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Toronto Bike Share

felix123 said:
The 30 minute limits are really too short so I ended up buying my own bike recently and don't currently plan to renew with Bikeshare TO
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It seems, from what I've read, that 45-minute trip limits for all members would push overage revenues down and therefore push membership prices up. Significantly.

Similar to what I said two months ago: Perhaps the best solution would be to sell "regular" yearly memberships with a 30-minute limit, and "premium" yearly memberships with a 45- or 60-minute limit. I think some other cities might already do this.

But a universal 45-minute trip limit for all members would probably not be a very good idea.

Also, please remember: The quickest way to renew your bike is to use a physical annual-member key card, and to re-borrow the exact same bike you just returned. If you do this, it doesn't take very long at all.
 
jelbana said:
I would also think if it is true that there is such a great amount of overage revenue, then it is badly mispriced in the first place. Public services shouldn't be banking on generating revenue by duping users into paying overages. This isn't a pay-day loan business, this is a public bike share service.
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OK, I do live downtown and am surrounded by bike docks (at last!) but I use Bike Share quite a lot (walk one way, bike home) and have been a Member since before the launch and I have never had any overage fees. This may be due to my Ulster protestant roots and my (generally!) frugal ways but my partner also has never paid overage either. Of course, 45 minutes might be handy occasionally but if it cost more in membership I would 'vote' no. You can avoid overage fees if you keep an eye on the time and, if necessary, dock your bike and then start again.
 
DSC said:
OK, I do live downtown and am surrounded by bike docks (at last!) but I use Bike Share quite a lot (walk one way, bike home) and have been a Member since before the launch and I have never had any overage fees. This may be due to my Ulster protestant roots and my (generally!) frugal ways but my partner also has never paid overage either. Of course, 45 minutes might be handy occasionally but if it cost more in membership I would 'vote' no. You can avoid overage fees if you keep an eye on the time and, if necessary, dock your bike and then start again.
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I've never had overage when I used the service in downtown Toronto either.

But now that bike share has expanded to Midtown, the station docks are less frequent, and the destinations reachable by bike farther part, I've hit the overage quite a few times this summer.

Perhaps it can be resolved by greater density of stations, but it's still rather inconvenient if on my way downtown from let's say, Lawrence, I would have to find a dock in Rosedale, and re-borrow my own bike in order to complete the last ten minutes of my journey. You're out of luck too if you don't have an annual pass.

To grow the service, I believe it needs to be as convenient to use to as many demographics as possible. It might be possible to one-shot the above-mentioned trip if you are an able-bodied 20-something male with high-risk tolerance and were to shoot down Mt. Pleasant, but if you aren't in that narrow demographic, or have to take detours and side streets for whatever reason, then that 30-35-ish minute trip can easily be an hour.

Ultimately, I think a 45-minute window grants greater freedom to users to use the service as convenient to them, and I think that is a good way to grow service usage now that the proof of concept is proven (in downtown) and the objective moving forward seems to be expanding service coverage across the city.
 
jelbana said:
Can you share a link to data that suggests that this is true? I think before telling people that this isn't a good idea it would be helpful to see how you came up with that conclusion. Specifically what data suggests that the overage revenue is so great that it would require increasing annual membership prices significantly.

I would also think if it is true that there is such a great amount of overage revenue, then it is badly mispriced in the first place. Public services shouldn't be banking on generating revenue by duping users into paying overages. This isn't a pay-day loan business, this is a public bike share service.
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Please see this PDF, which explains why a 45-minute trip limit would necessitate an increase in membership prices. It does contain some misleading text ("98.5% of Bike Share Toronto's annual member's rides are below 30 minutes"), but it mostly contains useful information.

Here are my own thoughts:

Trip limits are a form of market segmentation.
  • Price-sensitive members will likely spend more time worrying about overage. They'll therefore likely spend less money on overage.
  • Other members will likely spend less time worrying about overage. They'll save time, but will spend more money on overage.
Bike maintenance costs money, and rebalancing costs even more money. The bills have to be paid somehow.

There have definitely been some payday loan shops which have failed to properly inform their customers of their loans' true APR (annualized interest rate). (Source.) Bike Share members, on the other hand, know the overage rules. The city isn't "duping" anyone into paying overage; instead, it's just allowing price-sensitive members to save money.

If the city introduces premium memberships with 45- or 60-minute trip limits, this might be excellent for those members who are less price-sensitive. Instead of paying overage in dribs and drabs throughout the year, they can buy one single premium membership which will let them feel more free, all year long.
 
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marcus_a_j said:
Noticed a new station today at Danforth and Langford/Jones. Now I don't have to go to Pape or Donlands stations :)
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Glad to hear its there.........oddly, its not on their system map.

Had the same issue w/Bloor-Riverview a couple of weeks back.
 
Northern Light said:
Glad to hear its there.........oddly, its not on their system map.

Had the same issue w/Bloor-Riverview a couple of weeks back.
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Perhaps every new station has to be manually added to the map.

Maybe the new station at Danforth and Langford/Jones is installed, but not yet working, and that's why they haven't added it to the map. Or maybe not. I dunno.

The new station doesn't show up at the unofficial https://bikesharemap.com/toronto/ either — not even as a gray-colored "near-future station". I think that the unofficial map is rendered using the same or similar data that the official system map uses.

The unofficial map does keep track of the past 24 hours of historical bike-availability data, which is nice. If you click on a station, you can see the historical data.
 
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unforgettableid said:
Perhaps every new station has to be manually added to the map.

Maybe the new station at Danforth and Langford/Jones is installed, but not yet working, and that's why they haven't added it to the map. Or maybe not. I dunno.
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They used to pop up on the map faster than the social media account could catch up; and before the stations had any bikes.

Something changed, not sure what.
 
Northern Light said:
They used to pop up on the map faster than the social media account could catch up; and before the stations had any bikes.

Something changed, not sure what.
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To be fair, it didn't have any bikes, so probably not quite ready. I'm not sure how long it takes to get them up and running after the docks are dropped off.
 
Could be something as simple as the person updating it went on their vacation, which is normal for this time of year.

I had the pleasure to meet the lady who updated Metrolinx's Crosstown TBM tracker online, and she had mentioned whenever she went on vacation, she would return to a flurry of e-mails (including from many UTers I can imagine!) of people demanding the latest updates.
 
I just noticed this on the map. I'm tempted to go ride it after work!

bixi.png


EDIT: Actually, it looks like it might be a test station at Shift Transit offices.
 
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