty (if you don't have a beater). I can't wait to bring bikeless friends and family on Jail Trail/Southside/NShore tours of the city.
kbrooks
2014-06-10 12:19:51
I recently used the bike share in New York (well, Manhattan). It provides a lot of benefits (since you can find racks every few blocks). 1) It's less hassle than the subway if you're going only 1-2 stops. 2) It's the easiest way to go cross-town. 3) Traffic jams are not a show-stopper: you just weave through the cars (well, in a safe and courteous manner). To reiterate a previous comment: share bikes are not about biking around. You buy your own bike for that. They are a complement to other forms of public transportation and fill a specific need. I don't know how the Pittsburgh system will be set up, but the NYC is very clearly set up for short trips, up to 30 mins; anything over that and you start paying (I think) $4 per 30 mins. If you want to ride around, rent a bike from a shop.
ahlir
2014-06-10 13:38:28
Last month I used a bike share in Ft Lauderdale Fla. Extended family had an overnight before heading home after a cruise. 12 of us piled in a cab to get to an area with some nice restaurants. After dinner I spied a share rack right outside the place, so spur of the moment I got bikes for my son and I and we took a lovely nighttime toodle back to the hotel, left the rest of them to the ratty cabs. It was the greatest freaking setup ever. Ft Lauderdale, lovely town.
edmonds59
2014-06-10 17:21:51
Now they're saying Pittsburgh Bike Share will start in Spring 2015. http://wesa.fm/post/pittsburgh-bike-share-program-launch-delayed-until-spring-2015 The initial plan required that the bid process for purchasing the bicycles be run through PennDOT, and specified “third generation” bike share technology, with the user interface on the bicycle parking stations. “The fourth generation technology that’s coming out moves that intelligence onto the bike,” Yavorosky said. “There are a lot of advantages to that, but the biggest … is that it’s much cheaper.” Because the winning bid for manufacture of the bicycles and docks employed the newer, fourth generation technology, Pittsburgh Bike Share could not accept the bid until the plan was revamped through PennDOT, which added a couple of months onto the process.
paulheckbert
2014-07-07 18:27:00
Yes, Spring was mentioned by scott bricker and peduto at the press conference on the new bikeways. I do think it will be good to have our new bikeways installed downtown prior to the start of the bike share. As well as having the strip district trail reopened. I also hope we get the east end bikelanes repainted on liberty and friendship as well. I can see a nice loop for visitors wanting to head to the strip district from downtown by taking the penn ave bikeway, heding through the convention center to the strip district trail to the strip at 21st st, depositing the bike, grabbing a bite to eat or doing some shopping, and returning on penn bike lanes, crossing 11th and hopping back on the bikeway.
benzo
2014-07-08 09:14:41
I got a chance to use San Fransisco's BABS last week. So easy. So awesome. We really should have used it to see downtown instead of the quarter-hogging meters for the rental car.
rustyred
2014-08-06 18:53:30
San Francisco (like DC, NYC, Philly) are not good places for cars. Public transit + cabs + your legs give you everything you need and are more convenient. And there's bike-share for the rest. You get actively punished for driving (well, for parking to be precise), as well you should be. If you need a car, rent it for just that day. Other than for goods deliveries and emergency services, why would anyone agree to cars in central urban areas? [disclaimer: not a rant aimed at RR, just a general observation.]
ahlir
2014-08-06 22:28:13
I was just in DC and used the bike share there a few times to get to and from the Metro station in Alexandria. It's really easy to use, and the smartphone app that shows all the docking stations and the number of available bikes/docks is awesome.
willb
2014-08-07 08:22:53
Saw Mpls version of bike share today, a really sweet station, on the platform, next to a light rail station near the airport. Cities can aspire to great things.
ka_jun
2014-08-10 21:12:19
So... with bike shares, and particularly the Pittsburgh one... what do people do about helmets? I'm not sure I'm too excited about a bunch of inexperienced cyclists on the road with potentially-not-great bikes, while helmetless. I know I don't get on my own bike without a helmet. I guess dedicated bike lanes would obviate some of this concern!
doublestraps
2014-08-11 09:24:02
@DS you've touched the edge of a very big controversy in biking, maybe the biggest, but the bottom line is that requiring helmets for bike share leads to very little use, while not requiring them leads to enough use that there's a protective effect as motorists learn to expect to see bikes on the roads. When bike share has been introduced without requiring helmets there has been a reduction of injury, including head injury. E.g,, http://www.streetsblog.org/2011/06/16/from-london-to-d-c-bike-sharing-is-safer-than-riding-your-own-bike/ http://www.cyclelicio.us/2014/bike-share-head-injury-helmets-safety/ It should be noted that there were lots of headlines recently about head injury rising when bike share was introduced without requiring helmets. But if you actually looked at the statistics reported, they showed a dramatic reduction in overall injuries, and a smaller reduction in head injury. There was no rise in head injury, just a smaller reduction than overall injury (so the proportion of injuries that were head injuries rose).
jonawebb
2014-08-11 09:35:15
When I used bike share in DC it felt a little weird to ride without a helmet, but the thing about bike share bikes is that they really do not go very fast, and they are quite conspicuous so people tend to give you a wide birth. If I had a membership and used it daily, I would probably bring my own helmet, but I'm not too worried about the issue generally. As experience has shown in bike share cities, the fears of novice riders getting killed have been unfounded. Also, the bikes that I rode were very high quality. Pretty much bombproof, and rode nicely (if slowly). Only complaint is that I would have liked a mirror.
willb
2014-08-11 11:42:45
Jon: that cyclelicio.us article is quite interesting. More: "In North America, Seattle and Vancouver are at the epicenter of this helmet battle. Both cities have been trying to start bike share programs, but they haven’t been able to yet. And some cycling advocates and helmet critics say that their mandatory helmet laws exacerbate a widespread perception that bicycling is unsafe. But North America isn’t the only continent with a helmet issue. Melbourne, Australia is often seen as an example of a city with an existing bike share system that has all the right stuff–a nice climate, flat topography, urban density–except for Australia’s mandatory helmet law." http://bikeshare.com/2013/04/debate-rages-over-mandatory-helmet-laws/ Seattle's bike share program is set to launch in Sept. 2014. Vancouver's system, delayed by several years, is expected to launch in 2015. They'll use helmet vending machines. I think the real solution is for those cities to repeal their mandatory-helmet laws.
paulheckbert
2014-08-11 11:52:33
One of the DC cyclists who's active on Twitter referred to "helmet homeopathy" while discussing this topic the other day. Great phrase.
vannever
2014-08-11 12:09:21
What jonawebb said. It baffles me how Australia got a helmet law. I thought it was a lawless land of manly men and women. Also, Doublestraps, don't worry so much.
edmonds59
2014-08-11 12:10:27
My multi-modal transportation patterns sometimes has me using both a bicycle and motorcycle on the same day. Carrying one helmet while wearing the other, while on my travels, just isn't going to happen, so I end up using the (much larger and heavier) motorcycle helmet for the bicycle travel. Would it protect my noggin better in the chance of a car-vs-bicycle mishap? Possibly. But I'm more likely to be busted up bodily just as much regardless of the type of helmet I have on. Having said that, I never go anywhere without at least the bicycle helmet. But also having said that, I think a lot of having a helmet on at all is as much safety theater as it is actual safety. The bigger problem is making the roads safer to ride on, and that has little to do with helmets. Solve the real problem. Don't get hung up in controversies. Having said that, I suspect that the controversy itself is a made-up weapon to help defeat implementing bike sharing, at least to defeat its effectiveness. Just get on the bikes and ride!
stuinmccandless
2014-08-11 13:26:52
I suspect that the controversy itself is a made-up weapon to help defeat implementing bike sharing, at least to defeat its effectiveness. Just get on the bikes and ride!
yep. this is just concern trolling.
epanastrophe
2014-08-11 13:35:40
"You can't build that road! Cars might crash there!" Tell me how well that argument would go over.
stuinmccandless
2014-08-11 14:04:37
Thanks for the responses, folks! I should make clear that I was not "concern trolling" (which would be a reasonable assumption since this was my first post), just new to the forums and new-ish to Pittsburgh! I am an overly cautious cyclist, so that's where my concern about helmets comes from. I'll add that I lived in Copenhagen for a few months in college, and if I recall correctly, almost everybody there biked without a helmet. They seem to be doing just fine.
doublestraps
2014-08-12 08:39:56
Also raising the price by 50%, BTW. Which makes sense. The system was oversubscribed, and didn't have enough money to pay for itself.
jonawebb
2014-10-30 11:10:59
"We consider our Bikeshare system part of our transit system, so it has to be accessible to everyone, and everyone has to be able to use it on their terms, just like public transit," said Chris Hamilton, the chief of commuter services in Arlington County, Va.
—from The Atlantic, Is Bike Sharing Just for Gentrifiers? NYC's CitiBike, by contrast, is not considered part of the city's transit system and does not receive public transit funding. (In fact, if I recall correctly, it receives no public funding at all.) Few other transit systems in the US are expected to be entirely self-funding.
epanastrophe
2014-10-30 11:20:39
That's true, but even with the price increase, it's still the cheapest way to get around NYC, other than walking. And it's often the fastest.
jonawebb
2014-10-30 11:30:14
Just want to add that the NYC CitiBike experience was one of the worst cycling experiences of my life. The cost seemed very reasonable for a 24-hr rental, but as was pointed out, you have to return the bike to a docking station in under 30 minutes or get charged an outrageous overage fee. My gf and I rode from the East Village to Brooklyn and we seriously had to re-dock the bikes at least 6 times. One of the stations had a busted screen, so we than had to find another station all while under duress of trying to stay under 30 minutes. When we finally got to our destination we couldn't find a docking station in enough time (2 minutes late) and got hit with the overage fee. I could understand maybe docking every hour, but having to do so every half hour makes you go out of your way to find a station and causes a significant amount of downtime to get the bike back. Took the subway back to the East Village and will never use CitiBike again.
unrealmachine
2014-12-05 11:13:52
from what i understand, they will not be using that model here.
erok
2014-12-05 11:19:11
That's good to hear.
unrealmachine
2014-12-05 11:58:11
CitiBike is not a bike rental scheme: it's an alternate form of public transportation. It's specifically for getting you from A to B. If you're looking for a day of cruising around you have to go to a bike rental place, and actually rent a bike. Or, do your riding in 30 min increments, maybe interspersed with train rides.
ahlir
2014-12-05 13:03:41
UnrealMachine, I don't have problem with NYC CitiBike schema. They stated it clearly tn their FAQ:
Are the first 45 minutes always free for Annual Members? As an Annual Member, the first 45 minutes of every trip are free. Trips that last longer than 45 minutes will incur overtime fees. A trip ends when a bike is securely returned back to a Citi Bike station. You may take as many trips as you want during your membership period. If you would like to take a bike for an extended period of time, we recommend that you rent a bike from a local bike rental location. Please visit our Resources page for a list of bike shops and rental locations by borough.
And they stated it clearly on their pricing page:
24-Hour and 7-Day Access Pass Overtime Fees up to 30:00 min $0.00 30 - 60 min $4.00 60 - 90 min $13.00 Every additional 30 minutes +$12.00
So I am kind of puzzled with your experience.
mikhail
2014-12-06 12:19:26
criticism of NYC bikeshare from a bike shop owner: http://thevillager.com/2014/12/04/bicycle-shop-owner-says-citibike-mowed-him-down/ Bicycle shop owner says CitiBike mowed him down George Bliss is angry about CitiBike, saying it has put him out of business. For nine years George Bliss’s the HUB (Hudson Urban Bike) shop has sold and repaired bicycles for adults and children in the far West Village, ... But by mid-December, the HUB will be gone. CitiBike is the simple reason, according to Bliss. ...
paulheckbert
2014-12-06 16:11:07
Mikhail, I never claimed that I was tricked by CitiBike or that I wasn't fully aware of their policies and procedures. What I claimed was that, in actual practice, the <30 minutes from docking station to docking station is frustrating, inconvenient, and causes one to constantly go out of their way to find a docking station. Have you or anyone else actually used this and had a positive experience? Can we quit pretending that my gf and I were trying to do the tour de NYC? I stated earlier that we were simply trying to get from the East Village to the Brooklyn Flea market via the Brooklyn Bridge (a 42 minute bike ride for a *direct* route per google maps) on a Saturday afternoon. It would have been nice to stop in the middle of the bridge to take some pics or admire the engineering work that went into the bridge, but again, we were constantly against the clock to make sure that we weren't going into overtime. With full knowledge of their policies, I still question the logic and ethics of their pricing. If this system is simply meant as an alternative to public/private transportation, why is there only an option for a 24-hour or annual rental fee? With tax, the 24-hour the cost of each 30 minute block is $0.23. The cost to exceed the 30 minute block is $4.00 for the first 30 minutes. That's a 1,745% increase in pricing for a period of time that you already paid for. And again, having to constantly re-dock the bike every 30 minutes accomplishes what exactly?
unrealmachine
2014-12-07 08:40:45
Trying to answer @unrealmachine's question, "having to constantly re-dock the bike every 30 minutes accomplishes what exactly?" I imagine that CitiBike wanted to motivate riders to return the bikes to docks, to keep the bikes in circulation. If lots of riders were using the bikes to go to two hour lunches, say, but not docking the bikes while they were at lunch, that would reduce the number of bikes in circulation mid-day.
paulheckbert
2014-12-07 10:00:35
For whoever is going to be managing the system, I must say that having enough empty docks is AS important as providing enough bikes. In fact, there should probably be more docks than bikes. At the end of my very positive experience with the system in Ft. Lauderdale, though, when my son and I got to our destination, there was only one dock available. Fortunately he was old enough that he could wait alone at our destination while I rode a half mile away to another station to dock mine. That could have been a major problem. Any given station should never be completely full, or the station should signal the system to remove some.
edmonds59
2014-12-07 10:24:15
@paulheckbert, I agree with the logic to have to re-dock the bikes. My gripe is that the 30-minute window is prohibitively annoying and causes a lot of down time to find a station, dock, and then go through the procedure to re-rent the bike. It should also be noted that 30 minutes is the maximum time to have the bike un-docked, so to stay within that window, the actual usable commuting time is closer to 20 minutes or less (unless you idealize a scenario in which there is a dock located on your route every 29 minutes). A simple change to a 1-hour window would be considerably more fair and user friendly without creating a bike shortage scenario.
unrealmachine
2014-12-07 10:36:11
Also, BTW, the charge should be high enough. One of the problems with the NYC system is that they set the annual charge too low, so there wasn't enough money to maintain the system, and too much demand. It's like at Disneyworld where once you're in the park, everything is free. You end up paying for rides anyway, using time, because you have to stand in long lines. This is also known as the tragedy of the commons, or the paradox of common goods. Economists know that the solution is to raise the price until you get refusal, and then to use the extra money to increase supply (or provide a public subsidy; but NYC ruled that out when the system was created). But the problem is that once a system is established, people really don't want to pay more -- even in NYC, where $100 for an annual pass is pretty much the cheapest way to get around the city. So the system ends up underfunded and poorly maintained. It would have been better to set a higher price initially, then lower it if there wasn't enough demand.
jonawebb
2014-12-07 13:38:57
A couple points: :) 1. 6.8 miles (per google) is definitely under 40 minutes. NYC is pretty much flat (I did bike a little bit in Manhattan (North), Harlem, Bronx, and a little bit Queens (out of curiosity) in 1992 or 1993 on a single speed. Google is just very generous. Technology Drive to Tazza D'Oro it shows as 5.8 m and 38 minutes. I usually get there in 30-31 if I do not rush, and in 26-27 if in rush. But this is me. 2. It's a mode of transportation and it's not a "tourist taxi". And I see it exactly like this. To me there is the same difference as between a regular bus and double decker running around Pittsburgh. The earlier one does not go where I want and it does not stop when I want. 3. Price is step after 30 minutes because goal is discourage long trips. You keep your bikes on a short leash. 4. I don't understand how you reduce 30 minutes to 20. I would agree if it;s reduced to 27 since time starts after you un-dock bicycle. So basically you undock it and start pedal. Screen work and docking would take 2-3 minutes. From what I see in statistics full docking station is pretty rare event. PS I bought a cheap folding bike in mid summer that I use for my bike commuting. Jail trail from 1st station to the parking lot and a little bit bask to 1000 Technology Drive is 3.7 miles. If I am in my regular cloth then it's about 12 mph or 17-18 minutes. If I am in rush then it's shorter (2.3 miles) and 14-15 mph and 9-10 minutes. And if I fill relaxed and no rush at all then my way from work to T look like this.
mikhail
2014-12-10 02:24:43
The DC version has the same 30 minute limit, and I agree that it's a little too short, especially for new users. 40 minutes would serve the same purpose but make it a little less stressful to get the bikes docked in time. The thing is that if you don't know the streets really well or have the dock locations stored in memory some of that time gets burned trying to find the stations or going the wrong way. Or people might get held up for a few minutes for whatever reason. Even if the purpose is public transit, many users will be visitors or just not ready to race along a particular direct route without stopping (those people are likely to have their own bikes). Public transit should be easy to use. I'm also not sure why our bike share will be closed in the winter. The bikes sound similar to the DC ones, and they're pretty well suited to winter riding with wide tires and protection for the drivetrain. Winter is also the time when it would be most useful, in my opinion. If the weather is crappy or questionable it would be great to be able to borrow a bike for certain segments of the day's travel and then walk or bus the others. No need to commit to your own bike for the day and suffer through an afternoon snow storm. I'm sure this would get people riding in the winter who otherwise would be intimidated by the weather.
richierich
2014-12-15 13:15:07
If you're a local and travel regular routes, you've probably figured out where the stands are. At at a relatively leisurely 8mph speed (what I seem to average in Pgh, accounting for stops etc) you'll go 4 miles, which is a pretty good range all things considered (around here that's Downtown / Oakland). Anyway, don't those time limits come with some kind of forgiveness interval, say ~5-10 mins, to accommodate circumstances? As well, inter-trip timeouts are usually pretty short, at least in New York if I remember correctly (and surely would be linked to how many bikes happen to be idle at a station). Or you can be like this one guy I saw in Paris, standing around and sticking his card in every minute or so to test the system. (He got going pretty soon.) In Montreal the racks seem mostly to be on the street, occupying parking spaces (yay). They get removed for the winter. Having grown up there, I know why: there's lots of snow. And things don't really slow down (not stop) until it's at least 10in new snow; bikes don't fit the scheme, otherwise clearing the streets would get too complicated. DC and Pittsburgh don't get anywhere that much snow. In any case I believe that share-bike construction has more to do with maintenance and general durability than with all-weatherness.
