2,238 purchases so far. Maybe 5,000 by the time it's all over? Will CaBi have enough bikes to go around?

by Falls Church on Apr 8, 2011 10:38 am • link • report

Probably. Seems like a lot of purchases from these sites are impulse and people don't always use it.

I have experienced this frequently with friends who buy $xx of food from a restaurant then email me (and other friends) saying that they have a groupon, etc expiring soon and need to use it!

by DCArea2 on Apr 8, 2011 10:46 am • link • report

How does the renewal option work? Is there a space to say you're renewing?

by BeyondDC on Apr 8, 2011 10:49 am • link • report

According to a response from CaBi on their facebook page:

"If you used the Living Social deal to renew your membership you may do that now even if your membership does not expire for months. When you redeem the voucher it will simply extend your membership expiration date a year or month depending on which membership you purchased. To renew your membership, log on to your account at CapitalBikeshare.com and click "change" next to subscription type on your Profile page."

I hope this infusion of cash can lead to a sped-up expansion of stations and bikes!

by Jacques on Apr 8, 2011 10:54 am • link • report

I called Capital Bikeshare this morning about how to renew. They said once you get the certificate over email you have to call them to extend your membership.

by Adam L on Apr 8, 2011 10:55 am • link • report

@Jacques

That's good to know. The folks manning customer service didn't know if it was possible to extend online.

by Adam L on Apr 8, 2011 10:57 am • link • report

"I hope this infusion of cash can lead to a sped-up expansion of stations and bikes!"

For value received CaBi is already ridiculously underpriced; discounted memberships/extensions benefit the subscriber rather than the operator.  If you want to infuse some cash into CaBi, wouldn't they get more out of it if you were to extend your membership at the regular rate? 

by cabi addict on Apr 8, 2011 11:11 am • link • report

For value received CaBi is already ridiculously underpriced; discounted memberships/extensions benefit the subscriber rather than the operator.

That's true to an extent, however, unlike restaurants or retail goods establishments, but for a membership-based operation, there's not the same kind of one-to-one tradeoff. Sure, some CaBi users will ride a ton, but it's possible that many of those who are purchasing a membership for $37 are ones who wouldn't buy one at $75, and might not do $75 worth of riding.

If you want to infuse some cash into CaBi, wouldn't they get more out of it if you were to extend your membership at the regular rate?

I think you mean that if I wanted to maximize the revenue that I individually was providing to CaBi, I would renew my membership at the current rate. However, as my membership does not expire until the end of September, there would be no logical reason for me to do that, except out of a feeling of philanthropy. On the other hand, this is a business decision, which could likely see 4,000 or more new memberships--and an equal number of membership extensions--at a price of roughly $20 each, after Living Social's cut.

This is an infusion of some 150,000 or more in cash, in an extremely concentrated period of time.

Perhaps more importantly, it is also an almost doubling of stakeholders, including voters who will now have much more of an interest in how well CaBi works and who can put pressure on local decisionmakers for expansion and improved service.

(And if someone at Alta/DDOT/Arlington is thinking strategically, I would say that this is the real impetus behind the deal).

by Jacques on Apr 8, 2011 11:22 am • link • report

@Jacques,

I am pretty sure Living Social and Groupon take a 50% cut.

So 4000 full memberships at 37 gives cabi 74K, and 4000 month memberships at 12 gives cabi 24K, or a total of 98K, bot 150K or more

by freely on Apr 8, 2011 11:29 am • link • report

Welcome new users! Please don't use the bikes!

Hopefully clearchannel can get its act together and remove their stations and hopefully CaBi is right there ready to add their own.

by cmc on Apr 8, 2011 11:35 am • link • report

@freely

Groupon is usually a standard 50% cut (in addition to another $2.50 fee for credit card processing). Living Social has been developing a reputation of providing better terms to merchants, and both companies have become much more prone to negotiating that percentage in recent months, as the social coupon market gets bigger.

I am operating from a (perhaps unfounded) assumption that CaBi is getting a slightly better deal than 50%, given their size and the expected number of deals purchased.

