Comments on: BIXI’s economics don’t make sense

By: In defence of Bixi – Fagstein

In defence of Bixi – Fagstein — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 02:28:55 +0000

[...] year and a half ago, when the Bixi bicycle rental service was launched in Montreal, I was a bit skeptical of it. I thought it was a good idea, I thought it was useful, but to me the idea of spending $78 a year [...]

By: Ryan

Ryan — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 20:14:51 +0000

Anybody here willing to revisit their initial assessments of Bixi made so early in its deployment? I think it's fair to say Bixi has been an incredible success and won't be disappearing from our streets anytime soon. The only question now is, how big will it get and how far will it expand.

By: Fagstein

Fagstein — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 04:04:57 +0000

It's you. The per-half-hour price is on a near-exponential scale, and hasn't changed.

By: CT Moore

CT Moore — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 01:53:05 +0000

Is it me or did the price just jump (according to the website) from 50 cents per half hour to $1.50 per half hour?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 06:18:44 +0000

I think that what would keep the users returning bikes in timely manneris good etiquette, consideration for fellow users. Not high prices. High prices and stringent time limits bring on stress (just like parking tickets), making you hate the service. Not an emotional relationship one wants to have with the service.
It's the same thing keeping one from vandalizing bikes, or spitting on handlebars, or knifing bungee chords (I haven't figured out a way to hold a book on there yet, without a bag).

Furthermore, I think that it should reward users to use it on rainy days, say at 1 hr free. and 1/2 off. (isn't that why they have mudguards?)

I think that the bixi as a product (bicycle) is fairly designed, with compromises taken at correct junctures.
However Bixi as a service and experience has a long way to go. Perhaps a free phone-in service, voice activated (or punch in dials for shortcuts) to check for spots. 'Cause when my phone doesn't have internet, and I'm at Atwater market (where i'd expect a spot) there is none. And without studying a bixi map by heart, I would only take it to places I know and HOPE there's a free station, and if it's busy, I'd be spending time biking around trying to find free spots.

But back to basics usability. Yes, after using it a couple of times, it may be ok to get used to it.
BUT I have punched the code, and got an Error. so did a couple when I was returning my bike. Perhaps the system is too slow and takes couple of more seconds to authenticate the code, BUT this should be more explicit (make the user wait at the checkout).
The buttons are not made like other buttons, nor are they inviting. Hence, before I got a password ticket I didnt even know they were buttons (and by the look of it some people dont know it even afterwards).
It says you can only get 2 bikes on 1 card. but is it 2 transactions? is it 1 code and 2 bikes? ???

It's fairly intimidating for older users (40+)imo.
so far it looks and sounds that it's intended for hipsters, and tourists.
Yet, tourists are excluded from the target group, leaving just hipsters.
And although it's a big community, I think a service such as this will benifit (and benifit the city) if it was deployed in a different manner.

my 2 cents.(rant)

By: J.Lo Glow 2

J.Lo Glow 2 — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 00:22:47 +0000

Bixi sucks and must be banished now:) Bixi is always in my way when I'm driving- Bixi-ists take up ten lanes and cause accidents. BIXI EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Woohoo!

By: lalo

lalo — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 02:01:57 +0000

The reason why BIXI has had such a rate of success in montreal is that most oeople have yet to receive their credit card statements. With a blatant lack of clarity many people I have spoken to were under the impression that a daily bixi rental is $5.00 a day. Usage will drop dramatically once they realize that their rental was actually a whopping $51.50.

Boycott Bixi now.

By: david avis

david avis — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 01:49:05 +0000

You still don't get it.
They have 3000 bikes and Montreal has two million people.
If a bike is used for half an hour, it could easily be used 20-30 times a day.
In total we have transit for 60-90,000 people. That is a potentially a lot of cars off the streets.
If you want to rent a bike for the day, go to a rental bike shop.
It is a different business.

By: Fagstein

Fagstein — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 05:58:50 +0000

I agree with most of your points, but I still take issue with the exponentially-escalating rental price. The AMT's rates don't escalate exponentially the farther out you go. They go up in a linear fashion as you would expect.