ahlir
2014-12-15 19:48:11
"Bart Yavorosky, executive director of Pittsburgh Bike Share Partnership, said foundations ideally would support the project indefinitely, letting Pittsburgh become the first American city that treats its bike-share system as a public service, rather than a money-making venture." Well, I hope it works. I prefer a model based on market pricing. Otherwise expansion is limited to what the foundations are willing to pay for. And if they lose interest, maintenance will suffer. Remember the Dasani blue bikes? http://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2005/07/09/Group-makes-free-bikes-available-on-South-Side-and-North-Shore/stories/200507090190
jonawebb
2014-12-19 10:48:39
Public service and market pricing are not incompatible. Public Service implies an effort to make the resource broadly available. Market Pricing implies varying price to achieve these goals. The bike-share pricing in Paris varies by destination, to ensure that certain locations have bikes available. There's other things you can do. For Pittsburgh I can see prices (and maybe time allowances) varying by, say, time of week. For example, Sundays downtown bikes are way cheaper than during the week. Or, huff'n puffing a bike from Downtown to Oakland yields some sort of bonus.
ahlir
2014-12-19 11:57:12
Speaking as a geezer, I would love to have a job repositioning bikes. Give me a cargo bike that I could put 3 rentabikes on, maybe a trailer that carries another 4 or 5, and let me ride circuits on the bakfiets moving bikes from full stations to empty stations. Say, 0900 to 11 in the mornings, and 6-8pm after the evening commute. What a great gig. Repositioning BurghBikes with trucks just seems so counter-mission.
vannever
2014-12-19 13:29:23
I think I used the wrong term. I meant that the price should be set high enough so that bike share can sustain itself and grow without a subsidy. Setting it too low just shifts the costs from money to inconvenience: you can't get a bike because they're all in use, or broken, and the system can't be expanded or fixed because the foundations don't want to kick in more money. Bicycling is efficient enough economically that bike share can be made available to lots of people while still making enough money to sustain itself and grow. It sounds like Pittsburgh's bike share system won't be doing this. What a shame.
jonawebb
2014-12-19 13:30:10
I think you do want truck-based maintenance. The trucks I've seen do schlep bikes around. But they also have setups to do light maintenance, and they cart broken bikes back to the shop. I can see it being more cost efficient. Still, getting paid for riding around town sounds like fun.
ahlir
2014-12-19 13:40:20
you missed the key line: "Bikes should be accessible to everyone." That means people who don't have the kind of cash you do. It's public transportation. Why shouldn't it have a subsidy?
epanastrophe
2014-12-19 13:47:12
Because it won't work that way. What will happen is, people who have more time or patience will occupy the system. If the cost is too low they just won't return their bikes. It won't work out for poor people or anyone else. Just the people who are willing to put up with an overused and undermaintained system will get access. For some things, like public transit, the costs are just too high and the benefits too spread out over the population for it to work any other way. You have to tax and subsidize, or otherwise the system is just unsustainable. But it doesn't have to work that way for bicycles. The costs are low enough that they can be made available without relying on a subsidy.
jonawebb
2014-12-19 14:19:43
We can subsidize bike share to make it affordable without making it so people don't return the bikes. My concern is that there needs to be a point (probably no more than an hour, maybe less) after which it gets really expensive to keep the bike out. That's precisely because bike share is public transportation, not a subsidized recreational service. People who want bikes for long rides can rent them elsewhere (or buy them, if they live here); the bikeshare bikes should be used for shorter point to point trips so that there are always lots of bikes available. But that doesn't mean that the cost of the first 30-60 to sixty minutes can't be kept affordable. You could also provide subsidized memberships to people with low incomes as I believe they do in Boston.
willb
2014-12-19 14:31:01
Boy it can't come soon enough. My wife works downtown with primarily middle aged suburban retro-yinzers, so she keeps me up on all the retro-buzz. Apparently many of the early and obvious snipes about the bike lanes have evaporated off, the last one she told me about was "what's the point, you can't even rent a bike downtown". ...! So I proceeded to tell her the story of the upcoming bike share with full orchestration and five-part harmony and stuff like that, and other phenomenon. You can get anything you want.
edmonds59
2014-12-19 14:42:06
Well, if you read the story, they're talking about providing bike share as a public service, with ongoing foundation subsidy. Which means they will be limited to whatever the foundations can pay. Subsidizing the poor directly is one way to provide bike share while maintaining a price structure that leads to more efficient use. You could even build the subsidies into the system so that they are paid out of the price other people pay. (You could also just give the poor money, and let them decide how to spend it themselves, but I guess we don't trust them to make good decisions.) Just subsidizing to lower the cost to everyone just shifts the cost from money to something else, like maintenance or difficulty accessing the system. NYC learned this the hard way, by rolling out a system with a too-low annual membership price. The bikes were over-subscribed, and there wasn't enough money to maintain them and the stations. Bikes were poorly maintained, the stations were broken or unbalanced. So, eventually, they got more money, expanded the system, and raised the price. I would've expected Pittsburgh would learn from that experience, but I guess we're going the other way.
jonawebb
2014-12-19 14:46:08
Remember, car driving is 2/3rds subsidized. And buses are heavily subsidized as well. Why are bikes suddenly expected to cover 100% of their cost?
ahlir
2014-12-19 14:52:14
I think returning to the notion that this is public transport is really key. It's come up before in this thread, but if it works with PAT passes and connect cards and doesn't blow out the cost structures too bad (which it shouldn't I'd think...) then that's a large fraction of the people who might be interested in using the system already able to use the system. It also encourages this to be thought of as a mutually reinforcing thing, bikes and transit, which could encourage joint stop / station joint planning, and more express oriented routes around flatter areas with better infrastructure and more approachable bike-ability. So much goodness could come of a smoothly operating joint system.
byogman
2014-12-19 14:56:48
@Ahlir, if you look at the city infrastructure for cars and public transit, I think you'll see why. Things that are subsidized by public funds tend to get short-changed and poorly maintained. Ideally we would use the foundation subsidy to set up a system that could sustain itself and grow, while providing well-maintained bikes and docking stations. Instead we're going to use it to keep the price low, for as long as the foundations are willing to pay. Again, if the bike share system was really expensive (like public transit is), the only choice would be taxes and a subsidy. But it's not. Other cities have shown a sustainable model. We should be following that model and trying to improve on it, not burning up foundation money.
jonawebb
2014-12-19 15:02:21
I have a policy question that I haven't heard expressed yet. Since this system is designed to help connect the last (first) mile, should these bikes be allowed on bus racks? It's a tricky question. I live in a neighborhood south of the city which will have no bike stations, so maybe racking 'n rolling on a bus would fit the transportation model. But why would you need to rack n roll from Town to Oakland? or Town to South Side? Shouldn't you just ride the bus (without bike) then take a bike from a station on the other end? I bring this up because it would be real frustrating to want to rack n roll your own personal bike, only to have to wait for another bus because the bus rack is full of bike-share bikes.
marko82
2014-12-19 15:14:25
My recollection of the couple bikes we had here to test was that they are heavy. Not so heavy as not to be used on a bus rack, but heavy enough to make it difficult. I am undecided on whether that (if true) is a good thing or a bad thing.
stuinmccandless
2014-12-19 15:44:24
They are heavy, and I also wonder if they'd even fit. I've seen a couple posts about people in Chicago, DC, and NYC locking them up to things, but other than the occasional long-distance tourist (like the, IIRC, DC bike that turned up in Chicago promoting the new Divvy, or the Divvy bike that went to Seattle), I haven't heard of too many people trying to take them on other transportation... maybe on the Metro, once.
epanastrophe
2014-12-19 15:48:33
(and, to directly answer your question, Marko, yes, one would hope someone would dock near a bus stop, ride the bus to Oakland or SS, and pick up another bike there, rather than take a share bike on the bus.)
epanastrophe
2014-12-19 15:50:15
NYC learned this the hard way, by rolling out a system with a too-low annual membership price. I'm not certain they were wrong to do it that way. It's possible that if they had started with a higher and sustainable price, fewer people would have been motivated to try it, and sponsors and funders would have decided it wasn't worth bothering with a niche service. It might be better to start with an initial unsustainable price just to get a much larger base of potential users. That helps with all kinds of things like convincing the city to allocate space for racks in the most desirable locations, getting funders to see the potential of the service, and so forth. Sure, there were problems later on with the way NYC did it, but that doesn't mean it wasn't the best option.
steven
2014-12-19 17:15:48
OK, let's try it for a year and see if the pricing model works. NYC screwed up the planning (but ended up showing that people are more than willing to use bikes: a rather valuable data point). Presumably the Pgh people will do the numbers better. Or not. And if not let's hope they somewhat underprice so as to get lots of people riding and maybe who'll gel into a constituency. It will die if the price is too high. I expect that some of us will buy a card even if we don't expect to use the system all that often. Sort of like a museum "membership" (actually a private subsidy).
ahlir
2014-12-19 18:03:05
I hope it works, too.
jonawebb
2014-12-19 19:37:37
I hope it works, too. I'll get a membership in case I ever feel like not taking my bike somewhere. Or in case I'm somewhere without my bike and feel like riding home.
chrishent
2014-12-20 09:50:49
The sentence with those prices says "for example". It's not clear to me if those are actual prices, or just made-up ones to help explain what "pay as you go" means.
steven
2015-01-05 11:58:33
I really hope you won't be able to rent one of these for ten straight hours for ten dollars. It goes against everything I've read or heard about how bike share is supposed to function.
willb
2015-01-06 09:31:29
To be fair, the article is very superficial and not particularly well written. It could be that the $10 for 10 is similar to the CitiBike daily fare, in which you pay for "unlimited" use during a certain period of time, provided that the bike is returned 30 mins after you rent it without incurring additional fees. Enough speculation on my part. I'll wait until the bike share website is updated to include the actual fare structure.
chrishent
2015-01-06 10:27:53
Interesting NYC photo. 1. Bike trailer in middle of a ped crossing (peds have the light). 2. Trailer (and some guy in the back) salmoning up a 1-way street. Anything else? But point granted; you can do redistribution by bike...
ahlir
2015-01-16 09:12:50
Unsure of posting this here or in "new from other places", ended up here. http://planphilly.com/eyesonthestreet/2014/12/02/making-bike-share-reflect-philly Other cities have found that the biggest barrier for bike share use is where stations are put. To diminish that issue here, 20 of the first 60 Philly Bike Share stations will be installed in low-income communities. (Those are defined as neighborhoods where 50% or more households live at or below 150% of the poverty line or areas with median household income at or below 80% of the citywide median income).
vannever
2015-01-19 17:55:08
haven't seen any news regarding the launch date for the bike share program, but I was looking at their website and saw that they've added a few more bike station locations on their map. This is looking more and more promising
chrishent
2015-03-20 08:32:11
http://www.pghcitypaper.com/Blogh/archives/2015/03/26/pittsburgh-bike-share-will-finally-start-in-may 'Nearly a year after its scheduled launch, Pittsburgh's bike share program is expected to drop 500 new bikes on the street within the next two months. “Things are marching forward,” says David White, executive director of Pittsburgh Bike Share, the nonprofit that manages the program. “We hope to have users with the ability to take out a bike starting in May.”'
paulheckbert
2015-03-27 08:57:31
I've brought this up before, and sent a few emails into black holes, but why no station in station square area? Would be helpful for getting people to and from the south side. There are often events at highmark stadium and the hotel there. Also, as a T user this would be super useful.
htric
2015-03-27 13:22:24
Re: the lack of a Station Square bike share. I believe it was for two major reasons, they were limited by funding, and it is surprisingly unfeasible. On the feasibility, the ways to get from Station Square to anywhere else are very difficult. You either have to brave Carson Street to get to the South Side Flats, or you have to brave the Smithfield Street Bridge. That, for now, is why there is no station there, in my opinion. With more funding and bike lanes, there is not doubt in my mind that there will be one there some day.
jason-pgh
2015-03-27 13:34:40
re: Station Square It's also fairly difficult to get diagonally across that corner to the T station.
stuinmccandless
2015-03-27 14:37:49
^ Station Square is most likely private property. That may be an obstacle to liability, etc.
marko82
2015-03-27 18:48:39
the ways to get from Station Square to anywhere else are very difficult A bike trail runs alongside it, and a multi-use path on the Smithfield Street bridge leads across the river. That's "very difficult" now? And crossing an intersection diagonally to reach a bike share location, pushing a Walk button twice, is now "fairly difficult"? Is this how those pampered European cyclists got that way? :-) I'd guess it's a combination of money, and perhaps disinterest of Station Square's owners in leasing the space needed for a bike share. There's also construction in the space directly across from the T station, so they may not want to install anything more in that lot until it's done.
steven
2015-03-27 20:24:27
> Station Square is most likely private property. That may be an obstacle to liability, etc. According to a presentation I saw Pat Hassett give to the Oakland Green Team, the federal grant that is paying for a substantial amount of the initial rollout requires that all stations be in the public right of way. Once the grant is fulfilled, they can be moved, supplanted, etc., but initially at least they have to be in streets or city owned sidewalks.
epanastrophe
2015-03-27 21:20:03
So what in Station Square might be an origin or destination? I doubt it's the T. You get there easier by transit, and anything interesting nearby is walking distance. How about the Sheraton(?) Hotel? Visitors would find it convenient and locals would probably find it a nicer destination than than a busy intersection. So maybe the hotel owner should step up? (I've been at many hotels that provide bikes for guests, all excreable junk; share bikes would be vastly better.)
ahlir
2015-03-27 21:33:05
Suppose you take the T from the South Hills, and you want to bike to the South Side Flats? With the current locations, you'd most likely get off at First Avenue, get a bike, then head back over the river and either take the South Side trail or East Carson. If they had a bike share at Station Square, you could avoid some backtracking and a bridge. Seems worth pursuing in a future phase, if this one succeeds.
steven
2015-03-28 06:18:13
I'll go along Two stations then. :-)
ahlir
2015-03-28 07:10:14
My preferences is to get off at 1st street and bike EFT to HMB to South Flats. :)
mikhail
2015-03-28 10:43:17
Well, soon you'll be able to take 2nd ave to the 10th st bridge once they add bike lanes or maybe even the jail trail to the parking lot to 10th st bridge.
benzo
2015-03-30 14:44:48
Buffalo is correct about the public right of way being the location for the stations. The majority of Station Sq. is private property without any suitable locations for a station I am told.
mjacobpgh
2015-03-30 14:49:20
World map of bike sharing systems, existing and planned: www.bikesharingmap.com . Check out the density in China, Spain, and Italy! Our local neighborhood looks like: (?)=planned, (green bike)=existing, on the interactive map, you can click on icon for more info Philadelphia has collected videos and photos of bike share systems around the world: http://www.bikesharephiladelphia.org/ . Check animation of London's bike share system.
paulheckbert
2015-03-31 08:14:46
Philadelphia's Indego bikeshare starts April 23 with 60 stations and 600 bikes. http://www.rideindego.com/ They solicited station request suggestions online: And settled on these initial stations:
paulheckbert
2015-03-31 08:23:03
They started prepping for pouring concrete for a bikehsare station at Parkview and the Blvd of the Allies today.
mick
2015-04-01 11:34:27
Reasons for riding to work "Getting to wear a bandana without anyone thinking I’m strange." Nice to see the sense of humor.
jonawebb
2015-04-01 12:52:12
Hey look at what's going in outside my office building, @Forbes and Stevenson street. I can check bike availability using the window look-out app. By looking out the window.
edmonds59
2015-04-06 10:57:20
The bike share press conference is happening! Name: Healthy Ride Sponsor: Highmark & Allegheny Health Network Twitter: @healthyridepgh
htric
2015-04-08 09:22:07
It's here! http://healthyridepgh.com/ It will be called Healthy Ride! it's sponsored by Highmark and Allegheny Health Network. Pricing is as follows: -$2 for 30 mins -$12/month, unlimited 30 min rides -$20/month, unlimited 60 min rides I assume there will be usage fees if time limits are exceeded Also, the bikes come with a cable lock in case you need to lock them during a temporary stop, or if a station is full you can lock the bike to itself and confirm the return using a mobile app (available for iOS and Android) The website is a work in progress, though. Can't seem to find where to register and the station map has not been populated yet. Still, this is great news!
chrishent
2015-04-08 09:23:59
Prices... Cost to use $2 per 30 min each additional 30 min is $2 no penalties Monthly $12 unlimited 30 minute length Monthly $20 (I think) unlimited 1 hour rides (boss stopped by and I missed the rest) bikes- 7 speeds Full time front & rear lights integrated cable lock Can dock at a full dock using this(?)
htric
2015-04-08 09:29:07
I am curious if there is an option for annual subscription.
htric
2015-04-08 09:35:34
For comparison: NYC Citi Bike: $150/year for unlimited 45 min trips. $2.50 charge for 45-75 min, $9 for 75-105 min etc. There are also daily & weekly passes. DC Capital Bikeshare: Monthly $25, first 30 minutes free, $2 extra up to 1 hour, $6 up to 1 1/2 hours, up from there in $8 increments. Also daily, weekly. Boston Hubway: $85 annual, first 30 minutes free, $2 extra for up to 1 hour, $8 each additional half hour. Also daily, 3 day. It looks like the Pgh pricing has been set to be comparable to other systems. I find this reassuring.
jonawebb
2015-04-08 09:50:22
The $2 30-min ride price is a great incentive for people to use it. Cheaper than taking public transit!
chrishent
2015-04-08 09:55:58
I'm going to take one out at the earliest opportunity, just for kicks, even though I keep a town bike at work for errands.
edmonds59
2015-04-08 11:37:30
I hope we can get a cool nickname out of HealthyBike. Other cities have nice nicknames like BABS, BIXI, CaBi... HeBi? HelBi? HelBikes? PGH-BiS? *grimace*
rustyred
2015-04-08 12:34:08
Supposedly the bikes are heavy as hel, so that might not be a bad nickname...
epanastrophe
2015-04-08 13:29:19
"Supposedly the bikes are heavy as hel" I've used a BABS bike and yes, they're tanks. They weigh between 45 and 48 pounds and that's a bike *without* the docking thingamagig a HealthyBike has on the back. I guess they weigh over 50 pounds. *grunt* HelBike might be appropriate.
rustyred
2015-04-08 13:39:40
Theme music; Highway to Health? Bat out of Health?
edmonds59
2015-04-08 14:00:59
Highmark and the Allegheny Health Network = Hahn bike (rhymes with "down" if your local)
marko82
2015-04-08 14:20:10
I feel that the big heavy bikes have a special feature. Because they are kind of unwieldy, they discourage sketchy maneuvers, last minute red light running, and zipping between cars. They encourage users to go slow and steady. This may even increase the perception of more law abiding behavior as well.
benzo
2015-04-08 14:41:39
I think I remember hearing that these bikes will be in the high 30s, not 50 pounds. So not as light as a normal bike, but not quite as heavy as other bike share bikes.
willb
2015-04-08 14:50:29
Highway to health with the lid off?
paulheckbert
2015-04-08 17:10:22
Health with the lid off. Love it!
edmonds59
2015-04-09 06:33:05
If they have yearly membership in a range $140-$180 I would by it without thinking too much.
mikhail
2015-04-09 06:50:00
PBS! or PiBS! or PiBiS! (pronounced Pee-Bees) I'll probably get the $12/month membership. I may not use it frequently, but it would be a small price to pay for supporting this program.
chrishent
2015-04-09 07:41:21
Also, new Dirty Dozen category: Healthy Bikes. Paging Mr. Chew...
