Vancouver’s Mobi bike-share system has hit 100,000 rides. Most trips appear to be short one-way rides, as expected, from the 80 stations (800 bikes) now in place.
My experience is unchanged. The system, with all its moving parts, just works. And it’s a positive addition to the transportation options we have.
From the City of Vancouver press release:
Comparable cities with similar or larger-sized bike share systems have passed 100,000 rides in anywhere from two to nine months; Vancouver’s program reached that milestone in just three months. . . .
. . . . The top five most popular Mobi stations are:
- Granville and Georgia
- Hornby and Nelson
- Hornby and Pender
- Bute and Robson
- Ontario and the False Creek Seawall.
These are all locations that are near transit connections or active transportation routes.
How short is short? Are we subsidizing people who could have just walked?
The Dutch rarely walk.
It’s probably too difficult to walk far in clogs.
Bob, if you are concerned about transportation subsidies, you should focus on the automobile transportation subsidy which is $billions per year in the Lower Mainland alone. The tiny subsidy for Mobi bikes is insignificant in comparison.
Those studies that claim a subsidy always ignore a number of things. First they assume there is absolutely no public good from an automobile. That for nearly 100 years there has been nothing gained in terms of productivity or quality of life through enhanced mobility. Second they also ignore other public good that derives from the road network whether it is transit busses or good delivery that could not maintain it on their own.
And there is no public good from Mobi?
Bob, can you prove that the studies did not account for transit or the movement of stuff?
Are you saying that rail transit can’t maintain itself because it doesn’t move stuff?
Did increased mobility only come with automobiles?
Wouldn’t mobility have increased even if road users had to pay the true cost?
Wouldn’t there be more viable options for travel if society hadn’t put all its eggs in the automobile basket?
I know Europeans who’ve never owned a car because travel without one was just as easy. Wouldn’t we be better off under such conditions?