By: Peter

Peter — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 04:56:28 +0000

I bought a year subscription to BIXI and thus far I have to say I am very pleased with it. I have read many comments and media reports over the last few weeks and have been dismayed by the negative response of some. Most of the negativity seems to come from people who either have never used the service, or tried it once as a curiosity yet have no intention of using it on a regular basis. I suspect also that many of the journalists and bloggers writing about BIXI don't even live in an area that is serviced by BIXI. All the stories I hear about huge deposits charged on credit cards, or people who rented the bike for 4 hours and got charged for it, are not typical of the target BIXI user. It's unfortunate that the first question I get asked about BIXI is "How much did they charge you?" or "I heard it's a rip-off". I agree that at $5 a day, it's a little steep. But if that's keeping you from trying the service, or if you are happy travelling on your own bike, then BIXI will remain a novelty to you. You really to use it on a regular basis, and live in an area where it is available, in order to understand how convenient it is. Anonymous nicely outlines the rationale behind the pricing structure. I have yet to take a trip that lasted more than 30 minutes. I can get from my place near Fabre metro to downtown within that time period. If I needed the bike for longer, I would just park it, wait five minutes, and grab it again. BIXI is not a bike rental service. It's a form of public transportation that nicely compliments the metro and bus system. Just like commuter train clients pay more to travel longer distances, BIXI users pay more to keep the bike longer. Also like the STM system, it's more economical to pay for a monthly or yearly pass. Plus, as a transit user, I will get a 50% discount on BIXI, so basically I'm paying $34 (tax incl) a year for a bike at my disposal any time I want. Think about how much you spent last time you went out to dinner/bar and tell me that's not a pretty good deal Plus; You can bike home late at night after the metro is closed and save on cab fare As anonymous said, you can bike downhill and metro/bus uphill You can switch between bus/metro/bike/walking as the weather dictates You can bike somewhere, change your plans later and not worry about how to get the bike home You avoid lugging a bike up and down stairs You get piece of mind not worrying about your bike being vandalized/stolen No bike maintenance/replacement costs You bike more often Basically, it's gives you a freedom of movement and choice of transportation modes. It's liberating. I think that once the system expands geographically and the committed user-base increases, the general population will accept BIXI as a viable alternative means of transportation. Of course there will be people who don't understand the system and who will not use it. There are also many people who drive cars and never use public transit.

By: Phil

Phil — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 16:36:59 +0000

Bixi makes total sense to me for two simple reasons:

- Yes, I could buy a bike, but then there is a 50% chance it will get stolen within a year.

- I can bike down Parc to get to work in the morning, and if it's raining or I'm just lazy I don't have to bike up to go home, I'll just take the bus. Same for going for drinks, get there by bike, and then cab it home if I'm too drunk to ride!

By: regis

regis — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 02:33:15 +0000

I have made my annual subscription and have been riding the bixi every day to and back from work. It takes me 20-25 min each way. I find it great, as if it is raining, I can just take the metro. I have replaced my opus card by the bixi, and my annual subscription will pay off in a month, ie. I paid $78 for the season, whilst I would spend $66 for a single month with stm. Even if I have to spend a few metro tickets, in only two months it is still cheaper.

I live close to Parc Lafontaine and work downtown, I don't want to own a car (to avoid winter troubles), so with Bixi I can go anywhere I usually go (including nigh outs) enjoying a nice bike ride instead of being in a crowded bus or a noisy metro.

The press and the blogosphere have been giving Bixi such a bad press. It is normal to have hick-ups at any start-up. I guess we should have more patience and improvement will most certainly come.

On the other hand, to be a real Montrealer, Bixi will of course have to expand its coverage, which is rather limited today.

By: Andy

Andy — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:50:56 +0000

Just a quick comment concerning the false impression people seem to have that bike's cost almost nothing. For a decent used commuter-use bike, you need to spend around $150, plus maybe $30-50 for a good lock. On top of this there are substantial repair/maintenance costs to operating a bike on a regular basis. So far this year, my bike has required about $20 in basic maintenance (inner tubes, patch kits, small parts...), $50 to replace a rear wheel that was vandalized, and $25 to replace a seat that was stolen. So when you look at these kind of normal costs, the Bixi starts to make more sense.

By: Joel

Joel — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:44:05 +0000

I'm divided so far. I love the concept and the design and the fast and extensive roll out has been impressive. I'm a regular bike commuter in the summer and so need to own my own bike. I can't see Bixi replacing that everyday need. I have however used the Bixi twice so far on occasions when I found myself out without my bike and would rather cycle home then stand around for the ridiculously long Montreal bus wait times (30-40 minute wait times on Sherbrooke street at night? Come on.). For a one trip use $5 did seem steep though. I also used the Bixi once when my bike was in the shop and found it perfect for running errands around downtown. I used the bike four or five times during the day and so $5 seemed like a reasonable price.

I am a bit confused by the pricing scheme. If they really want to encourage bike use amongst the general population (rather than attempt to recoup their costs), then the price is too high. A $3 a day, $20 a month and $60 a year pricing scheme would seem just about right as far as my use is concerned.

By: Alex

Alex — Sun, 31 May 2009 04:06:55 +0000

The current service area in Montreal is reasonably covered with a 30 minutes free period. It's a bit of a hassle if you need more time... But it's only a 5 minutes wait for the next free 30 minutes. I've used my bixi account a bit and my longest trip was 23 minutes... And almost 10 of those minutes were spent cycling around Mile-End because they've only got 2 stations there right now and the paper map lists about 12...