chrishent
2015-04-09 08:21:10
HELbikes. HEL=hardly ever lifted
stuinmccandless
2015-04-09 11:12:27
haha, that dude took the CitiBike on the pump track. I wonder how a Healthy Ride would handle on Iron Grate.
ka_jun
2015-04-10 08:15:10
BikePgh just tweeted they are testing a Healthy Bike in the office. So what's the word, is it "flickable", have vertical compliance? Does it ghost steer or have responsive cornering?
ka_jun
2015-04-10 15:26:16
Sounds like Bloomfield residents are opposed to this and trying to make it so that the bike share doesn't get installed there. There is a Facebook event to counter that with support for it. Anyone have any more details? https://www.facebook.com/events/1582349738649370/
stefb
2015-04-22 19:40:53
Ugh. Thanks for posting that, Stef. The Bloomfield old guard are some of the most remarkable Grumpy Complainers and Non Solution Offerers I've ever encountered. I am a long-time Bloomfielder and have watched them shut new ideas down so many times. Please please if there are other Bloomfielders (really or anybody), holler in the general direction of the mayor's office or council or anybody who'll listen! I want a bikeshare station in Bloomfield!!
emma
2015-04-22 20:14:28
I hear they are mad about removal of parking. But as it was pointed out, don't you think that this would free up parking if people used bikes instead?
stefb
2015-04-23 10:44:37
Emma, Thank you for your input regarding the bike share program in Bloomfield. The City has a team working diligently on this issue to ensure that a fair solution is reached that will benefit the whole community. A Bloomfield community group has expressed concern about the proposed locations, and out of respect to them the City is reevaluating where in the neighborhood the bike share locations will be placed. Please understand, this does not mean that bike share will not be coming to Bloomfield. Bloomfield is a great and vibrant Pittsburgh neighborhood, and it is in everyone's best interest that it remains so and continues to grow. The team working on this issue includes the Director of City Planning, the City's Bike/Pedestrian Coordinator, the Office of Community Affairs, and representatives of the Mayor's Office. Input from people who live, work, and spend time in Bloomfield is very valuable to us, and will be considered when the final bike share locations are determined. Sally Stadelman is our point person in Community Affairs on this issue. I have flagged your comments for her to keep and communicate to the team working on this issue. If you have further comment or would like to direct others to send us feedback, please have them contact her via email at sally.stadelman@pittsburgh or phone at 412-255-4773. Thank you again for your important feedback, and for your patience as our teams works out an equitable solution that benefits all of Bloomfield. All the best, Lex -- Lex Janes Acting Community Affairs Manager Office of Community Affairs City of Pittsburgh 414 Grant Street 5th Floor Pittsburgh, PA 15219 412-255-4795
emma
2015-04-23 11:13:26
They need to have their "Little Italy" status officially revoked. The shames.
edmonds59
2015-04-23 11:14:04
Adam Shuck mentioned the issue in today's Eat That, Read This newsletter, too:
. janet cercone scullion, dragon lady of bloomfield, famous for wielding her terrible bloomfield citizens council power to quash anything that isn't baby boomer italian-american white people shit, like when she sicced the police on peaceful punks partying under the bloomfield bridge, or when she had the city install humps in the grass in the friendship parklet to stop black kids from playing football there, or when she shut down the share faire, or when she consistently attempts to shut down the dyke-trans march on liberty avenue, or... where was i? anyway, janet scullion is now attempting to prevent the new bikeshare program from installing a station in bloomfield, and given the very real power she wields over bloomfield, she may just be able to bend the peduto administration to her will. we need to stop her--follow bloomfield livable streets' facebook page and take action!
epanastrophe
2015-04-23 11:38:01
The shenanagans of the old guard in Bloomfield are legendary. Doubtful that any amount of reason or logic will make the slightest difference. See, for example, the "passive park" http://wikimapia.org/1399184/Friendship-Park The support for the bike-share is pretty tangible though and I don't think the old folks will get their way on this. I hope not. I wrote the mayor. Got to give the sensible people some ammunition.
mick
2015-04-23 11:39:22
If folks feel like contacting more people, here's the bike/ped coordinator contact info: Kristin Saunders Bicycle/Pedestrian Coordinator kristin.saunders@pittsburghpa.gov
emma
2015-04-23 11:42:58
I sent this email to the BCC earlier today (bcc@bloomfieldlive.com) "Good Afternoon, I am writing to register my strong opposition to the Bloomfield Citizens Council's stance on HealthyRide Bike Share Program placing three bike share stations in the Bloomfield commercial district. It is without a doubt that the HealthyRide Bike Share program will change the face of the City of Pittsburgh, bringing hundreds of new bikers, and their money, onto the road every day. Bloomfield businesses run the risk of starving themselves of this money by resisting the placement of three bike share program stations. Neighborhoods that embrace bike share feel the benefits of the program through a new set of customers as well as improving the vitality of the neighborhood. Bike Share is being embraced across the nation as part of a plan to make cities more interesting to a younger, more vibrant cohort of people. Again, I cannot stress how much Bloomfield will starve itself of revenue and people if it does not embrace this plan. The bike share plan is a 21st century transportation revolution that has the support of many local leaders, residents, and business owners, and it should also be supported by the Bloomfield Citizens Council. Please re-consider your opposition to the bike share stations in Bloomfield. Thank You, Jason"
jason-pgh
2015-04-23 15:48:04
Emailed lady and tweeted to Mayor. Can't you lockup away from a station for an additional fee? I'd be willing to lockup a bike share bike in front of the lady's house if these stations end up getting moved According to the map, one in front of the hospital is in danger. That sidewalk is huge and I hardly ever see people congregating on it
sgtjonson
2015-04-23 22:42:23
...“it’s easy to imagine that a year down the line our shiny new toys will have aged into a janky fleet of busted, graffiti-covered eyesores.” So, they're worried that they'll match the rest of Philly?? :D
edmonds59
2015-04-24 08:05:50
Sad to see what's going on in Bloomfield. Liberty Ave is definitely the most logical place for the bike share stations, and I hope PGH Bike Share and the City don't cave for what I can only imagine are ridiculous "concerns". Anyway, I was just thinking that one (very small) benefit of the bike share is that the whole argument that cyclists "pay nothing" will become even sillier than it already is. I wonder what they'll come up with next...
chrishent
2015-04-24 09:07:33
…“it’s easy to imagine that a year down the line our shiny new toys will have aged into a janky fleet of busted, graffiti-covered eyesores.” I worry about that for bikes at the bike-share station in my neighborhood. The station is litterally 10 yards from city staire that kids use to go down under the Charles Anderson Bridge (Blved Allies over teh Rails into Schenley) to drink beer. Pretty much a Get-Out-of-Jail-Free card for vandals. But the community group that helped coordinate this doesn't like me: I'm a renter and as far as the community group is concerned, my voice doesn't count. My impression is that , like the Bloomfield Citizens' Council, meetings have been suddenly rescheduled because a renter announced he was coming.
mick
2015-04-24 10:44:44
I've used share bikes all over, here and abroad. I don't recall ever seeing any bikes defaced (as opposed to just not working). On reflection this seems a bit unusual; maybe people feel enough civic pride of ownership to respect share bikes. Just a thought. Bike shares in San Jose (earlier this week): Yes, San Jose the city is very rich and can afford the capital and maintenance. But still. And check out the trolleys: Maybe, someday, PAT too will have a bike section on the T's. Also, that whole area (the lower peninsula) is just crawling with bikers. And there's infrastructure to match.
ahlir
2015-04-24 19:17:17
oh look. what's this?
ahlir
2015-04-29 10:45:02
@chrishent: I got as far as "do you prefer chicken wings or drumsticks?" and gave up.
paulheckbert
2015-04-29 10:47:02
Yeah, I don't know how to get the question to come up. At last check, 27% of respondents said yes, 19% no, and 54% don't care
chrishent
2015-04-29 11:00:08
I gave up when it started to bring questions about my household, gender, salary, parenthood for the second time.
mikhail
2015-04-30 07:37:02
There next meeting of the Bloomfield Citizen's Council is on May 1 at st. Maria Goretti. This is a group that many who oppose the bike-share in Bloomfield belong to. It would be good for any Cyclists that live in Bloomfield to attend. IMO, it would be counter-productive for non-Bloomfield cyclists to show up, though - it could give the Bloomfield old-guard a rationale to dismiss bike-related concerns (no matter how many biking Bloomfield residents attend.)
mick
2015-05-01 12:04:30
Saw this in an email: Update from Erin Potts: Pittsburgh Bike Share will be offering a free month of unlimited 30-minute rides for everyone who volunteers for the City-wide bicycle and pedestrian counts. People will need to register for the bike share system in order to participate, but registration is free and will be available within the next week. Be sure to sign up! http://pittsburghpa.gov/dcp/bicyclecounts
stuinmccandless
2015-05-01 15:35:42
@jonawebb, yep, NextBike are set up in a bunch of Places and, because of the billing system they use, you can use any NextBike system around the world, not just Pittsburgh's. It's pretty cool.
chrishent
2015-05-04 12:40:06
That's great. Someone on the Lovely Bicycle Instagram page I commented on said Pittsburgh is the first US city to use this company. Cool.
jonawebb
2015-05-04 12:46:22
Wow, an article from Trib not complaining about bikes...
sgtjonson
2015-05-18 18:06:14
Oh, cool, it's opening during Open Streets! Anyone know if there's a promotion or anything happening to try 'em out during the event?
mattjackets
2015-05-19 14:24:38
(VIA Lawrenceville Bike and Pedestrian Committee) Hi All, As you may know, Pittsburgh's bike share system, Healthy Ride, will be launching on Sunday May 31st, and they are looking for volunteers during Open Streets which takes place the same day. To celebrate Open Streets, Pittsburgh Bike Share is looking to have representatives at each station along the route (7 in total) to show people how to register, take out a bike, and use the bike. It means getting up early (volunteers to staff each station from 8:30am - 12 noon), but in return, they are offering each volunteer a free one-month pass for unlimited 30-minute rides! There will be training on the system for each volunteer so that you are well prepared to answer questions and Healthy Ride will schedule time to run through all the necessary information with you sometime next week - most likely Thursday evening. If you'd like to volunteer, please contact Erin Potts, Director of Marketing & Community Outreach at Pittsburgh Bike Share: erin@pghbikeshare.org or 412-621-0464. Pittsburgh Bike Share also sends the following message about a mass bike share ride during Open Streets, beginning in Market Square immediately following the opening remarks from Rich Fitzgerald and other speakers at 8:00am: If you can make the mass ride, please be in Market Square at 7:30am so that we can position everyone and make sure everything is set to go. We will ride to Pittsburgh Bike Share's new office space at 3328 Penn Ave. HOW TO PARTICIPATE: 1. All riders must pre-register through the Healthy Ride website at www.healthyridepgh.com or via the nextbike mobile app available through the App Store and Google Play. 2. Please e-mail Erin Potts (erin@pghbikeshare.org) your name and email address if you plan to participate. 3. Once we have the names and email addresses of participants, we will send each person an individual promotional code for 3 hours free. This code will be sent on Friday, May 29th along with further instructions on how to use it. 4. Each rider will be able to enter and use this code to participate in our mass ride for free. 5. Ideally, participants will ride into Market Square on Healthy Ride bikes from another station: http://healthyridepgh.com/stations/ But if you drive or ride into town all the downtown stations will be over stocked with bikes. Please RSVP to Erin by Thursday, May 28. In the meantime, let me know if you have any questions and I do hope you can make it! Event Details (In Brief) Healthy Ride Launch Event at Open Streets Sunday, May 31st Market Square Arrive: 7:30am Approximate Mass Ride Start Time: 8:15am Approximate End: Time: 8:45am End Location: 3328 Penn Avenue Hope to see you all at Open Streets Lawrenceville Bike and Pedestrian Committee
rustyred
2015-05-23 20:52:36
^ not sure where the beef is coming from in the comments on that story. Personally, I'm excited about it, as an "avid cyclist", whatever the hell that means. "John Napolitano NEW9 hours agoI 'm sorry to say this program is quite ridiculous. There was a similar installation in Bakery Square (now removed in obeisance to the new installation right across Penn Ave) for a couple of years, and it was a huge flop. Why? It's something about Cycling: people just don't want heavy dorky looking comfort bikes which they have to go though a bunch of hoops to gain access to, and then make fit to their body size, only to have to return to a specific bunch of locations when done. Not much fun here: did anyone notice? This had to be the brain(?)child of someone not an avid cyclist themselves. The installation in Shadyside takes up about two car lengths of el primo parking space at a very busy intersection. Be careful when setting off from there on a Saturday afternoon! And did anyone ask the many bike shops in the area how they liked this? Meanwhile the the feeding frenzy of new construction continues around the Bakery Square/Target/Whole Foods area and this saturation is making Shadyside much more congested, and has resulted in the destruction of the (sacred) lives of many mature hardwood trees that just don't happen to fit into the myopic plans of developers who are hell-bent on exploiting a "sure-thing". Meanwhile the open space decreases and sky gets harder to see. This is less-livable Pittsburgh in the making and the money hungry just don't give a damn."
ka_jun
2015-05-26 09:26:51
Dumb language in the HealthyRide "terms and conditions": https://healthyridepgh.com/terms-and-conditions/ "Rider agrees not to use the Bike for ... off-road riding. ... Rider shall not ride the Bike on unpaved roads, through puddles or water ... Rider agrees to be seated at all times while pedaling ... Rider agrees that he/she will not ride ... during adverse weather conditions, including ... fog ... Rider is ... prohibited from allowing any third party to ride upon or use the Bike in any capacity whatsoever." OK, so no biking on trails, no biking in fog or through puddles, no standing on the pedals. Forget about biking to Washington's Landing on the gravel Northside Trail! Actually, better forget about all of the riverfront trails, since they're all off-road! And if it's raining, watch out for the puddle police! Fortunately, people are smart enough to know to ignore idiotic rules like these. I want bike share to be successful, so I hope healthyridepgh fixes these terms.
paulheckbert
2015-05-26 11:48:38
HOLY COW that John Napolitano is a man of many grievances! Pro level!
edmonds59
2015-05-26 11:57:57
I was a user of the CMU-BakerySquare bikeshare system. Having only two stations was pretty limiting...but the bigger problem was that they installed the CMU station, which was solar powered, in an area where tall buildings cast a near constant shadow on the thing. So, a large percentage of the time you couldn't lock up a bike, or check one out due to lack of power on the CMU end. When the system worked, though, it was great!
mattjackets
2015-05-26 14:41:23
@paulheckbert We live in a world of liability. You know there are cities where they have banned sledding because people got hurt? Of course that "ban" is putting up a sign that says "NO SLEDDING" maybe referencing some ordinance and fines but then not actually enforcing it. That way, if someone gets hurt they can't sue and win(and people have!). Similarly, Bike Shares have to cover themselves because people will sue for anything. A 70-year-old man sued CitiBike for $15 million for not "making" him wear a helmet. I imagine other bike shares have similar language in their terms. The Bakery Square bike shares made no sense to me because, for a casual rider, they were in horrible locations in my opinion. No one who rarely bikes wants to rent one of those and hop on Penn or 5th Avenue but I could be wrong.
mjacobpgh
2015-05-26 18:57:14
My recollection is that the Google share-bikes were for employees so that they could get between their CIC and BSq sites w/o dealing with car/parking or bus/schedule/walking. The kiosk required a Google ID card. Google has since consolidated at BSq (I understood) so maybe that particular bike-share thing is moot. BTW, getting between the two locations is not all that stressful: Forbes->Morewood->Ellsworth->Mellon Park/BSq2->Bsq, and variations.
ahlir
2015-05-26 19:15:04
PiBS sighting! PiBS
rustyred
2015-05-28 11:57:09
I saw one on Penn inbound around 32nd just after 12:15 when I was outbound. Oddly a few minutes before, someone had seen my Ass-Saver (which says BikePgh of course) and thought my uh, fine piece of equipment, was a HealthyRide bike. LOL no.
shadow
2015-05-28 14:58:59
The announcement said "2. Please e-mail Erin Potts (erin@pghbikeshare.org) your name and email address if you plan to participate. 3. Once we have the names and email addresses of participants, we will send each person an individual promotional code for 3 hours free. This code will be sent on Friday, May 29th along with further instructions on how to use it." I emailed Erin Potts to sign up but have not heard from her. Have others tried?
paulheckbert
2015-05-30 06:26:20
Hi everyone! I just signed up for the program, provided my card, and downloaded the Next Bike app. It looks like the payments are processed as an international transaction... WP-NEXTBIKE GMBH in LEIPZIG DE Just wanted to mention this so no one is taken by surprise when their card issuer charges the usual 2% to 3% international purchase fees. This would only amount to at most $0.06 on the $2 rentals. If you sign up for the $12 or $20 monthly membership, it could be as much as $0.36 or $0.60. Overall the setup was an easy process and I'm looking forward to a test ride tomorrow!
benjmartinez
2015-05-30 07:42:28
Erin Potts sent me an email and I got my voucher code. If you're not registered for the mass ride but you want to join the group tomorrow morning and pedal along on your own bike, I'm sure no one will mind. Erin wrote: Please remember to arrive with your bike at Market Square at 7:30am. That way will have enough time to get everyone positioned and pumped.
paulheckbert
2015-05-30 10:32:01
So who is going to be the first moron to take a bike through single track in frick?
stefb
2015-05-30 17:57:03
My ex student Ellis, now living in Boulder, was contemplating doing the DD on a bike share bike, and he is planning to return to Pgh to do DD15. He and another of our students Daniel were the guys in Steelers jerseys on the tandem last year. When he was last considering this he though the main issue would be that he would want to swap pedals, though he might be able to strap on some toe clips... Is "Do not participate in the Dirty Dozen" in the fine print??
neilmd
2015-05-31 15:43:39
I see that terms such as "moron" and "idiot" are being used (in reference to drivers) on a regular basis, possibly inaccurately. As a public service I present this helpful guide to correct usage: Note also that, technically, "cretin" should be restricted to individuals who evidence symptoms of hyperthyroidism. Also note that the label "moron" might give some drivers more credit than their behavior should warrant. Let's be careful out there.
ahlir
2015-05-31 17:58:08
"He and another of our students Daniel were the guys in Steelers jerseys on the tandem last year." Ah, the Steelers tandem guys. That was some good shit, right there. Seeing a Healthy Ride complete the DD. That would be quite awesome*. *not that I would condone that type of thing.
