[bikeqld] free Citibikes in Brisbane

Thu Jan 22 23:41:03 CST 2009

Anthony and all ...

Like much of the discussion about cycling in Australia, the BCC 
project has shown up how little we learn from elsewhere or just how 
little we know.

The Paris example (and most others) is designed to provide a free 
bike for a single short trip such that the total trip time (and cost) 
is less than for other available modes while convenience is better.

Thus the Citibike is free for a short period ie 30 minutes to 
encourage those types of trips eg not by car or taxi, or even by 
public transport, that are a bit long or slow for walking. The other 
benefit of encouraging short use is the fast turn-over that tends to 
make availability better for a given number of bikes assuming that 
any peak tidal imbalance is dealt with by the operator (again as eg in Paris).

It would seem that rather than compete with existing bike hire 
operators, the converse is probably true in that as far as I am 
aware, most existing bike hire operators tend to charge quite a lot 
more to hire a bike than most people would want to pay for 30 minutes 
or at most an hour. That too is why the "racks" are within a fairly 
tight geographical range ... although understood to be somewhat 
larger than was originally intended by BCC. And there is also a 
benefit in not having to worry about where to park your bike, whether 
hired or your own.

As for the "costs" like even more advertising, its worth looking at 
the web for other places where the some issues have been raised.

Most can be addressed eg by removing a car bay to install bike racks ...!

It seems the real problem is the potential (or reality) that being so 
high profile with the media and general public, it will be seen or 
promoted as a major "green" initiative perhaps to the detriment of 
what else could have been done like providing more bike racks around 
the CBD for those who do cycle in, or around, and out ... to and through ...!

Have a look at < Velib > or numerous other articles on the web to get 
a feel for what has been used to model this project ... then HOPE it 
doesn't go the way of much other to do with cycling here ... ending 
up substandard ... or like the bike racks on buses, said to be a 
failure and removed.

The lack of info I initially referred to includes a contract which 
apparently has no delivery date ... so raising questions about what 
else is negotiable behind the scenes and way out of our reach ... and 
will then be presented with lots of political PR "fluff" some time in 2010 ...!

The biggest problem seems to be the current lack of people (other 
than couriers) visibly cycling in the CBD and rather than emphasising 
and promoting that cyclists are expected and encouraged on the roads 
in Brisbane, the Lord Mayor and Cr Prentice continually refers to 
$100m bikeways and bikepaths .... which of course are unlikely to 
turn up in the CBD on the desire lines where needed.

By contrast they could have used the example of Adelaide Street with 
its generally well located "yellow BIKEs" and explained that Main 
Roads and/or QT required the 50km/h speed limit although BCC tried to 
get away with 40km/h.

At least the Lord Mayor pointed out that impatient fast through 
traffic does not belong in the CBD (mentioned by the Lord Mayor in 
the ABC 612 announcement interview I heard).

As it might prove invaluable, I wonder if someone can find the 
transcript or the tape of the interview?

MY........................

At 01:30 PM 23/01/2009, Anthony Lee wrote:

>Hi Ian,
>
>With respect to the Courier Mail article, do you agree with Ben 
>Wilson? I don't think the cost
>is at all reasonable. I wondered how many bicycle hire left their 
>business under the assumption
>that this was going to be free?
>
>Anthony Lee
>The Doctor -- the last of the Time Lords?
>........-- __o
>....-- _ \<,_
>........(_) / (_)
>E-Mail: doctorw1963 at yahoo.com.au
>
>
>
>From: Ian Lister <list-bikeqld at lister.dnsalias.net>
>To: bikeqld at bikeqld.org.au
>Sent: Friday, 23 January, 2009 1:09:05 PM
>Subject: Re: [bikeqld] free Citibikes in Brisbane
>
>Thanks to Richard and Seb for posting the links to the articles. 
>There are still a lot of details missing though, and nothing on the 
>BCC web site yet. Is there any more comprehensive information 
>available out there?
>
>Over the last year one of the big questions has been how the scheme 
>will deal with helmets. From the articles Seb linked to it's not 
>clear but it sounds like they'll sell you one for $20 and, other 
>than that, it's up to you to bring your own. If so, surely that will 
>cut down the opportunities for using the bikes - people will need to 
>plan ahead and carry a helmet around with them if they're intending 
>to use one of the bikes.
>
>Or people might just ignore the law. Perhaps this will result in a 
>higher level of disregard for the law. There had been speculation 
>that BCC could pressure the state government to amend the law. That 
>doesn't seem to have happened, but perhaps in the longer run some 
>pressure will build. It'll need the federal government to be on 
>board too though, I think, and, frankly, I can't see any level of 
>government in Australia leaning that way any time soon.
>
>Ian
>
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