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Wednesday, May 16, 2012

16 Million Dollar Bike Share Scheme for LA




Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has announced that the city will open a bicycle sharing system. With an impressive 4ooo bikes, and 400 stations. It will be a privately run system, simply because the city has no money. Bike Nation will be putting up the investment and running the scheme.
Given it is a private venture, I thought it would be good to look at the costs of using the scheme. There is an upfront membership fee, or subscription. 
Subscriptions
24 Hour$6.00
72 Hour$12.00
7 Day$25.00
30 Day$35.00
1 Year$75.00
Student/Senior$60.00

Subsequently, all trips under 30 minutes are free, and after the first 30 minutes of each ride you will be charged a fee for each additional half hour.
Trip Fees (tax included)
0 – 30 minNo fee
Up to 60 min$1.50
Up to 90 min$4.50
Each additional ½ Hr+ $6.00
This sounds pretty good to me, especially if the stations are located within an easy 30 minutes of each other, and close to places people want to go. Taking a bike for a good length of time is definitely discouraged at $6 for every 30 minutes in excess of 90 minutes.

The bike itself looks pretty interesting, a shaft drive with an internal hub gearing system. I dont know of any other schemes using shaft drive technology. If anyone has ridden one of these Bike Nation bikes I'd love to hear a review.



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