ka_jun
2015-05-31 19:47:11
Just had my first test ride with bike share! : ) I locked the actual bike I own by the station at Ft. Duquesne Blvd & 7th St Bridge. Unlocked a bike share bike using the Next Bike app. The app gave me an unlock code that I had to enter onto the keypad on the back of the bike (there's also an LCD screen on the back). For my test ride I made a loop across the bridge unto the trail, back across the 6th St. Bridge, up Ft Duquesne Blvd, and then back to the same station. The bike felt really great overall. I was especially impressed with how smooth the shifting was as there's no click, backlash, or any other noise when shifting. One area that could be of minor concern is the brakes - they didn't have the stopping power I'm used to and felt as though there was a ton of travel on them. The concern over the brakes could be because I so used to my bike and/or they might not have all the bikes perfectly setup since it's the first day and all. Before docking the bike back into the station, I wanted to test the included cable lock mechanism. It was easy enough to lock it - you simply slide the skewer through the front hub. Problem I ran into was unlocking it. The release code wasn't working and the LCD on the back of the bike was now all in German! Tried several times to unlock the bike, but it keep reading FALSECH. Called the Next Bike customer service number and got a nice German fellow named Kirnan (not sure on the spelling) who instructed me to leave the bike at the station and he took care of marking it as returned. Nice to know the customer service connects you to an actual person (he was pretty funny too). Even with the issues today I'm just really happy we have this program in Pittsburgh and look forward to trying it out again. While I own multiple bikes and already commute to work everyday, I'm thinking I might use bike share every so often for commuting to work, or the occasional trip downtown. Also, I'm excited to see more people biking around the city now during the week!
benjmartinez
2015-05-31 19:50:24
I used one from downtown to lawrenceville around 5pm, and another back closer to 9. the trip there involved some fumbling as if you use the phone to rent the bike it gives you a lock code but the bike seems to want phone/pin still; on the way back i found the rained-on keypads on the bikes were balky, and my seat was loose. still, enjoyed and would do it again
shadow
2015-05-31 22:39:00
A future RollPGH, Flock or CM ride could be Healthy Ride-themed. A route could be selected so that there frequent bike share stations along the way, which would allow people with memberships to re-dock within the "free" time limit and then check out a bike again and continue with the ride. I'd be up for that!
chrishent
2015-06-01 12:36:32
The fact that you can return a bike even if the station is full certainly helps the transition. But you might wind up really testing how real time the accounting is of the system. I'm sure the system owners would appreciate advance notice and a loop route.
byogman
2015-06-01 14:28:23
Photos from Sunday's launch: Rich Fitzgerald, David White, and others speak at the Healthy Ride Pgh / Pgh Bike Share launch in Market Square Scott Bricker (near bike) on Penn Ave 37th St & Butler St station Instructions at a station kiosk. Note there are both monthly memberships and pay-as-you-go. Only $24 for a 24 hour pass!
paulheckbert
2015-06-01 23:44:59
Saw a guy yesterday taking one up Bates St. Really glad to see this happening.
ka_jun
2015-06-02 08:29:33
Wish the seats went higher! I'm not even that far down the curve at 6'3". Looking at the bike geometry, maybe that's all the seatpost we're ever going to get.
dmtroyer
2015-06-02 15:09:34
@ J Z Saw a guy yesterday taking one up Bates St If it were me, I'd be pushing it up Bates.
mick
2015-06-02 15:29:42
@Mick he was pushing it.
ka_jun
2015-06-02 20:13:34
Saw a guy on a Healthy Ride blow a red light on Penn, so expect about 10 LTEs tomorrow about how cyclists don't obey traffic laws. Come to think of it, we should be seeing an LTE or two on this subject soon
chrishent
2015-06-02 22:57:31
I used one of the bikes during Open Streets and it was very good. The system does have problems still (my display went German, and I couldn't unlock the cable lock). After swapping the bike, the second one worked flawlessly. I also noticed that I could raise the seat more on the second bike. Being 6'7" this made a huge difference. They had still been pushing updates to the bikes (each bike has a cellular data connection) during Open Streets, so it's understandable that there were issues. Still, pretty cool!
mattjackets
2015-06-03 13:21:18
I rode Healthy Ride for the first time today (twice, actually). A couple observations: -the first time I checked a bike out by scanning the QR code with the mobile app. The screen on the bike said "confirming" or something like that for so long that I tried to cancel the rental, which didn't work. Eventually it occurred to me to try pulling the bike out of the dock, which worked. -when using the integrated cable lock, you need to enter your own PIN to unlock the bike, not the code that the system gives you for renting the bike (at least that's what worked for me today) -the second time I checked a bike out by entering my phone number and PIN, and that worked smoothly. The shifting on the second bike was a bit iffy, though, which is disappointing on a brand new system. -overall impression of the bikes: less clunky than other bike shares, although the riding position wasn't as upright as I would have liked (for riding is dress clothes). I also wish they had mirrors, but pretty comfortable otherwise. -finally, we need more stations downtown. They feel too few and far between to be a real time saver unless you're lucky to be starting and ending right next to the few that exist. Hopefully that will change in the coming years.
willb
2015-06-03 15:35:33
@mattjackets good to hear regarding seat height. the furthest I could get mine up to was setting 8. I'll check them next time.
dmtroyer
2015-06-03 16:21:48
@dmtroyer I saw a couple that stopped at 8, 9, and one that went just a bit over 10. The difference between 9 and 10 is significant!
mattjackets
2015-06-03 16:46:20
I saw two people riding the bikes on the north side!
stefb
2015-06-03 21:44:46
I saw someone with a HealthyRide bike in Point State Park the other day. The bikes look really nice, sleek, and easy to use.
jason-pgh
2015-06-04 07:44:25
I agree with @WillB's point that more stations are needed downtown to truly make it convenient to use bike share. There's a triangle-sized gap between Fifth Ave, Liberty Ave and Smithfield that could use a station or two. Perhaps a station near Mellon Square and another near the Wood St T station? Also, I really wish the 7th and Ft Duquesne Blvd station could be moved down to 7th and Penn. This station is kind of in the middle of nowhere, and one has to cross Ft Duquesne Blvd to get to it. My guess is that it couldn't be located closer to Penn due to right-of-way issues. I suppose the only benefit to being where it is is having direct access to the river trail, but that's about it. I haven't had a chance to try the bike share yet. I'm hoping I'll get to do that today
chrishent
2015-06-04 09:15:59
Quite right, having a hole in the middle of the golden triangle is absurd. Hopefully the rideshare will be judged a success, expanded, and then your proposed locations to plug that hole would be quite good.
byogman
2015-06-04 11:52:33
I haven't had a chance to try it yet, in spite of having some kind of pass from the bike/ped count. :( so I'm not helping.
edmonds59
2015-06-04 11:59:51
So, I finally took a Healthy Ride (sorry!) Overall, it was a good experience. I have the $12/month membership so I used my phone to scan the QR code on the bike on three occasions today and it unlocked quickly and without a problem. The bike itself is obviously heavy, so it takes a while to get it up to a decent cruising speed. It handles well and it passed the "no hands" test for stability. The ride is comfortable, even on the cobbles of Market Square, though the saddle is perhaps a little too wide for my liking. The geometry is also good, but I suspect that tall individuals might have some fitting issues. I'm 5'10" and I had to raise the seat post almost to the '9' marker to get an adequate pedal stroke. As far as bike safety goes, the brakes seemed to work well, though I would not use only the rear brake if I wanted to come to a complete stop. If you are not used to using the front brake as the primary brake, you might want to consider doing that with this bike. I didn't get a chance to test the brakes during a long descent, but I have a feeling that I'm not going to be bombing down at full speed on McCardle or Sycamore on one of these bikes, mainly because I don't trust a bike that's not mine. The bike themselves are sturdy and should be able to withstand many of the obstacles that one can find on the roads in this area. The tires are cushy and wide, and have reflective stripes on the sidewall. The dynamo-powered lights are a nice feature, but they don't seem very powerful and fall more in the "be seen" category, Returning the bike was simple, though the first dock that I tried to use in Market Square required a little bit of wiggling before I heard the beep for a successful return. The other two docks that I used were fine. I didn't get a chance to use the cable lock, though I did see a couple of bikes locked to racks using it. It's definitely a nifty feature for running short errands in places where there are no bike share stations. I really hope this program gains acceptance and takes off. Definitely an asset for the city.
chrishent
2015-06-04 21:04:33
I rented a HealthyRide bike on Sunday. I’m very happy that Pittsburgh now has this; bike share will help both locals and out-of-towners and will enliven the city. To help understand how the system works, think of the bikes as cell phones on wheels. Each bike communicates with the HealthyRidePgh server using radio (text messages, I’m guessing). Messages are sent to the server computer (in Pittsburgh, presumably), and sometimes confirmations from server back to bike are required in order to: unlock a bike (check out), return a bike (check in), park a bike (lock it temporarily). The bikes use passive GPS some of the time (recording GPS coordinates but not transmitting, to preserve battery life) and active GPS the rest of the time (transmitting regularly, e.g. when locked at a station, which has a large solar panel). The GPS allows the HealthyRide software (from German company Nextbike) and staff (in Pittsburgh) to keep track of each bike’s location, what each customer should be charged, and whether a bike is overdue or appears to be stolen. Sometimes, e.g. when unlocking or returning a bike, there is a delay of several seconds, presumably because a text message is going out and a confirmation is coming back. The first time I used it, the keypad on the back of the bike (below) was a little confusing, but as I learn it better (what click sounds to listen for or which lights to watch) and after startup kinks are worked out (e.g. consistent firmware running on all the bicycles), I expect things will run more smoothly. One quibble: I wish the baskets had sides, and smaller holes. The basket is fine if you package what you’re carrying in a cloth bag and bungee it down, but if you were to set in the basket something small like a cell phone, or something with straps, it could slip through the cracks or slide out the sides if you’re not careful. I guess the baskets were made out of fat tubing to make them indestructible. And maybe the sides were left off to accommodate baguettes or large fish?
paulheckbert
2015-06-04 23:15:51
At lunch today I saw a ridiculous amount of people out on the Healthy Rides, some business casual dudes heading into the Strip for lunch, a guy in a full suit, tourist looking folks slinging a DSLR rig. I'm thinking by next month sightings of Healthy Rides will be unremarkable and commonplace.
ka_jun
2015-06-05 12:59:00
I rented one from the station at Forbes and Stevenson the other day. Mostly a good experience. For some reason, I did not get the code to my lock until after my ride was completed, but I didn't need it either. I agree with Paul about the baskets....I put my small package in it, but felt it was loose. I'll be adding a small bungee cord to my purse for future availability. Yes guys, we do have everything but the kitchen sink in our purses sometimes. I did have a problem with the gears on my bike. It was fine in 1-3, but once into gears 4-6 the derailleur was slipping and snapping like mad. When I returned the bike I noted the bike number and station location and emailed it to Customer Service (in Germany) with an explanation of the issues. They responded almost immediately, thanking me for the information and promising to forward the message to their local partner. All in all, a good experience. Can't WAIT for the Consol Energy Center site to be up and operational.
swalfoort
2015-06-05 14:18:38
I'm excited about this, but - the app is creeping me out. First, it's convinced I'm in Poland and keeps showing me bikes in places I've never heard of and UI labels I can't read. Second, I tried to register and it wants to charge my credit card $1 for no apparent reason. (And if that's international currency as someone mentioned above, it would be really really good to be warned of that now because the fee will be more than the charge on some of my cards.) I just want to set up an account, not rent a bike. On the website now I get this: Limited FuturePay Agreement Amount Now Due: US$1 Individual payment amount limit: USD 840.00 Payment number limit: No limit Minimum interval between payments: 1 Day This doesn't inspire a lot of confidence - what am I signing up for? Why would they charge me $840? Anyone have more info on this?
erink
2015-06-07 13:25:59
I think $840 is how much has to be on your card or at least the credit limit because if you never return the bike that much has to be recovered.
mjacobpgh
2015-06-07 13:41:23
@erink, the $1.00 they charge you for registering your credit card is also used as an account credit. For example, when I signed up for $12 monthly membership, I was charged $11.84 for the first month, instead of $12.84, because I had the $1.00 credit. I would imagine that if you did a pay-as-you-go, they would charge you $1.14 instead of $2.14 for the first 30 mins because you have a $1.00 credit.
chrishent
2015-06-07 13:56:39
Ah, cool. I realized that I was partly getting creeped out because when some app or website wants my credit card and can't get my language right it's a huge sign of a scam. I trust these guys but still wish it was more accessible for US users. (We're _so_ not used to not being the center of the universe!) I am highly motivated but maybe someone who isn't would give up. I sent an email to their support address on the website with my concerns - hope it will be smoothed out for future users at some point.
erink
2015-06-07 14:42:00
We're the first US city for this German company. I assume as they expand here they'll start doing more things locally. Who knows, they could open a Pittsburgh office.
jonawebb
2015-06-07 15:50:16
(Apologies in advance for the very long post. Skip it, if you like) This weekend’s facts, figures and anecdotes of my personal use of Healthy Ride: Number of bike rentals: 10. A few of these were on the same bike that I returned and was still there when I came back. Number of trips taken: 9. The remaining bike’s rear wheel was locked up and I had to return it immediately. Number of bikes reported for maintenance: 2. In addition to the one mentioned above, another one had gears 4-7 skipping a lot. Number of trips longer than 30 minutes: 1, though this was expected. I got charged the extra $2.14 automatically. Distance ridden: 28 miles Distance climbed: 692 ft. Number of different stations used successfully: 11 Number of different active stations visited: 12. Of these, Center Ave and Kirkpatrick in the Hill District was unavailable, despite being listed on the website as an active station. Also, the dock placement on the street for this station is poor. It’s oriented such that the bikes are parked between the docks and the street curb, so you pull the bike towards the curb. All other on-street stations that I’ve seen you pull the bikes towards the street. This makes it more of a hassle to pick up and return a bike Preferred method for bike rental: in-app QR scanner. I also used the bike keypad once, though this was a little clunky. Regardless, I think that once I get my membership card, that’ll be my preferred method for rental Number of “Greg Lemond’s 1989 Tour de France victory margin” bike returns (in which the total duration of dismounting, returning the bike successfully and walking away immediately takes 8 seconds or less): 4 or 5. This type of returns can also be referred to as Ninja Bike Returns. Number of times I had to lock the bike to itself because of a faulty dock: 1. It was at the South Side Works station, which for some reason was not allowing people to rent or return bikes around noon today. Luckily, the Healthy Ride staff arrived shortly after I got there and sorted things out. Time it took to be able to rent the same bike again: about 3 mins. I did this Oakland to get an idea of how quickly this could be done. I docked the bike and quickly got confirmation of my return. I immediately tried scanning the QR code to rent the bike again, and I got a message saying "This bike was returned recently" or something to that effect. I tried a few more times until it finally allowed me take it out again. The lesson here is, if you're in a rush and near your time limit (30 or 60 mins, depending on rental choice), either keep the same bike and pay the $2 for the next 30 min period, check out another bike (which will be at no additional cost with a monthly membership), or continue to your destination through other means. Number of trips taken at night: 1. No issues, though I should note that the front light does not point down, or at least it didn't on that particular bike. This is likely due to its size and low location on the bike (right above the front wheel). As I mentioned on an earlier post, I think this light’s purpose is more “be seen” than “see”. I didn’t travel through any particularly dark areas, but this increases your chances of hitting a pothole at night. Notable non-flat roads traveled on: - Up 44th St in Lawrenceville, from Butler to Penn - Down Friendship into East Liberty - Down 5th Ave from Oakland to Kirkpatrick St. in Uptown; - Up Kirkpatrick, from 5th Ave to Centre Ave. - Down Centre Ave. from Hill District into Downtown - A relatively comfy ride down the cobbles of Joncaire St. Overall, the bike handles well going downhill. It gets up to speed quickly and stops well, though this requires use of both brakes. Going uphill was interesting. I went up 44th St on 2nd gear, but it was not a light effort. Going up Kirkpatrick was… harder than anticipated. I was on 1st gear all the way up and it was most definitely NOT an easy spin. I have only gone up this road once before on my road bike, and the perceived effort this time around was higher. Not to mention the fact that I still had a few gears left on my road bike when I did it. I guess I was expecting the lowest gear on the Healthy Ride bike to feel like the 24x32 I have on my 28-lb hardtail MTB. Oh well. At least’s the extra effort is mostly good for you. Mostly… Largest load placed on the front basket: A grocery bag containing two 4-lb orange bags, 1-lb bag of baby carrots, and a mozzarella cheese ball. Number of complete strangers who stopped to talk to me about the bikes: 5 pairs, I think. Most were curious about the bikes and how easy it was to rent them. A pair of women in the Hill District were very skeptic, with one of them saying that she’d rather ride her own bike (understandable) and later saying “You need to use a credit card for this? That’s bullshit” (she doesn’t have one). I don’t think I managed to convince her or her friend that they should try the system out, but all the other interactions were encouraging. Overall, I have a very positive impression of the system. Despite the hiccups, the system is working and the Healthy Ride staff seems to be working their ass off to get it going. I hope it’s successful and that it expands to other areas of the city sooner rather than later.
chrishent
2015-06-07 19:41:28
I had all the same concerns as ErinK until I realized Next Bike is German company which Healthy Ride contracts out to provide the bikes, equipment, tech, and customer service. See this link below for info on Next Bike: http://www.nextbike.net/about/ Still, I would imagine these issues (language setting on app, international fees, $840 disclosure) might be a deterrent to others looking to sign up. Concerning the foreign language on the app, I believe that is because the app won't show proper location/language until you enable the location settings on your phone for the Next Bike app. Once that setting is changed, you'll be able to see all the stations here in the city and the app will auto-adjust to English. There's not much we can do about the international fees, so I'm just factoring them into the cost of the program. As for $840, I can say that is not a charge or a hold on the card. It will not lower your available balance on your account or credit card. I believe mjacobPGH is right and it has something to do with the recovery cost if a bike is damaged beyond repair or not returned. I signed up and was charged only the $1.00 which was later applied as a credit. Has anyone reading this used a bike share program other than Next Bike? I'm curious if other programs out there like CitiBike through Motivate are more user friendly.
benjmartinez
2015-06-07 20:39:53
Hello everyone, just signed up to the site and wanted to share my thoughts as well on the bike share. Overall, a positive experience. I've taken a total of 8 trips so far, have already encountered 2 duds (1 had a slipping/snapping derailleur, 1 would not tighten the saddle adjustment at all so just it just sat at the bottom). The on-bike computer seems to have gotten a lot better today than two days ago. Was almost all in German two days ago and seemed a lot more user-friendly (and English) today. Hope they get a US call center soon; although polite, both agents I encountered confessed to very little English skills. Flows well downhill, absolute tank uphill. Basket is rather useless, my water bottle kept slipping through. Tonight, I saw at least a half dozen others on them going from the South Side to Downtown. In total, have probably explained the program to 20 or so inquiring minds.
sbb23
2015-06-07 22:09:38
Haven't tried our share-bikes yet, but some random comments: 1) The problem-bike ratio seems kind of high compared to other cities, especially this early on. In general, you learn to not ride away until you're sure things are ok (esp. the brakes). In some places patrons will rotate the seat around or tilt the saddle if the bike is broken, to spare others annoyance. 2) The strict 30 min limit might actually have a grace period (say 5 mins). It does some places. On the other hand if you're a tourist who cares? It will still be less work than finding a shop and renting for the day. Besides you keep stopping a lot and the parking is trivial. 2a) People can deal with the time limit by docking their bike then trying to get it or another one as soon as possible. My informal observation is that the time out is maybe 5 mins. I would hope that an intelligent system also takes into account the number of bikes already there.