By: Cyrus

Cyrus — Sat, 23 May 2009 23:41:49 +0000

Me neither, I cannot understand who would want such a thing

Bicycles are essentially free, every season you have tons of people throwing old bikes in the trash or on freecycle and they still work, or cheap bikes on craigslist

Hell at Wal Mart 100$ will get a decent one, on sale at least.

It really just looks like a way to waste the public money and to eat up parking spaces... certainly I'm not going to leave my car or my bike to use this...

By: Beeg

Beeg — Wed, 20 May 2009 17:27:36 +0000

I think you may be right eventually, if the Bixi territory expands to cover more of the city. In the meantime, I think 30 minutes is enough to cover most A to B destinations. The other day I went from Laurier metro to William street in Old Montreal. Taking an indirect route (biked up to Jeanne-Mance park before cycling around and then down St. Urbain), I made the trip in 23 minutes. Of course inclines, etc., will prolong trips, but 30 minutes is reasonable for now. I like the idea of extending it to 45 minutes for yearly subscribers.

As far as the speeds go, I see your point. Then again, I'm not sure how easy/affordable it would be to change all the bikes (I'm so not a bike gearhead).

By: Qatzel Ok

Qatzel Ok — Tue, 19 May 2009 17:53:54 +0000

My only hesitation regarding the fare structure is that the short time-limit is too short by half.

In Europe, cities are much denser, and a half hour is a reasonable amount of time to get almost anywhere at a leisurely speed.

Montreal is about half as dense, and can't really be traversed in 30 minutes.

Perhaps if the first hour (or 45 minutes) was free-for-subscribers, and then the scale was adjusted in one-hour increments, this would suit the local environment better.

One other improvement that needs to be made to suit Montreal's particularities is the speeds. Three speeds isn't really enough to cross the city north-to-south. This will prove a major liability when it comes to getting non-cyclists to use these bikes regularly.

So I would suggest the first hour be free, and that the bike be redesigned to have five or six speeds.

By: Beeg

Beeg — Mon, 18 May 2009 05:37:19 +0000

How do you get to no "more than 20"? Why set a target price without having any clue what the costs are or what the market is like? We may not expect the Metro to turn a profit, but Bixi is not quite in the same transit league as more established forms of transit, and it won't be for a while. There's only so much a broke-ass city like Montreal can invest in a bike-sharing scheme, and bearing a larger share of the upfront, startup costs is the kind of thing only the public sector can do well. Ideally, Bixi should generate enough revenue to cover cover its costs. Any profits should enable either expansion (as a number of people have noted, the footprint is rather small for now and there's lots of room for growth) or reduced fees, though this is a bit of a minefield. As I've written already, too low fees can lead to Bixi becoming a victim of its own success, and could ruin the service. Moreover, time (and careful study) will tell whether the Bixi fees actually pose a serious barrier to those who would sign up but can't afford it. Given that the annual fee can be reduced to under $40 if you commit to buying a year's worth of bus passes and that the first half-hour is free, my hunch is that Bixi is pretty affordable. It'll sink or swim on ease of use, not price. Think of it another way - you can either pay for a non-essential but useful public good like Bixi as a user (well, pay for part of it anyway) or spread the cost among all taxpayers. Either way you the citizen are paying for some of it - the question, then, is how much of a bike-sharing service should be funded by non-users? Given the low footprint (and two other facts, that it's just impractical for many, many people, and Montreal taxes are already pretty high), Bixi will need to rely on a cost-share model.

By: Emile

Emile — Sun, 17 May 2009 05:58:54 +0000

I think the novelty of the system is what is putting a lot of people off.

But having lived in a city where this kind of bike share is ubquitous (Lyon), I can assure you that the the reasons for BIXI are valid.

To address the exponential increase of price after each hour, it is solely to ensure that the bicycles remain in circulation. That someone doesn't ake the bike on a « 3-hour tour » or simply parks it outside their office while they are at a meeting. The bike is really just to get from point A to point B and then continue on with your day.

When I first arrived in Lyon, I too thought the system to be ridiculous. Until I finally one day decided to subscribe (they were doing a blitz in the square near my house). For 5 (!) euros a year, I had access to the system. Each morning, I would take a bike from the station outside my apartment, ride it to the metro station, ride the metro across town, exit the metro and take another bike to my place of work. And that, my friend, is the beauty of a bike share program over having your own bike.

Now, if only the price (78$) were not so high. I don't think it should be more than 20. And we shouldn't think of BIXI as something that should generate a profit, but as a piece of transit infrastructure. We don't ask the métro to turn a profit. We don't expect bridges to turn a profit. Rue St-Urbain doesn't turn a profit...