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Hi Matt,

CEO of viaCycle here - thanks for the well-informed article, and for the mention.

viaCycle actually developed and implemented the "virtual station" concept at our Georgia Tech program, where it's been working well for the past six months. Rather than have them be a loosely defined group of geographic zones, we simply designate normal bike racks as stations, and place signage there. Users can take our bikes where they wish, but must eventually return to a station in order to end their trip. Just like CaBi, you incur usage fees for all time away from a station, so it discourages hoarding.

In practice, this gives the same convenience of knowing where to find a bike and almost the same level of organization, but cities can install $500 racks (or use existing ones) instead of $40,000 kiosks. Plus, even if a rack is full, you can usually squeeze in another bike or two, rather than having to hunt for the nearest open dock. CaBi works well for DC, but smaller cities and universities can benefit from a more flexible infrastructure.

If anyone wants to know more, please feel free to contact us via our website!

Thanks again,
Kyle

by Kyle Azevedo on Apr 30, 2012 2:46 pm • link • report

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