ahlir
2015-06-08 09:02:59
^Ben - I used a bike share in Ft Lauderdale, FL, (B-Cycle system) and all I did was punch in a credit card number and checked out 2 bikes, for my son and I. Totally painless. Similar to buying a soda. I haven't used this system yet but all this account set-up etc. seems a bit complicated and off-putting. Maybe simpler than it sounds once I try it. If I ever get a chance. Now that I think of it, does this system have a mechanism to check out more than one bike at a time, or is it one person/one bike at a time?
edmonds59
2015-06-08 10:15:15
@Ahlir, regarding the problems with bikes and system bugs, much of that can be attributed to the fact that the system is not fully rolled out yet. From an outsider's perspective, to me this system is still very much in beta testing. I guess there was a lot of pressure to make a big splash and coordinate the launch with the first OpenStreets event when, in hindsight, it might have been more prudent to do more extensive testing on the system and bikes. Perhaps they could've asked publicly for volunteers to be a part of a soft launch before making the system available to the general public. Anyway, this is moot now. Hopefully these hurdles will be cleared promptly. By the way, Healthy Ride tweeted today that there were over 3,000 rides in the first week of operation. Not bad...
chrishent
2015-06-08 12:32:34
Regarding other systems, the only other one that I've used is Philly's IndeGo. On that one, it seems you can only rent bikes through the kiosk, as opposed to the multiple options we have here (kiosk, bike keypad, RFID card, QR code, etc). If I recall correctly, you use a credit card, punch in your phone number and/or email, and select which bike you want. To rent another bike on the same card, I had to go through the same process all over again. If you simply walk up to kiosk and are not a member of the system, they'll charge you $4 per half-hour.
chrishent
2015-06-08 12:42:27
From Rob Rogers
paulheckbert
2015-06-09 16:52:54
@chrishent: Yes, it's true that the system as a whole is still in "beta". But the core technology, share bikes, is pretty mature at this point. Not to mention bikes in general. So I don't quite get it. I agree that the system seems to have been rushed: many racks are missing bikes and the system has "electronic" problems, according to the scotch-taped notices. We can deal with that. On the other hand the payments system is clearly not ready for prime time. It's a good thing that the LTE trolls seem to be avoiding the bike-share. Can you image the outrage? Foreigners are taking all the money!! I just hope they don't notice those black helicopters overhead, monitoring the bike riders.
ahlir
2015-06-09 19:06:01
It’s a good thing that the LTE trolls still haven't left their mom's basement in the suburbs. Fixed.
mick
2015-06-09 19:37:11
Does anyone know if the stations near Allegheny Commons park are online? I want to try it out but the station near PNC Park is not really convenient for where I'm going.
mjacobpgh
2015-06-10 12:42:37
Bah, I should have checked when I rolled past there this morning. I could really make use of them for a mid-day meeting at noon tomorrow. In fact, if they aren't, then I have a real problem.
stuinmccandless
2015-06-10 12:51:49
Highmark is having a Healthy Ride challenge with prizes and stuff. You can participate in it by logging your miles through Endomondo. I'm not sure how/if they corroborate that the miles logged are actually on a Healthy Ride bike, but whatever. http://a.pgtb.me/12Smlp?sf9267013=1
chrishent
2015-06-10 17:34:24
The Healthy Ride website has a map that's supposed to show active stations, and if you click one, how many bikes are available there. (Though it doesn't seem to be working right at this moment.) An alternative way to view this info on a smartphone is the Transit App, for Android (and I assume the iOS version can do it too). It uses a set of different icons to indicate if a station has many or just a few bikes available at a glance. (It also shows transit info, of course, including TrueTime bus arrival info, route maps, and so forth, plus Uber, but you can switch off what you don't need.)
steven
2015-06-11 05:22:08
Yeah, there are stations in that map that should not be shown (3 in Bloomfield, 5 in Oakland) because they are not officially active yet. Also, the active station on the North Shore and Ft. Duquesne bridge is not shown for some reason. By the way, Healthy Ride is looking for volunteers to help customers during the Arts Festival: https://healthyridepgh.com/blog/2015/06/03/volunteer-three-rivers-arts-festival/
chrishent
2015-06-11 06:21:11
My station was listed as active on the maintenance blog post and just spent 20min on 8 different bikes to no avail...having just a standard PLZ WAIT message is stupid.
sbb23
2015-06-11 15:52:02
That "PLZ WAIT" message tripped me up yesterday. It pains me to say that the two times I've really tried to use the system, I've had (a) a bike I couldn't shift properly and trouble figuring out where to turn it in, and (b) total fail in trying to rent one, not knowing why I was not succeeding. Could also say (c) decided not to try using one last night because the station wasn't up & running yet. I'm a patient guy, and really want to see this thing succeed, but I hope others are having better luck.
stuinmccandless
2015-06-12 09:26:14
I have issues with the way the commissioning has been carried out for the system, but overall a positive user experience. 16 rides, two calls to customer service is a ratio that's acceptable to me for now during the beta release. I'll be disappointed if this rate doesn't drop once there is a "full release". Like Stu, I really want this to succeed. Their staff (there can't be that many. 10-15 people?) seems to be working really hard to make sure the system is operational. So hopefully everything will work out in the end. For the full release, I'd like to see the following features: - Email notifications for station outages and such. Twitter and Facebook are not enough in this regard. - More than two symbols on the app for station/bike availability. Saying "no bikes available" does not mean that the station is unavailable - A personal PIN for unlocking the cable lock once you've rented the bike. The cable lock is one of the niftier features of this system, but it's unusable if you don't have the app, which tells you the code to unlock the cable (which you probably won't write down), or if you don't have your phone with you, or if the phone dies, etc.
chrishent
2015-06-12 10:10:17
I wonder if it's possible for out-of-service stations to have the bikes read NOT AVAIL in the display, instead of the continual PLZ WAIT that is in response to anything you input. They claim that they can't utilize out-of-service notifications within the app, sadly: https://twitter.com/healthyridepgh/status/609355143117733888
sbb23
2015-06-12 11:42:43
Has anyone received a contactless-card as part of a subscription? I used the app to sign up a couple weeks ago and haven't seen anything in the mail.
rbhays
2015-06-16 11:04:12
@rbhays I was informed that those cards haven't been sent out yet but they'll be available soon (date TBD). I'm patiently awaiting them. It'll make renting the bikes a breeze.
chrishent
2015-06-16 11:47:12
I picked up a bike share bike downtown at Forbes and Grant last Thursday around 6:30. Rode it uneventfully to Carson and S 22nd (past the practicing unicyclists by Hofbrauhaus) and collected my own bike which had been left there -- long story -- after returning it. The next day I got an SMS "so, you've had that bike for 22.5 hours, but keep riding if you wish...". i sent them a message and can only hope it got fixed. i don't even want to look yet.
shadow
2015-06-16 14:42:12
My experience is getting better. First, the bad news. I got an email that said, "Unfortunately we are unable to find bike number 70172. According to our database, your [sic] are the last customer, who rented the bike" ... Apparently, in both Daria's case and my own, you absitively posolutely have to make sure the app thinks you've returned the bike. In the couple of cases where the return worked flawlessly, I believe the station itself beeps and issues a blue light. (Someone please check me on that.) As for the good news, after several tries, I had a seamless, very quick rental this morning. I had the app open, walked up to a bike, pressed the QR-code icon on the phone, scanned the QR code, gave it a yank, and was on my way. Five seconds; ten tops. In my hour or two with it (actually, 2.5 hours, so two paid, so four half-hour rentals at $2 apiece, plus tax, so $8.56), I did all of the following: * mounted it on a bus bike rack * used the cable to latch it to a railing (at the edge of a parking lot which had no bike rack) * rode it down Greentree Road at a smoking pace * came to a full stop behind stopped traffic and experienced no brake fade. Although those brakes do feel very soft, they work. * carried it down the steps at the south end of the West End Bridge, mainly holding it with my right hand. It balances well, but at 30+ pounds, it feels very heavy. I would not want to haul it up the 370 steps of Rising Main Avenue. I still haven't mastered the art of returning it in five seconds. I'll get it, eventually. https://twitter.com/bus15237/status/610781745189883904
stuinmccandless
2015-06-16 16:09:42
they don't claim they couldn't find mine; and alas i didn't have access to the app at the time to confirm i returned it. i've been using (solely) phone number and pin to do rentals as that seems to be easiest.
shadow
2015-06-16 16:14:28
I'm not clear on the smoking pace. Is that slow enough that you could smoke while riding one-handed like some kind of Parisian veloflaneur or fast such that the brakes themselves smoke?
edmonds59
2015-06-16 18:04:27
@edmonds59, this is smoking pace: And Stu, yes, once you hear the beep, the bike is returned. You can double check by trying to pull out the bike; you shouldn't be able to after the beep. If you're still not convinced that the bike has been successfully returned, you can refresh the app and see if the bike is still shown as rented. On this last note, I've noticed that it may take a few minutes for the app to update.
chrishent
2015-06-16 19:46:30
Smoking pace as in, reached top rpm in 7th, prior to the steepest part of the descent. Maybe not the 43 mph I've estimated I've at times plummeted down Federal, but surely the fastest that bike moved that morning. But it handled nicely and stopped decently, without brake fade.
stuinmccandless
2015-06-17 10:57:40
I emailed, and they fixed the issue with my 23.6 hour rental (cutting it back to one. it might have been a half hour but i'm not going to fuss over the extra 2 bucks, when i can't prove that)
shadow
2015-06-17 22:54:52
As a bike shop owner just getting started on the North Shore Bike trail spending tons of money on INS and Adds for bike rentals and the main reason for the location we are 80 % drop on bike rental sales do to bike share.So for the last 3 years go down the drain for all that hard work and money spent , I want to ask something who is making the money on the rentals and who makes the money on repairs on the bikes,,????
bicycle-heaven
2015-06-18 00:16:41
Huh, personally, I didn't even realize you did rentals. But it seems like it would be an entirely different market anyway, like, people going for a Sunday ride as opposed to getting from A to B. I guess I'm just a bit surprised that your drop can be that closely correlated to the opening of the Healthy bikes.
edmonds59
2015-06-18 07:58:50
I can easily believe that bike share could hurt Craig's business. And small business is difficult enough anyway without competition from a big company. On the other hand, it seems to me that biking is growing quickly enough in this city that it should be possible to adapt and succeed -- not that I'd want to be in the position of having to do that to feed my family.
jonawebb
2015-06-18 08:05:33
A dip in bike rentals was probably to be expected, though it does surprise me that it is this sharp, given Healthy Ride has been operating for less than 3 weeks. And, like @edmonds59, I did not know Bicycle Heaven did rentals, which is a shame because when people ask me about this I usually refer them to Golden Triangle or Venture Outdoors/Kayak Pittsburgh. I'll keep this in mind for future reference. But to answer BH's questions, Healthy Ride's rental fees go to Pittsburgh Bike Share, the non-profit that runs the system. I would assume that these fees are used to cover operational costs such as staff and bike maintenance, as well as funding for future expansion. And regarding bike maintenance, Healthy Ride has two full time mechanics in their staff, so I guess they take care of all the bikes' maintenance needs.
chrishent
2015-06-18 09:00:45
A dip in bike rentals was probably to be expected, though it does surprise me that it is this sharp, given Healthy Ride has been operating for less than 3 weeks. and we've had rain for about 1 week of that
erok
2015-06-18 09:12:50
Rain has been a big reason for me to use a bike share bike; either not wanting to leave my bike out in it, or using alternate transport one way during rain then biking one way back. their bike is gonna get wet anyway.
shadow
2015-06-18 09:43:19
We did notice a drop right off and I think many who come into Pittsburgh from out of state and are staying over night close to down town see the new bikes and its a good fast way to take a ride and see Pittsburgh.I have been renting bikes ever since we opened .We rent bikes to many who came to visit the Museum from out of town and they take the offer to take a ride down the north trail for a hour or so.The bikes we rent are many styles and brands and we rent many bikes to people who need bikes for weeks at a time they may be here for work , I am not mad or that upset over it and maybe of the Art Fest and other things going on and the rain is some of the reason . I think bike Share is a good thing for Pittsburgh in the long run and may get people into riding and want to own a bike instead of renting all the time , we do sell used and new bikes so that would be good for us down the road.Bicycle Heaven is everything about bikes not just a Museum. We rent and repair / sell Antique and hard to come by parts all over the world The Museum has other things such as Pittsburgh sports ,,Pittsburgh Art,,Music / Beatle and Elvis collection,,a large G scale train that runs over head and a Nail Salon and Massage Therapist and we just had a nice Wedding on the second floor as that can be rented out for events.,Thanks so much for the info about the Pittsburgh Bike Share I did not know who did the repairs on them and such,I did get a few people come by yesterday with the bike share bikes and they locked the bikes to our bike rack but they had a problem with I guess was a bike share lock and they were not happy about it,,i think they could not unlock it , I will get a update what happened as I was not at the shop at the time and don't know how that got fixed,,, Pittsburgh bike Share is a good thing over all I think
bicycle-heaven
2015-06-18 11:12:39
I've heard from more than a few people about them having problems with unlocking the cable lock. It must be very recent, since I used the lock on a bike rack as recently as last Friday and didn't have an issue. I also rented a bike yesterday that was at a station but was not docked and had the cable instead. No issues unlocking it, though I did return it immediately because of a loose saddle. Perhaps the cable lock issue is the result of a recent software update. And a +1 for using an HR bike as a rain bike.
chrishent
2015-06-18 11:51:56
BH, maybe you could compensate by advertising that you rent really cool, specialty bikes, like big old cool cruisers, or neat lightweight 3-speeds, you know, retro stuff. Maybe even some Sting-rays! obviously nothing too valuable. Those share bikes aren't exactly, uh, fun. I think you could have a unique market to tap that aligns with your general theme.
edmonds59
2015-06-18 12:21:15
Edmonds59 that may be a good thing for me to get into thanks
bicycle-heaven
2015-06-18 23:09:07
If the bike station is rebooting, by the way, your bike will not lock into the station. Related, I met briefly a gentleman from nextbike at Federal and North
shadow
2015-06-19 19:01:36
They could not unlock the bike so someone had to come out to fix the problem I was told . They had to wait and not happy
bicycle-heaven
2015-06-19 22:42:30
And apparently, don't use the cable lock to lock the bike to itself, yet
shadow
2015-06-19 23:26:24
Wow, they're still having problems with locking the bike to itself (which they refer to as "parking" the bike)? When I tried these bikes on opening day (5/31), the first bike I rented would not unlock once parked (locked with cable). I had to get help from the bikeshare staff to get a second bike. The second bike worked fine. Their guess was that the firmware on the first bike was out of date. The next time I use the system, the first thing I'm going to do after checking out a bike, and before pedaling away, is test the cable lock, i.e. see if I can park (lock) the bike without returning it, and then unlock it.
paulheckbert
2015-06-19 23:53:30
it was "parked". i tried using the unlock code, it offered to let me either park (not unpark) or return it. in neither case did it unlock.
shadow
2015-06-20 07:38:48
I have so far encountered no trouble with the cable locks. But I have yet to have a trouble-free return. I can get a bike out and ride away in 10 seconds or less, but returning it takes 75-90.
stuinmccandless
2015-06-20 21:34:16
Healthy Ride posted an updated list of available stations, as well little blurb describing some of the technical issues they've been having. https://healthyridepgh.com/blog/2015/06/21/progress-update/ Regarding the cable locks, they say: "The on-bike cable lock does not release for all customers. Fixing this issue is a high priority. We have changed the software programming to allow customers to unlock the front cable lock with your 6-digit PIN number. If you have a bike locked to itself, try the 4-digit unlock code. If that fails to unlock the on-bike lock, try your 6-digit PIN number. We are working on a more resilient fix for this now and will communicate any changes as soon as they are available."
chrishent
2015-06-21 12:09:16
Researchers at McGill studied house sales in central Montreal before and after the Bixi bike sharing system was launched in Montreal in 2009. They found that a typical home in the central Montreal area they studied had about 12 Bixi stations nearby, which had increased its value by 2.7% – or $8650 on average. http://phys.org/news/2015-06-proximity-bike-stations-augments-property.html#jCp
marko82
2015-06-22 09:32:19
A Healthy Ride bike goes on the Mt. Lebanon Saturday group ride: https://youtu.be/ctaLjpXJ9d8 42 mph top speed going down McCardle.
chrishent
2015-06-23 15:04:39
Good for the city they must be making money on bike share,,we only rented out 4 bikes last 3 weeks.We rented out at least 45 bikes a week at the least,
bicycle-heaven
2015-06-23 23:08:16
^Hmmm. "...women who have children make twice as many trips carting the kids around than their male partners, and about twice as many trips to the grocery store." What this screams to me is that the bike share programs need to find ways to work some cargo bikes into their fleets. My guess is that the use of those would skyrocket, especially given the cost and storage difficulties of those things. Can you imagine, even if you own a bike you use every day, if you occasionally need a 50 lb bag of dog food or 3 cans of paint, or some kids, if you could ride to a station, lock up your bike, check out a cargo bike, boom! That seems like a thing.
edmonds59
2015-07-10 11:14:10
In Japan I saw more women bicycling than men. They were shopping, taking the kids to child care, biking to work, etc. If the bikeshare bikes had better baskets, they would be a lot more inviting for shopping. Here's a photo from Kyoto, though it's not a bikeshare bike. Note the big basket.
paulheckbert
2015-07-11 12:00:39
I'm pretty sure Emily Finch (Portland) does the work of 10 men. Superhero.
edmonds59
2015-07-12 08:35:03
@Edmonds: This is of course a stunt. Do not try this at home. I hope that all 7 of those kids are hers, or that at least she had the diligence to get signed releases from any non-her parents. In any case, it would have been more informative to see the video clip. On a more technical note, the front wheel is not straight but seems to be in contact. This implies a possibly sharp veer to the right. Maybe that's why her mouth is open... and is that a weightlifter belt on her? What is that about?
ahlir
2015-07-12 18:09:31
Oh man. Hugging the right side of the road, creating an invitation to pass and get side-swiped. Hope they made it out of there OK.
jonawebb
2015-07-14 09:36:20
Crazy tourists.
erink
2015-07-14 10:11:45
One day, maybe a few months ago, at the intersection of the JT and the I376W off-ramp, at the light I met a traveler, a young man who had just pedaled up the I376E ramp. His expression indicated that, boy, what was that all about? (A good sign.) He asked me where he could find the nearest public library, so that he could get on the internet. I directed him to the one in Oakland, since I didn't know any better, but I knew that that branch would have computer stations. I sent him up the JT, though in retrospect it would have been simpler to go up Forbes. (I did also told him to keep asking people as he went along.) Sometime days, I miss my youth...
ahlir
2015-07-14 19:39:33
I noticed in the WESA article that there were computer issues with the station that is between CMU and Flagstaff hill. This is also a critical corner in the Buggy Races, and even without a line of metal posts anchored in the ground it was always protected with a large number of hay bales through the spring. Although this is not CMU property, I wonder if that fact was even considered when the location was chosen.
helen-s
2015-07-14 19:41:53
[and vaguely on the subject] There's a lot of people out there on the share-bikes who are obviously not regular bikers. This is a good thing. On the other hand they don't seem to have much sense of which streets are are bikable and which are not. For example, 5th Ave in Shadyside. Now someone like me knows enough to avoid that street and is aware of good alternatives, though I do see others riding it on occasion (more power to them). On the other hand these new folks are helping redefining baseline acceptable cycling behavior, and I think that all of us will benefit from it, hopefully in the not-too-long term.
ahlir
2015-07-14 19:52:59
Agreed.
edmonds59
2015-07-14 20:44:22
This apparently aired on the 16th Pittsburgh Bike Share draws complaint from historic church https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ut2xnJJWAiU Note that the station is in front of the residence, not the church.
marko82
2015-07-19 18:09:26
I will be in Dresden in a couple of weeks, so I checked out the share-bike situation. Their system is run by Nextbike, the company that owns the Pittsburgh franchise. The website states "Once registered, you can use all bike sharing systems operated by Nextbike – worldwide!". Which sounds great. I haven't used the local system (since, uh, I already have a bike) but in the hopes of avoiding hassles I figured I ought buy an id card here so I can just use it there. Has anyone had experience using the Nextbike system with a Pgh card in different cities? (I see that they're in Kent, OH and also in NJ, across the Hudson.) I just want to know that it works without requiring additional qualification steps in a new city. Thanks.
ahlir
2015-08-27 22:00:01
Do we have cards? I thought we just used our cell phones.
erink
2015-08-28 08:37:51
I think they're in the process of sending out cards right now.
willb
2015-08-28 08:39:09
I got my card last month. If you have a monthly membership, you should be getting it soon. An FYI on using the cards: for them to work, you have to activate the onboard bike computer by pressing any key on it. Otherwise, the card reader won't be turned on and thus won't read the card. This is most likely a power saving feature. Othrer than that little detail, renting a bike with the card is a breeze. It's the fastest and most convenient way to do so.
chrishent
2015-08-28 10:04:19
Ah, didn't think through the card validation process. So that looks like I'll be using my credit card for rides (like most other systems). Not a big deal. I'll check if it's something you can pick up in a local shop.
ahlir
2015-08-28 20:32:13
@ahlir The membership cards are for the monthly subscribers, much as the keys for CitiBike and Capital Bikeshare. However, by registering through the Pittsburgh system your phone number and PIN code should work for the other systems
kieran
2015-08-31 14:05:33
Got my card a few days ago. Using the card is about as quick as typing the bike # into the app, because the card takes about 10 seconds to be read (at least with the reception my stations get). I signed up for the 30-minute membership this month and rode on 11 separate days, with about half of those days having multiple 30-minute segments. Yay! I'm loving it, but echo everyone else saying that there are still kinks to work through. It's not great to have to walk to a new station because bikes won't release, or because there are no bikes, and it's no fun to spend time trying to return a bike that just won't go in. But the benefits outweigh the hassles by far. Phone help is very quick and has taken care of me every time. Can't wait to see where the new stations will be. Station Square, Squirrel Hill, anywhere from Schenley to Frick Parks? Would love one Josephine & S. 27th, or Josephine and S. 21st.
jamin
2015-09-01 08:34:06
Millvale riverfront park would be a good spot, both for recreational riders and commuters.
stuinmccandless
2015-09-01 08:59:58
Card is the preferred method for me, because I don't have to whip out my phone and access the app for renting a bike. Regardless, it's great to have many options for this, as opposed to only or two methods which half the users dislike. As for future stations, other than the ones mentioned in the last couple of posts, I'd like to see (keeping in mind relative proximity to existing stations): - One or two more along Liberty Ave between 33rd and the Bloomfield bridge -East Ohio St business district, though this may have to wait until PennDOT is done with their work there - Further up Central Northside, on Brighton and Pennsylvania - Somewhere on Western Ave - Regent Square, one near Forbes and another near D's - Science Center/Heinz Field/Casino area - West End business district, though significant improvements will be required here in terms of infrastructure (there's a couple of forum topics on this that I won't get into) - Begin expansion towards the southern ridge: stations at upper Duquesne Incline, Shiloh St, Grandview Park, Arlington-Warrington intersection, 18th-Brownsville intersection - Two or three more stations further up Butler St. - Start going up Highland Ave and/or Neville - Two or three more stations in that triangle-shaped gap in the Golden Triangle between Liberty, Fifth, and Grant And many more! Hell, it might even be cool to see a practically isolated set of stations between Beechview and Dormont, along Broadway
chrishent
2015-09-01 10:37:07
I rode from the station on north avenue over to BOA at Parkview the other day. The hub did skip here and there and the brakes seemed squishier than day 1. It served the purpose, which was to get me (a lot closer to) home on a day I'd dropped off a bike and was without. Of course, there is no shortage of good candidate locations in squirrel hill that would have gotten me a lot closer still. At the very, very, very least Murray just North of Forbes alongside the library needs to be in the next wave of expansion, almost no matter how small as both direct demand and connectivity to transit is really solid there.
byogman
2015-09-01 13:23:59
In semi-related news, my son just went to Ohio State in Columbus, so I got an email blast that the University is rolling out its own Bike Share system! called Zagster ! with 15 stations ! and 115 bikes ! For a campus of 50,000. :/ Aim low, Buckeyes. Also it is not clear if and how the OSU system interfaces with the separate but equal city of Columbus system called CoGo, with 30 stations and undisclosed number of bikes. Seems like someone failed to communicate. Whatever, the boy has his own rad bicycle and is rocking the place.
edmonds59
2015-09-01 13:33:56
I've only ever keyed in phone# and pin, and that's so easy i can't see bothering to get a card.
shadow
2015-09-01 13:34:40
Stu, Millvale's not in Pittsburgh.
offtn
2015-09-01 14:56:44
@offtn, I'm not sure that's an issue in this case, with Pittsburgh Bike Share being a private organization. I would think that they could expand to any of the surrounding communities, though it'd be understandable if they choose to expand to other areas of the city before going outside its limits
chrishent
2015-09-01 16:04:27
...and down by the boat launch is right on the border. It might actually be in the city, depending on where it's placed. In fact, I can see it being problematical if you placed too many bikes there, as it would rapidly become a park & ride, for which it does not have adequate parking to handle. That aside, if 100 people did park there and hopped on bikes to finish their commute, that's 100 fewer cars trying to get in and out of downtown. We want that.
stuinmccandless
2015-09-01 17:32:15
millvale may not want it
shadow
2015-09-02 21:47:04
To temper my somewhat harsh cynicism of the OSU system earlier, it seems their system includes "ADA accessible bikes in OSU's bike share ... hand pedaled bikes, side by side tandems, adult tricycles, cargo bikes, and heavy duty bikes." I don't know that any other system I've seen does that. That's kind of flipping awesome. Also their system costs a little more than half per-bike than the Columbus city system. So perhaps they have some idea of what they're doing.
edmonds59
2015-09-03 12:35:11
Casey Neistat make a fun little video comparing taxi, his own bike, and Citibike bike share, in New York City to see which was the least pain in the ass. He concluded that bike share was the winner! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=po85lER-qRo
paulheckbert
2015-10-02 23:00:45
Citi Bike Stations: Landlords’ Latest Tenant Perk Jamestown is the first New York City landlord to use a sponsorship program to bring the shared bicycle system called Citi Bike to the front door of its Falchi Building... Although a Citi Bike station was installed about a block away from the building and a subway stop on the 7 line isn’t far, having a bicycle docking station right outside its doors was essential, said Michael Phillips, Jamestown president. http://www.wsj.com/articles/citi-bike-stations-landlords-latest-tenant-perk-1444002742
marko82
2015-10-05 12:20:07
Maybe you could cut & paste the article for us, marko82, because I hit a paywall at WSJ.
paulheckbert
2015-10-05 22:22:49
Odd, it let me read it in full yesterday, but now I'm hitting the pay wall too. Sorry about that.
marko82
2015-10-06 07:29:46
A Chrome incognito window or something similar can get you around most paywalls.
erink
2015-10-06 12:33:44
that is a mighty suitcase to be squeezing into that rack... (of course, in other cities, you could actually take bikeshare _to_ the airport, but....oh, never mind.)
epanastrophe
2015-10-26 17:14:47
Healthy Ride releases ride data for 3rd quarter of 2015: https://healthyridepgh.com/blog/2015/10/26/the-numbers-are-in/ The data is available to the public and is about as raw as possible. It includes: - bike ID - origin and destination stations - trip date, time and duration - user type Obviously, it does not include user IDs. Over 40,000 bike checkouts were made during this 3 month period. You can analyze the data in any way you like.
chrishent
2015-10-27 22:06:18
Out of sheer boredom, I dug into the raw data a little bit. Here are the best and worst performing stations over the 3-month period... drumroll please... Top 5 stations for bikes to be checked out of: 1) S 27th St & Tunnel Blvd (Southside Works) - 2,194 bikes checked out. 2) Forbes Ave & Market Square - 2,193 3) Liberty Ave & Stanwix St. - 1,961 4) 10th St & Penn Ave (David L. Lawrence Convention Center) - 1,846 5) 21st St & Penn Ave - 1,735 And the top 5 stations for bikes to be returned: Erm, it's exactly the same as the above, but with slightly different numbers (Southside Works had 2,487 bikes checked in, for example). As for the worst performing stations, by bikes checked out... 1) Centre Ave & Kirkpatrick St - 70 2) Frew St. & Schenley Dr. - 103 3) Shady Ave and Ellsworth Ave - 212 4) S Euclid Ave & Centre Ave - 217 5) Centre Ave & Consol Energy Center - 263 The worst performing stations by bikes checked in is the same 1-3, but 4 and 5 are: 4) Centre Ave & Consol Energy Center - 169 5) Penn Ave & N Fairmount St - 212 The Centre Ave & Kirkpatrick St station had only 37 bikes returned to it! I'm going to dig a little deeper in a bit. I'll also share the spreadsheet I created, if I can figure out how.
doublestraps
2015-10-30 11:27:11
Zipcar is getting multi-modal and adding rental cars adjacent to bike share stations! The new stations will put car rental and bike rental stations in the same place. The new Zipcar sites are: 42nd Street and Penn Avenue (Children’s Hospital) Third Avenue and Wood Street (Downtown) 1st Avenue and Smithfield Street (Downtown) 42nd Street and Butler Street (Lawrenceville) South Euclid and Centre avenues (Shadyside) Ivy and Walnut streets (Shadyside) 12th Street and Penn Avenue (Strip District) http://www.post-gazette.com/news/transportation/2015/10/30/Zipcar-adding-rental-sites-at-bike-sharing-stations-pittsburgh/stories/201510300270
benzo
2015-10-30 11:46:49
@DoubleStraps ha! you beat me to it. I too have been doing some data analysis. I've added a few fields, such as grouping stations in regards to what neighborhood they are in, and other nerdy crap. I ended up with a decent Pivot table that can tell you a lot of things. For instance: - 31% of rentals are roundtrips, meaning the bike is rented and returned at the same station - On that same note, roundtrips are the most popular trip of each station. The most popular non-roundtrip trip? Between 10th/Penn and 21st/Penn - Nearly 84% of all trips are "flat", meaning there is no relative elevation change between origin and destination (roundtrips are considered flat, even if the renter decided to use an HRB for Dirty Dozen hill reps). For this purpose, I consider all stations in downtown, South Side, Strip and the two on Butler to be at the same elevation. Same for those in the East End/Oakland. With that in mind, 10% trips are downhill and the remainder 6% are uphill -35% of rentals are made by monthly members - Most popular rental station during morning rush hour: 12th and Carson. Most popular return station in this same time period: Fifth Ave and Bouquet - Most popular rental station during evening rush hour: 10th and Penn. Most popular return station in this same time period: South Side Works on 27th St - Most popular day to rent a bike: Saturday - Most popular bike: 70417, with 145 rentals - Not all possible trip combinations have been made. For instance, apparently nobody has attempted to travel from the Market Square station to the one on Liberty Ave and Millvale in Bloomfield And so forth (yes, I was bored). The data set is sufficiently comprehensive that you can determine what the average travel time was by monthly members between two different stations on Thursdays at lunch time. I can share this file via DropBox. DM if you'd like a copy, or I can post the link here later
chrishent
2015-10-30 12:11:11
Thx for the data wrangling. I'm wondering if either of you deleted any data before processing? I.e., a lot of "rides" took 1, or 3, or 9 seconds and were most likely people unable to pull the bike out, or people that changed their minds, etc. Not sure what an appropriate cutoff would be, but I'd say if the bike was out less than 180 seconds and it was returned where it was rented, that might be deleted. (Of course that could also give us an idea of % of problem rentals.)
jamin
2015-10-30 13:38:44
@Jamin, I did delete some data. There were a little over 40,000 rides in the original data set. I whittled that down to 39,208, after I deleted all rides to and from the Healthy Ride office, as well as errant returns (i.e. bikes that weren't returned to an official station for whatever reason). From the remaining data, 2,988 rides were under 3 mins. 2,686 of these resulted in bikes being returned to the same station, suggesting problem rentals and, to a lesser degree, rental demonstrations. Of the remaining 302, a few seem to be legitimate trips. For example, 5 people have cruised down from 42nd and Penn to 42nd and Butler in under 3 mins. While we are on the subject, 62% of rentals are under 30 mins (this includes the "problem" ones mentioned above). 18% are between 30 and 60 mins
chrishent
2015-10-30 14:17:50
@DoubleStraps, regarding the worst performing stations, it should be noted that the one at Frew St. and Schenley Drive in Schenley Park only started operating in September. They had some problems with station connectivity so it was not in service until then. The first successful rental at that station dates from September 10. With that being said, the fifth worst performing station for rentals becomes the one on S Whitfield St and Baum Blvd in East Liberty (aka The Invisible Station), and the fifth worst for returns is S Euclid and Centre Ave (aka the Whole Foods one). The station on Centre Ave and Kirkpatrick, the worst performing one by just about any key metric, has a lot of issues. For one, it's geographically isolated, whereas all of the other stations are mostly clustered around each other. Getting to it involves climbing from pretty much any direction, and if you go from it to any station east, you'll have to climb as well. I think this station should be relocated closer to downtown, near the Shop n Save shopping center. Or, when the system expands, they could close the gap by adding a station here as well. Not to mention the lack of bike infrastructure in the area, which is a deal-breaker for potential riders. Perhaps Healthy Ride could do more outreach around here to promote the system better, but I doubt that will have a significant effect. Of the other stations, the one at Consol is perhaps an unsurprisingly unpopular one, despite being one of two largest stations in the system (35 docks, tied with the one on the North Shore). Other than the arena and two hotels nearby, there's really not much else. Besides the occasional event, there was very little reason to go to and from there this summer. Perhaps now that hockey season has begun, use will pick up, but until the Civic Arena lot is redeveloped, there will be little reason to go here. That being said, I think this station would be more popular if it was located along Fifth Ave, where there are bars, restaurants and other businesses. The current location along Centre Ave is pretty much "out of sight, out of mind"
chrishent
2015-11-02 13:37:04
the fifth worst performing station for rentals becomes the one on S Whitfield St and Baum Blvd in East Liberty (aka The Invisible Station)
Interesting. I think 90% of my rides have involved this station.
dmtroyer
2015-11-02 14:30:28
The station at Consol Energy is the one closest my office. But, I find that I only rent from there. I do not return there. It is primarily accessible from Centre Avenue. You can get to it from Washington Place, but Fifth is one way inbound (I usually use the rental to jaunts into downtown, or the Strip). You could come back out on Forbes, but then you have a one block steepish downhill, to a light, then a one block steepish uphill to a light, where you would turn right to return the bike. I'd rather return the bike to a station a couple blocks away, closer to downtown, BEFORE I have to climb up Sixth or Seventh Avenue from USX/Mellon. Crossing I-579 entails a nasty 2 blocks with odd traffic patterns (and one intersection was under construction for a bit this summer.) I don't usually mind it on my own bike, with a helmet and hi viz clothing, but I don't like it on a HelBike. I sometimes even rent/return at Stevenson Street, a few blocks further away from my office to avoid returning at the Consol station.
swalfoort
2015-11-02 15:28:16
@dmtroyer, I think the low number of rentals (281) and returns (290) there is due in part to the fact that it's not a particularly visible station. It might get more use if it's kept in the same general area but located on Penn, Highland, or Centre. Interestingly though, it's the station where there's the highest share of rentals and returns made by monthly subscribers - both figures are ~69%. The one with the lowest share is the station along the North Shore trail, with 11%
chrishent
2015-11-02 19:17:17
I got an email. HealthyRide says "we're giving all of our registered customers FREE unlimited riding between 7am-7pm this Saturday, December 12. With temperatures in the mid-60s this weekend, we hope all of our riders take advantage and go for a ride. Anyone new to Healthy Ride simply needs to register to take advantage of free riding. Register at www.healthyridepgh.com, our mobile app "nextbike" or call 412-535-5189."
paulheckbert
2015-12-11 12:03:01
Had a Twitter conversation a bit ago with a bus driver and some bike users. What experience has anyone had with a HR bike on a bus rack? I've done it once, with positive results. It wasn't a long or difficult ride, just downtown out to Parkway Center Mall. Those buggers are heavy, something like 37 pounds, but they fit fine. Has anyone ever run into a bus driver who refused to take a HR bike on a bus rack? I'm told it's happened. They should be OK, though. Those racks are good to 80 pounds. Two of them might be testing the limits of a bus rack, though. Or maybe that's 80# per bike, maximum two. I don't know, but I can find out.
stuinmccandless
2015-12-28 13:13:57
"Yet More Evidence Bike-Share Isn't Reaching the Poor" with some charts and graphs http://www.citylab.com/politics/2016/01/bike-share-poor-equity-transit/424656/ But also something good in the article: Earlier this month, the chairs of the Congressional Bike Caucus introduced a bipartisan bill (#faints) called the “Bikeshare Transit Act.” By designating bike-share systems as public transportation, the legislation would make them clearly eligible for federal funding
marko82
2016-01-20 16:09:07
I don't know if the poor as a whole want to ride a bike or not? I know some that grew up very poor and never learned to ride a bike. That being said, there needs to be a desire by any group of people to actually want to ride a bike for transportation. Many would much prefer to be on a bus. I also feel there may be some poor that would make fun of others if seen on a bicycle. Sort of how people act in some groups if you have old beat up shoes on, instead of the latest Jordans. As crazy as that sounds to some, it is a reality for others. Lots of things at play in those statistics.
gg
2016-01-21 12:25:24
ICYMI, Healthy Ride released their data for Q4 of 2015. As before, I deleted some data that is either irrelevant (trips to/from Bike Share office) or is bad. Some highlights: Total number of trips: 15,931, down from 39k in Q3 76% of trips were one way (meaning different origin and destination), up from 68.9% in Q3. In fact, it's worth noting that 17 out of the 50 stations have a one way trip as their most popular one. These stations are mostly in the East End and Oakland. This is in contrast with Q3, where all stations had roundtrips as the most popular trip. This, to me, suggests more commuting and less leisurely rides. Most popular trip: Roundtrip on 27th/Tunnel way (Southside Works) station Most popular one way trip: Boulevard of the Allies/Parkview to Schenley Plaza Most popular stations: 10th/Penn, Fifth Ave/Bouquet, SouthSide Works, 21st and Penn, Liberty/Stanwix Least popular: Centre/Kirkpatrick, Shady/Ellsworth, Euclid/Centre, Consol, Zulema St/Coltart Station popularity by month (Q4): Origin: October: 10th/Penn (Total trips), Fifth Ave/Bouquet (one way only) November: Same as October December: Liberty/Stanwix (total), BOTA/Parkview (one way) Destination: October: 10th/Penn (total), 21st/Penn (one way) November: Same as October December: Liberty/Stanwix (total), Market Square (one way) Most popular bike: 70493, 59 trips 1606 trips under 3 mins, 355 one-way. So almost 10% of trips are likely problem rentals. 75% of trips are under 30 min 12.55% are between 30 and 60 mins 22.8% of trips originated downtown, down from 27% in Q3; 20.44% originated in Oakland, up from 13% in Q3 49.6% of trips were made by subscribers, up from 35.8% in Q3 Most popular day to rent a bike: Sunday 16.72%; least popular is Tuesday at 12.43% Most popular morning rush hour trip: Alder St/Highland to Bakery Sq Most popular evening rush hour trip: 10th/Penn to 21st/Penn Station with highest share of monthly member trips: Bakery Square (85%), Station with the lowest share of monthly member trips: North Shore trail (16%) Healthy Ride at 6 months: Most popular stations: South Side works, Market Square, 10th/Penn, Liberty/Stanwix, 21st/Penn Least popular stations: Centre/Kirkpatrick, Shady/Ellsworth, Euclid/Centre (Whole Foods), Consol, Whitfield/Baum Most popular trip (all): 27th/Tunnel Way (South Side Works) roundtrip Most popular one way trip: 10th/Penn to 21st/Penn Customer share: 56% pay as you go, 39.8% monthly, 0.1% daily pass, 4.1% undetermined (this is mostly because of incomplete data from the station at Schenley Plaza) Most popular bike: 70234, 186 trips
chrishent
2016-02-23 16:54:05
As I biked around the city yesterday, I observed how well-located the bike share stations were to the day’s big events: anti- or pro-Trump rally at Soldiers & Sailors: bike station just outside on Bigelow. Pirates game at PNC Park: bike station right there on 6th. anti-Trump rally at Smallman & 12th: bike station one block away on Penn. Trump event at Convention Center: bike station right there on 10th. (pic below) Penguins game at Consol Center: bike station outside on Centre. Climate Change movie at Carnegie Lecture Hall: bike station on Schenley Drive. All of the above were under one block away, but there was one that required a walk of 5 blocks (oy!): Chelsea Clinton event in Highland Park: bike station on Whitfield.
paulheckbert
2016-04-14 12:36:13
Study: Bikeshare Riders Get In Far Fewer Crashes Than Other Cyclists https://cleantechnica.com/2016/05/19/study-bikeshare-riders-get-far-fewer-crashes-cyclists/ Somewhat amazingly, there is actually yet to be a single death in the US that occurred during the utilization of a bikeshare service here. Considering that cyclist deaths are not exactly uncommon the US — some parts of the US are downright dangerous to ride a bicycle in or through, owing to insufficient infrastructure and careless drivers — that really is quite remarkable. Full report PDF: http://transweb.sjsu.edu/PDFs/research/1204-bikesharing-and-bicycle-safety.pdf
marko82
2016-05-19 08:41:57
HealthyRide announced today that they plan to add 10 stations this year to the existing 50. There's an online map on which you can click to suggest future station locations: http://pghbikeshare.org/map/
paulheckbert
2016-05-29 20:04:33
Also, you can "like" the locations that people have proposed (over 40 so far) and you can also "like" and comment on the existing stations as well. I've already suggested that a couple of stations should be moved to increase visibility and convenience (e.g. the one next to the Warhol bridge, which should really be on 7th and Penn). So far, most of the suggestions are sensible, as they either plug gaps in the network or expand the system not too far from an existing station, which is really all you can do with only an additional 10 stations. There's a few that are good suggestions due to their location along bikeable business districts (e.g the ones shown on Broadway Ave and Brookline Blvd.) but that are perhaps a few years away, as they are far away from the existing network. To me, the following are needed: - Station Square, for access to many things, including the Mon Incline. - 3 more on the North Side, including one next to the Carnegie Center or the Allegheny T station, as well as one on East Ohio St and one up Brighton Rd. - Squirrel Hill needs at least two stations, on Forbes and/or Murray. - Downtown needs one inside the area between Fifth, Liberty and Smithfield. - CMU proper. - Go nuts and put a couple on top of the southern ridge, in Allentown and at the top of 18th. That descent from Allentown though, on Arlington or Brosville, is interesting, to say the least. - It would be great if they could plug the gap in the Hill District between the station on Centre and Kirkpatrick, and downtown. Or just move that station closer to downtown. As it stands, that station is, by far, the least popular one in the system, so perhaps a change in location would help to increase ridership here.
chrishent
2016-05-30 07:58:04
I'd love to see one at the foot of Howard Street. It would better serve Alleg Gen Hospital, but also make it a lot easier to park for free and bike downtown. Right now, I have almost a 10-minute walk from however far up I have to park on Howard St to get a bike at Federal & North.
stuinmccandless
2016-05-30 09:55:22
One in Point State Park itself, maybe seasonally would be a good idea. There are a lot of tourists that would benefit from a bike rental station there. Also, if there could be more located on the Penn Avenue bike lane, I think you would see usage on the lane jump by quite a bit.
jason-pgh
2016-05-30 09:57:07
Where could new stations be placed, to specifically benefit more Black and Latino people?
lori
2016-05-30 10:26:22
I just suggested one at the Wilkinsburg busway station. I see @shadow added one in Homewood. Seems that area to the NE of East Lib could use at least a suggestion. But I don't know the area, its needs, or potential destinations well enough to make an intelligent suggestion.
stuinmccandless
2016-05-30 11:20:13
@lori, I wondered the same thing. I don't know the answer, but the center of Homewood seemed like an obvious location in that right now Homewood seems to be a place a lot of non-PoC are just biking through, and making bicycles accessible to people living and working there is at least a start.
shadow
2016-05-30 16:40:32
Where I want stations. Probably a little self centered, but these would take me to places I want to go: Bottom of the duqesne Incline (Southside) East Ohio Street & James St (Deutchtown) Butler & Stanton (Lawrenceville) Butler & 54th (Lawrenceville) CMU Campus @ Morewood (oakland) Station Square (southside) Penn Ave @ S. Winbiddle (garfield) Negley & Stanton (highland Park) Bryant St buisness district (highland park) Reynolds & Hastings (point breeze)
benzo
2016-05-31 08:45:33
Station Square is such a natural location for a bike share station, but I guess it's up to the property owners to allow for one to be installed there. I'd be surprised if they don't get one during this first expansion round.
chrishent
2016-05-31 13:38:04
I seconded the Waterfront suggestion in Homestead. That seems a natural place for a station: ride out, return bike, shop/eat/see a film, grab another bike to ride back to town.
reddan
2016-05-31 13:48:35
Recall that in the first round all stations had to be located on public property due to restrictions in the Federal startup grant. Now that they aren't using that grant for new stations, they should be able to locate on private property if the owner is willing.
epanastrophe
2016-05-31 13:49:52
Thank you, Stu, Daria, and Reddan! I added likes to the two Homestead and the Wilkinsburg busway station suggestions.
lori
2016-06-01 07:26:42
Over 100 suggested locations already. Nice! Granted, a few of these are essentially duplicates, and a few more are far-fetched for this expansion round (Avalon and Bellevue are good suggestions, but are pretty far from the existing network), but there's definite interest in making this system grow. Aside, I wonder if PGH Bike Share is constrained to only have stations within Pittsburgh city limits, at least until there is sufficient coverage in this area. I know PGH Bike Share is a private entity, but I don't know if there are any conditions from the support they receive from local foundations and Highmark, as well as government grants, regarding future locations outside the city.
chrishent
2016-06-01 08:50:14
Am I the only one who does not see any of the suggested stations? I probably suggested several duplicates.
ted
2016-06-01 10:56:06
No, you're not. I wonder if they reset the map or something? I'm not seeing any suggestions currently, either, in any of my three browsers.
epanastrophe
2016-06-01 11:28:33
Same here.
benzo
2016-06-01 12:18:35
I emailed healthy ride and they said it was a temporary bug and that the suggest a station map will be back to normal shortly.
benzo
2016-06-01 12:49:51
And the map is back!
benzo
2016-06-01 14:03:07
Dang, people really want a station in Highland Park, Squirrel Hill, and Station Square :-)
chrishent
2016-06-01 14:32:32
Healthy Ride recently released their ride data for the first quarter of 2016. The total number of trips from July 1, 2016 until March 31, 2016 is 64,524, of which 39,207 came in Q3 2015, 15,931 in Q4 2015, and 9,386 in Q1 2016. Rental distribution per month is as follows: 2015 July: 14,321 rentals August: 13,976 September: 10,910 October: 7,712 November: 4,845 December: 3,374 2016 January: 1,579 February: 2,621 March: 5,186 Most popular bike: 70417, 222 rentals Least popular bike: 70296, 10 rentals Busiest day: July 26 2015 (Last 2015 Open Streets) – 889 rentals Least busy day: January 23, 2016 – 9 rentals Most popular roundtrip, overall: Southside Works – 1870 trips Most popular one way trip, overall: Convention Center to 21st/Penn – 454 trips Most popular roundtrip, Q1 2016: Southside Works – 204 trips Most popular one way trip, Q1 2016: Alder St/Highland Ave to Bakery Square: 130 trips Top 5 rental stations, overall 1. South Side Works – 3320 rentals 2. Market Square - 3050 3. Liberty and Stanwix - 2884 4. Convention Center - 2843 5. 21st and Penn - 2529 Top 5 rentals stations, Q1 2016 1. South Side Works – 526 rentals 2. BOTA and Parkview Ave – 404 3. Liberty and Stanwix – 385 4. Fifth Ave and Bouquet St – 372 5. Market Square – 332 Top 5 return stations, overall 1. South Side works – 3839 returns 2. Market Square – 3440 3. Liberty and Stanwix – 3257 4. Convention Center – 2970 5. 21st and Penn – 2907 Top 5 return stations, Q1 2016 1. South Side Works – 639 return 2. Liberty and Stanwix – 483 3. Market Square – 372 4. Fifth Ave and Bouquet – 372 5. North Shore Trail – 345 Worst performing rental stations, overall 1. Centre Ave and Kirkpatrick – 114 rentals 2. Shady Ave and Ellsworth – 369 3. Centre Ave and Euclid (Whole Foods) – 377 4. Consol Center – 478 5. Whitfield and Baum – 521 Worst performing rental stations, Q1 2016 1. Centre Ave and Kirkpatrick – 15 rentals 2. Euclid and Centre (Whole Foods) – 36 3. Shady Ave and Ellsworth – 55 4. Whitfield and Baum – 76 5. Fort Duquesne Blvd and 7th St – 83 Worst performing return stations, overall 1. Centre Ave and Kirkpatrick – 50 returns 2. Shady Ave and Ellsworth – 272 3. Consol Center – 301 4. Penn Ave and Fairmount – 368 5. Euclid Ave and Centre (Whole Foods) – 421 Worst performing return stations, Q1 2016 1. Centre Ave and Kirkpatrick – 6 returns 2. Penn Ave and Fairmount – 30 3. Shady Ave and Ellsworth – 38 4. Consol Center – 44 5. Euclid and Centre Ave (Whole Foods) - 45
chrishent
2016-07-27 14:59:58
Are you interested in expanding Healthy Ride/ bike Share into Squirrel Hill - Greenfield? The Squirrel Hill Bike/Ped committee (part of Sq Hill Urban Coalition) will be discussing this with Erin Potts of Healthy Ride tomorrow night, Thursday Oct 13 -- 6:30 at JCC on Forbes Here is the announcement of the meeting
Dear SHUC Bike-Ped Committee Members and Friends, I hope you will make every effort to attend our regularly scheduled meeting this Thursday, 10/13/16, 6;30-8:00 PM, in Room 202 of the Squirrel Hill Jewish Community Center, 5738 Forbes Ave., near Murray. Our special guest presenter will be Erin Potts, Director of Marketing and Outreach of Healthy Ride/Pittsburgh Bike-Share. Many of us have expressed interest in Healthy Ride/Pittsburgh Bike-Share access in Squirrel Hill-Greenfield. We will have a great opportunity to hear from Erin about the latest developments at the organization and to share ideas, issues, and processes regarding placement of bike-share stations directly in our neighborhoods. Additional agenda items for the meeting include:
  • How to use the SHUC web-page for announcements and for engaging in conversation and interaction through it by our members and friends
  • Brief summary and discussion of pedestrian and vehicle accidents to-date in Police Zone 4 (Squirrel Hill; Point Breeze; Swisshelm Park; Lincoln Place; Greenfield; Oakland (part); Shadyside (part).
Looking forward to seeing you Thursday, Marshall Hershberg, Co-Chair of the Committee
maryshaw
2016-10-12 17:10:39
Ran across this analysis of data from the NYC Citi Bike system (22m data points).
ahlir
2016-12-28 16:47:41
Bluegogo is a Chinese bikeshare company with an interesting approach:
  • no stations
  • park anywhere
  • their bikes transmit GPS (as do HealthyRide's, but perhaps Bluegogo's transmit more frequently?) so customers can always find the closest available bike, and GPS transmitters thwart theft
  • the bikes have solar panels in the basket to charge the radio transmitter and power the lights (not charged by solar panels at the station, as with HealthyRide)
  • airless tires
  • rental cost is $0.08 per half hour in China (HealthyRide is $2 per half hour)
  • bike manufacturing cost is under $300
Bluegogo has placed 70,000 bicycles in three Chinese cities, so far. http://mashable.com/2017/01/03/bluegogo-china-bike-sharing/ and is hoping to expand into San Francisco, but has run into opposition because another bikeshare company has an exclusive contract there: http://www.sfexaminer.com/sf-threatens-legal-action-bikeshare-company-rumored-launch-city-streets/
paulheckbert
2017-01-19 23:59:08
The Pittsburgh system bike lights are charged by solar panel?  Neat!  I figured it had a powered hub.
edronline
2017-01-20 08:19:40
@rbhays, that's an interesting way to look at the data. I bet there could be similar "joyride" uses of it if there was a station in Millvale Riverfront Park.  The issue would be, of course, that it is Millvale and not the city of Pittsburgh.  People could ride 3 miles to the stadiums and back. I was also somewhere over the last few days and I saw what looked like a new station with only a 2 bike capacity.  There was also a bike share van parked outside. Can't remember where I saw it...
edronline
2017-01-25 08:15:18
@rbhays @edronline, yes the most popular trips for almost every station are roundtrips. Most of these roundtrips are likely joyrides. In fact, for the station on the North Shore trail, +80% of rentals are roundtrips. And @edronline, what you saw was likely the Healthy Ride offices. They recently put in a small station outside.
chrishent
2017-01-25 09:07:57
As a note, I believe the station formerly at bigelow and fifth has now been relocated to O'hara and bigelow to accommodate construction.
kieran
2017-01-25 09:34:15
Yawl might find this interestingk. US bikeshare systems ranked by size Pittsburgh is #22, tho there's a note in the data that indicates that the map depiction is incorrect and needs to be updated.
ornoth
2017-01-31 10:12:00
Healthy Ride could totally game this system by calling 1 station 2.  or putting 1 tiny station right next to another station.  Then we could vault up to #10 or so.
edronline
2017-01-31 10:17:04
Healthy Ride 2016 summary # of rentals: 74,110 Best month: July, 10,620 rentals Worst month: December, 1,262 rentals Top 10 rental stations 1.     South Side Works – 4,231 rentals 2.     Liberty Ave and Stanwix – 3,633 3.     Market Square – 3,286 4.     21st St and Penn Ave – 3,061 5.     Convention Center – 3,048 6.     North Shore trail – 2,968 7.     12th St and Carson St – 2,549 8.     PNC Park – 2,522 9.     Parkview Ave and Boulevard of the Allies – 2,186 10. 18th St and Sydney St – 2,087 (The station at Parkview Ave has been the biggest surprise to me. I did not expect it to do as well as it’s doing. Unsurprisingly, 70% of its rentals end up in another station in Oakland. Very cool)   Top 10 return stations: 1.     South Side Works – 4,949 returns 2.     Liberty Ave/Stanwix – 4,179 3.     Market Square – 4,083 4.     21st St and Penn Ave – 3,578 5.     North Shore Trail – 3,326 6.     Convention Center – 3,063 7.     PNC Park – 2,840 8.     12th St/Carson St – 2,608 9.     18th St/Sydney St. – 2,273 10.  17th St. and Penn Ave – 2,213   Bottom 5 rental stations: 1.     Centre Ave and Kirkpatrick – 251 rentals 2.     Euclid Ave and Centre Ave (Whole Foods) – 342 3.     Shady Ave and Ellsworth – 571 4.     Maryland Ave and Ellsworth – 615 5.     Consol/PPG Paints Arena – 656   Bottom 5 return stations   1.     Centre Ave and Kirkpatrick – 56 returns 2.     Consol/PPG Paints Arena – 347 3.     Euclid Ave/Centre Ave (Whole Foods) – 382 4.     Penn Ave/Fairmount St – 388 5.     Coltart Ave/Forbes Ave – 497   Most popular roundtrip: rent/return at South Side Works station – 2,423 rentals Most popular one way rental: Parkview Ave/BOTA to Fifth Ave/Bouquet – 555 rentals One way trips account for 75% of rentals.   Comparing usage in Q3 and Q4 in 2015 vs the same time period in 2016: -       A 28.7% drop in rentals in 2016 vs 2015 -       Most stations see a decline in rentals. Only 5 saw higher ridership in 2016. -       The decline could be partially attributed to an increase in system reliability.  This can be inferred by the reduction in rentals returned to the same in station in under 3 minutes. There were 3,937 (7.1%) such rentals in 2015, vs 144 (0.4%) in 2016 over the same 6 month period. -       The decline can also be explained by the novelty factor wearing off, as well as a likely reduction in promotional rides. -       There are 4 stations that have the dishonorable mention of having more rentals in 6 months in 2015, than in 2016 entirely So it seems like the folks al Healthy Ride have some work to do to improve ridership. Perhaps the new stations coming in 2017 will plug some gaps in their network and the improved connectivity will mean more bike share trips!
chrishent
2017-01-31 22:11:13
where is the north shore trail station?  Can't think of where it is.
edronline
2017-02-01 08:09:04
@edronline, it's located on the upper part of the North Shore trail, next to the Fort Duquesne bridge. It's one of the two largest stations in the system, with 35 docks (the other one being the one next to PPG Paints arena, which is severely underutilized by comparison. More on this below). The North Shore station seems to cater primarily to recreational users, with 54% of them returning their rental to this same station, and averaging 69 minutes per roundtrip Related, the average rental duration in 2016 was 55 minutes. Other stuff: Top 10 stations in rentals per dock (a good measure of bang per buck)
  1. Liberty Ave/Stanwix St (16 docks) - 227 rentals/dock
  2. South Side Works (19) - 222
  3. Convention Center (15) - 203
  4. Market Square (19) - 173
  5. PNC Park (15) - 168
  6. 21st St and Penn Ave (19) - 161
  7. 12th St and Carson St (19) - 134
  8. 18th St and Sydney St (16) - 130
  9. Federal St and North Ave (12) - 126
  10. Parkview Ave and BOTA (19) - 115
Bottom 5 stations in rentals per dock
  1. Consol/PPG Paints Arena (35 docks) - 19 rentals/dock
  2. Centre Ave/Kirkpatrick St (12) - 21
  3. Euclid Ave/Centre Ave (12) - 29
  4. Shady Ave/Ellsworth Ave (19) - 30
  5. Maryland Ave/Ellsworth Ave (19) -32
Finally, since July 1st, 2015, out of 2,500 possible trip possibilities, 2,266 have been successfully completed. Apparently, nobody has ever tried to ride a Healthy Ride bike from Federal St/North Ave to Shady Ave/Ellsworth. So what are you waiting for? ;-)
chrishent
2017-02-01 09:25:56
Healthy Ride announced today they're officially piloting version 2.0, though you might've seen them already at Bike to Work Day:  they're moving to dumb docks, on which you'll return the bike simply by locking it to the dock with the integrated cable lock and then tell the onboard computer you've returned the bike.  "This weekend, we are piloting the new experience at one station: North Shore Trail & Ft. Duquesne Bridge. More stations will join this pilot over the next few weeks." They're also finally moving to domestic payment processing to get rid of those obnoxious international bank fees, and introducing local Pittsburgh customer-service staff 'during peak hours', per their new page http://change.healthyridepgh.org/. Meanwhile, for those familiar with 'unicorn bikes', those one-off promotional bikes like DC Capital Bikeshare's "BikeInBloom" (which comes out during the Cherry Blossom Festival and is pink rather than red), HealthyRide today also announced the "first of many" unicorns for Pittsburgh this summer: https://twitter.com/healthyridepgh/status/873197183792795651
epanastrophe
2017-06-09 20:17:35
This is brilliant. The Pittsburgh area needs this. Last summer, Louisa John suspected she may have been prediabetic. She had stiffness all over her body and was unhappy with her weight. When she saw her doctors at Interfaith Medical Center’s Bishop Orris G. Walker Jr. Health Care Center, in Crown Heights, they gave her the usual treatments for patients in her condition. Then they wrote her a prescription for a [New York] Citi Bike.  John was skeptical [at first]. ... Eventually, John, who lives on Social Security and other government assistance in Bed-Stuy, got on a Citi Bike and started riding laps around a nearby school three days a week. In combination with other treatments, she says, her Citi Bike rides have led to her losing about twenty pounds, and she is no longer considered prediabetic. “I have the energy to go and go,” she said." https://www.villagevoice.com/2017/07/10/hop-on-a-citi-bike-doctors-orders/
paulheckbert
2017-07-11 22:14:01
I've noticed all the stations I encounter are going dockless. I wonder how that works. What's to stop someone from just up and taking a bike?
rustyred
2017-07-12 13:21:37
You still use the cable locks. Here's info on it.  Also bikes are distinctive and have gps chips on them http://change.healthyridepgh.org
edronline
2017-07-12 13:35:13
Bike share is huge in Chinese cities, with 16 million bikeshare bikes, nationwide. It's reducing congestion and smog and promoting exercise. "But their popularity has been accompanied by a wave of misbehavior. Because the start-ups do not use fixed docking stations, riders abandon bicycles haphazardly along streets and public squares, snarling traffic and cluttering sidewalks." https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/02/world/asia/china-beijing-dockless-bike-share.html Shanghai now has one bike share bicycle for every 16 people. Compare Pittsburgh, which has one for every 600 people. Pittsburgh needs a lot more bikes!
paulheckbert
2017-09-08 18:47:23
@Paul, No one pay attention to stop signs in China!
zzwergel
2017-09-18 22:39:15
Healthy Ride is having a press conference at market square at 3:30 today to announce unlimited free 15 minute rentals for everybody who uses a connectcard https://healthyridepgh.com  
adams
2017-09-28 14:58:15
Has anybody been able to successfully use the free 15 minute ride with ConnectCard feature? I tried today and had... mixed results. I went to sign up at the Liberty & Stanwix location, but tapping my ConnectCard to the scanner thing did nothing. So, I walked over the Market Square. That scanner DID read my ConnectCard, and I started to follow the on-screen instructions to link my HealthyRide account to my ConnectCard account. Unfortunately, I mis-typed my PIN, and there was no option to delete what I had just typed. So, I canceled the process and went to start over. However, this time, the scanner would not read my ConnectCard, no matter how many times I pressed it to the scanner. I called customer service and they linked my accounts without needing the station. This was... far easier. I'm not sure why the HealthyRide website doesn't just list this as Option 1, or at least an option. Anyways, once my accounts were linked, I went to use a bike. I tapped my ConnectCard card to a bike and... got a "BIKE NOT AVAILABLE" message. I went down the line and bike after bike gave me the same message. As did a couple bikes at the Liberty & Stanwix station. At that point, I gave up and called customer service again, who processed the rental easily. A couple hours later, I tried again. Still got "BIKE NOT AVAILABLE" on the first bike I tried, but the second bike gave me a different error: "COMMUNICATION ERROR". I then gave up and walked to my destination. [mini-rant: I love the idea of the bike share and really want to support it, and the customer service people are really great, but I'm fairly tech-savvy and bike-savvy and I have had loads of difficulty, some of it bordering on Kafkaesque, in using the service and managing, from pretty much Day 1. The most irritating of my experiences, in which I couldn't log in and couldn't get my PIN reset, was due to my phone number being in their system without the country code. Which is a bizarre problem to have.]
doublestraps
2017-10-04 17:28:17
FYI. I also had some mixed results. But I'm optimistic. But there is definitely a learning process for Healthy Ride and riders. I emailed and asked healthy ride whether I could just use the phone app after linking my accounts and still get free rides because it was confusing to use the card on the bike, they said yes, that's fine to use the phone app and you'll still get the first 15 free once your accounts are linked. I had no problem my first ride, the second with the connect card gave me the communication error issue when returning the bike. You should report that to healthy ride if possible so they can be aware of the issue (mention the bike number).
benzo
2017-10-04 20:27:39
Can you purchase a connect card at a place like Giant Eagle with $0 value?
edronline
2017-10-05 06:11:20
I don't think so. I think you need to put at least some value on it. I'd start with $10. That's two daily round trips, a reasonable "starter kit" for the thing. Once you have it, you can add any other fare product to it, or not use it at all. I think, under my annual pass, I still have about $20 in cash-equivalent. I have as yet to try hooking my card to the bike-share system, though I should give it a try. I like the system, but between the bus pass and my own bike, I rarely have reason to use it.
stuinmccandless
2017-10-05 08:32:29
I did not realize you could just use the phone app and still get the 15 minute free rides. That probably solves my issue of the ConnectCard not unlocking the bike. I've never had problems using the app. Thanks for the tip! As for the usefulness of the bike share program in general... I do tend to agree that its usefulness is fairly limited for most residents. I have to get from Point A to Point B downtown fairly often, and the walk ends up taking as much time or even less time than renting the bike, docking it, and then walking to your final destination. But it's more fun, that's for sure! For anything longer, there are certainly more convenient forms of transportation available. I'm guessing that tourists love them, though.
doublestraps
2017-10-05 09:59:18
I see a surprising amount of people who go down to the north shore, rent bikes for everyone, and then go tooling up and down the north shore trail.   Not sure if renting a better bike from a place like golden triangle is cheaper, but the bike share ones are quite popular. I have a friend in chicago who uses bike share as part of her commute.  She is close to the red line CTA, but her stop is always super crowded, so she rides to a less crowded line.  Interesting use of the bike share.
edronline
2017-10-05 10:16:34
This article gives a good overview of the state of dockless bike share. 1. While some have condemned it for the mess it can make of sidewalks, others say it's here to stay: "I asked David Levinson, a professor of transportation at the University of Sydney, whether dock-less bike share was a VC-funded bubble or the future of short-distance transportation. “Yes,” he wrote back. “It’s like the internet in 1999.”" 2. So many bicycles! Shanghai has 1.5 million shared bicycles, or one for every 16 residents. Xiamen has one dockless shared bicycle for every 11 residents. If Metro Pittsburgh were to adopt bike share at a proportional level, we'd need 200,000 bicycles. Sounds about right. :-) 3. Fewer cars. "Mobike claimed in May that its bikes had doubled the percentage of Chinese biking to work in selected cities, taking the share of bicycle commuters to more than 11 percent. The other major operator, Ofo, has drawn investments from e-commerce giant Alibaba and Didi, China’s version of Uber, as the company’s 2 billion 2017 bike-share trips started to eat into the short-distance ride-hailing market." 4. American cities are more sprawled than Chinese cities. 5. Docks probably won't become obsolete. "Even if the free-floating bikes could rival established systems for reliability, Dossett said, he foresaw a coming use for those docks: securing and charging electric bicycles, which many bicycle professionals believe are—after dock-less bikes—the next big thing." https://slate.com/business/2017/12/dock-less-bike-share-is-ready-to-take-over-u-s-cities.html
paulheckbert
2017-12-25 16:26:37
Kind of bummed that point breeze business district was left out of the expansion. Squirrel Hill North along Wilkins also looks like a dead zone as well. Looks like a redundant station in station square. I think 3 instead of 4 stations would be better there (suggest removing the Highmark stadium station as there is another planned very close by anyway. Love the extra Oakland stations. It was hard to use in Oakland before, the locations didn't make a lot of sense. Shouldn't have stations that direct you on to 5th / Forbes without a good safe route to divert to. With the new bike lanes on Forbes, the Craig st stations really make Sense. I could see a lot of students using healthy ride after the expansion. I rarely see healthy rides being used around Oakland now. Wish there was a station at the bottom of Joncaire though (there is one station planned on the other side of junction hollow in the run). I really wouldn't want to ride one of those bikes up to Oakland, but would park and take the improved Joncaire steps (when they are done). Go submit your comments on the proposed expansion at healthy ride's site!
benzo
2018-02-20 13:56:07
There are still no stations planned for the South Hills (Carrick, Beechview, Mt. Washington, Allentown, and Brookline), West End, Hazelwood, or any inner-ring suburb.
zzwergel
2018-02-20 18:25:03
Millvale Riverfront Park is a likely candidate for 2019 expansion.
stuinmccandless
2018-04-10 19:05:25
I think healthy ride is avoiding setting foot outside the city itself, ie milvlale. My guess is that they'd have to negotiate with every municipality they are a station in and that may mean they have to pay every separate municipality.
edronline
2018-04-10 19:15:31
Dockless electric scooters are popular, but controversial, in Santa Monica, San Francisco, and Washington DC. There are several companies. "Bird" scooters cost $1 plus $.15 per minute, for rental, and can go up to 15mph. The company urges riders to wear a helmet and never ride on the sidewalk. The scooters get charged at night. The rental agreement says the maximum load is 200 lbs, and the scooters are not allowed on unpaved roads. Somehow the NY Times managed to write an article about dockless electric scooters without mentioning bike share. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/20/technology/electric-scooters-are-causing-havoc-this-man-is-shrugging-it-off.html
paulheckbert
2018-04-21 00:05:33
What's even more amazing is the ability of these companies to pass on the cost of externalities to the public. I read about how they're charged- they pay people about $5 a scooter to find them, take them home, charge them, and return them to the street.
edronline
2018-04-21 06:01:12

I think healthy ride is avoiding setting foot outside the city itself, ie milvlale.

This is true (from a presentation at the Squirrel Hill Bike-Ped group) but there reason is distance. They aren't close enough, yet.
jonawebb
2018-04-21 07:36:55
this makes me feel some sorta way... ...like how i'm going to feel when someone who doesn't know what they're doing (or, does know wrhat they're doing) decides to ride this in a bike lane or on a trail somewhere...
edronline
2018-05-24 14:45:49
I haven't found all the bits of PA law that might apply, but there seems to be a reasonable summary at http://www.motorizedbicyclehq.com/motorized-bicycle-laws-pennsylvania/
  1. Electric bikes have motor less than 750 watts and top speed of 20mph or less.  You don't need a drivers license to operate on public roads, you must be older than 16yo.
  2. Most trails only allow "pedal assist" e-bikes.  That is, the electric can supplement the pedaling, but if you can run the bike on throttle without pedaling it's not allowed.  Trails at this point should be more assertive about explaining this
  3. Mopeds must have both pedals an motor, top speed 25mph, no more than 5 brake horsepower.  You need class C drivers license to operate on public roads.
  4. (now, what you've been waiting for) ...  Scooters are motor-driven cycles, limited to 5 brake hp. You need class M drivers license (motorcycle endorsement), must use eye protection, helmet if under 21yo. No top speed mentioned, but #3 implies 25mph
  5. If it exceeds specs above, it's a motorcycle.  Class M license required, plus other stuff.
The article cited above says "The scooters will travel up to 30 miles per hour with a range of up to 34 miles per charge and can be ridden by any person with a standard Class C driver's license" Based on this, it looks to me like 35mph scooters are motorcycles.  They certainly do not belong on trails, let alone sidewalks.  From the article above and everything else I know or suspect, a motorcycle license should be required.  It isn't going to bother me, I've had an M license for a very long time.  But IANAL. So, BikePgh, are you communicating with the city about this?  For that matter, did Scoobi even consult the city, or are they pulling an Uber and deploying them first, asking permission later?
maryshaw
2018-05-24 23:49:37
BikeSnobNYC wrote a good article on the benefits of bike share, and dispels the idea of "litter bikes": Forget litter bikes: What about litter cars? There are entire cars, bits of cars, and all matter of automotive sundries strewn all over the landscape, regardless of where you live. Our road shoulders are full of disembodied bumpers and wayward wheel covers. Our embankments are strewn with illegally dumped car tires. Our streets are stained with oil that runs off into the waterways. Not only do the cars themselves spew pollutants from their tailpipes, but their occupants eject all manner of garbage from the windows, including entire bags of fast food containers. ... Litter bikes, really? Please. Cars hog so much space that we’re forced to share our precious sidewalks with literal trash. https://www.outsideonline.com/2318506/bike-share-can-save-our-cities-if-we-let-it
paulheckbert
2018-07-05 00:28:04
I’ve already used a couple of these new stations. The Liberty/7Ave one is an ideal location.
stuinmccandless
2018-12-01 17:06:13
I'm looking forward to Forbes & Murray, and to the Eliza Furnace Trail at Swinburne. Both are on their planned-stations map.
paulheckbert
2018-12-01 20:43:33
Do they say where the Forbes and Murray one will be?  My guess is either Forbes toward the JCC or Murray by the library...
edronline
2018-12-01 21:58:43
Pittsburgh to offer a variety of alternative mobility options at central locations "Pittsburgh is working with a new consortium that includes providers of electric scooters, electric bikes, rental cars and car pools to provide more mobility options, especially to and from public transit. But the city also is taking an extra step to make sure those mobility options will be available in all neighborhoods. The city announced Wednesday it has selected the Pittsburgh Mobility Collective — a consortium led by electric bike and scooter provider Spin that also includes the Transit app, Zipcar, Ford Mobility, Waze and Swiftmile — to provide the services. They responded to the city’s request for proposals by joining forces for a joint submission that will include a series of stations throughout the city that will offer most of the services at each location..." https://www.post-gazette.com/news/transportation/2019/07/24/Pittsburgh-mobility-Spin-Zipcar-Waze-electric-bikes-scooters-carpools-joint-stations/stories/201907240135
paulheckbert
2019-07-26 09:48:27
My two cents, added as a comment on the PG article: The real question to ask is, what would it take to make a car unnecessary? Some 25% of city residents don’t have one, so how about the rest, city resident or not? I worked downtown five years, commuting 10 miles in, and never once drove there and parked all day. So, what would it take for others to do likewise? Better transit, yes, but once in town, the services suggested here would greatly help, especially with point-to-point travel, which transit doesn’t do. Sure we could continually dropping trillions of dollars on ever more asphalt, but what’s proposed here can be dropped in place and put to use almost instantly.
stuinmccandless
2019-08-01 06:43:43
The only thing that has ever been shown to reduce car use in cities is congestion pricing. So that's your answer. Charge to drive your car into downtown.
edronline
2019-08-01 07:13:29
It’s not just downtown, though. Think of your other congested areas: East Carson, Baum Blvd, any part of Fifth or Forbes or Penn outside of downtown. Lots of bike-friendly infra, but damned intimidating for a lot of people to bike. The only real solution is to remove car traffic, however you get there. I’ve been saying since the 1990s that the financial incentives are already there, but people simply do not care enough to tackle the learning curve. This will help.
stuinmccandless
2019-08-01 07:53:11
I should also say that you're correct -- removing space for cars = more space for bikes and peds. That is also very much supported in the literature. But it's one of the two options. ain't nothing else works. Increasing public transportation gets people to use more public transportation but then also opens up the roads which incentivizes people to use it. It's just the same as widening a road to carry more traffic.
edronline
2019-08-01 08:39:11
I hopped onto a HealthyRide this morning for the first time since October. The bike number was 71000-something, meaning it was one of the original 500. Turns out it had a three-speed hub! When did that change? They used to be seven-speed. I do know they just took possession of a couple hundred bikes that had been initially deployed by a rental system in New Jersey. Trenton, maybe? I know no details.
stuinmccandless
2021-01-30 22:26:43
I read the BBC article, and keep coming back to one of the brighter ideas that got discussed on this board a while back, the construction of bike inclines. A couple well-placed inclines that would get cyclists up a major hill would greatly help getting bikes under a lot more people, especially if they're sited near a transit station. Two that come to mind right away are just off the Herron Station of the East Busway, up to Downing Street, and South Bank or Central on the South Busway, up to Jacob Street. Likely a dozen more we could place, too. But whether a bike share station is set up in these places or not is less relevant than making it possible to use a bike in an area adjacent to a major transit line except for a huge elevation change.
stuinmccandless
2021-02-21 13:40:53
I was in Denver recently, and rented a Lime ebike. While browsing the map in the Lime app I noticed that most of the ebikes in Denver charged $.29 per minute ($17/hr) while 10 or 20% of them charged only $.02 per minute ($1.20/hr). The former seemed exorbitant and the latter seemed like a great bargain (and probably unprofitable for Lime). What could explain the huge range of prices?
paulheckbert
2021-09-05 15:10:22
What would make the most difference is the amount of underwriting, whether from private or public sources. The capital costs of the rolling stock and initial maintenance facility aside, something has to pay the wages of the staff maintaining it, ongoing repair and maintenance costs, and keeping the lights on. Who's paying that, and how much?
stuinmccandless
2021-09-06 09:47:40