I am also operating from the (slightly more well-founded) assumption that most of the deals purchased will be annual, rather than monthly. This is partly due to the fact that previous CaBi data has shown an overwhelming preference for annual memberships rather than monthly memberships, on the part of non-1-day users. Secondly, I am assuming that at least 2,000 or so memberships will be coming in the form of renewals by existing members, which would definitionally be annual memberships.

Your assumptions may be better than mine, and this will be a more meaningful exercise once we have a sense of how many deals are purchased overall. But as more than 3,000 have been purchased in the first 3+ hours of a 3-day promotion, I think there's plenty of upside.

by Jacques on Apr 8, 2011 11:40 am • link • report

You can also use the codes purchased on Living Social to renew your annual membership online at CapitalBikeshare.com

by Chris Eatough on Apr 8, 2011 11:41 am • link • report

Mondy aside, I think it is important for CaBi to generate as many users as possible right now in order to a) demonstrate demand for bikes/stations, b) increase public knowledge, c) increase political capital.

I know a lot of people might use it a couple times a month, and so they are hesitant to buy a 75$ membership, but this will get them on it, hopefully they find it useful and important, and then renew at the full rate next year.

by 20001dc on Apr 8, 2011 12:21 pm • link • report

@cmc: Exactly

Now if only there were a way for CaBi to benefit (and not suffer) when all those new users discovering how awesome CaBi is and find themselves riding way more then they evern thought they would...

by egk on Apr 8, 2011 12:24 pm • link • report

@ Jacques:it is also an almost doubling of stakeholders, including voters who will now have much more of an interest in how well CaBi works and who can put pressure on local decisionmakers for expansion and improved service.

You are right. Services like CaBi always struggle to get their first swab of members. This is an excellent way of getting customers on the seat. Customers that might pay charges for riding >30min. Customers that might pay $75 in a year from now. Customers that thought that $75 was too much.

In fact, this is a good deal for CaBi exactly for the reason that deals like this are good for restaurants. You don't make a profit from the first visit of customers. But you do get revenue, and you might get return visits.

by Jasper on Apr 8, 2011 12:43 pm • link • report

I wonder how many of these purchases are for renewals.

by JF on Apr 8, 2011 12:45 pm • link • report

Obviously expanding the base of stakeholders is critically important for the reasons Jasper outlined. But I would've liked to have seen renewals excluded from this deal.

Having said all that, I bought two of these reduced deals and am going to use them to renew. I didn't amass my sizable personal fortune by a trifling consistency.

by oboe on Apr 8, 2011 12:58 pm • link • report

I suspect there are a lot of people hesitating over buying an annual membership until the stations actually appear in the R-B corridor. We've been promised, but talk is cheap and already a month late.

by OX4 on Apr 8, 2011 1:25 pm • link • report

I suspect CaBI might have offered a special on renewal anyway. Say $50 this year.

Sure, a large percentage of these deals will be renewals, and they will be losing a potential $50 (75 - cost of deal (25)). However, you have a chance to expand your base -- what is their customer acquisition cost now.

Throw in the need for metrics (we have 6006+ members in 2011, 85% renewal rate) and you might be able to justify it.

timing wise it might have been better to wait until the new Arlington stations come online.

by charlie on Apr 8, 2011 1:28 pm • link • report

Spring is around the corner, I actually think the timing seems pretty good. Warmer weather, and people will be curious about cruising around the city on a CaBi on a nice sunny April morning.

by JF on Apr 8, 2011 1:48 pm • link • report

@ekg: Now if only there were a way for CaBi to benefit (and not suffer) when all those new users discovering how awesome CaBi is and find themselves riding way more then they evern thought they would...

I think that that increase of members will put some strain on the system, but not in a linear fashion. Part of the equation is what kinds of cyclists use CaBi, and I can think of two types that should benefit.

1. Someone who doesn't ride a bike could get onto CaBi and start to become more comfortable with riding in the city, eventually leading them to purchase their own bike for commuting, and shift their CaBi usage to point-to-point within and between neighborhoods. I don't know how many of these peopleknow that these people exist, because since October, I have gone from not having ridden a bike in 5 years to seriously considering purchasing a bike for commuting.

2. More serious cyclists who already commute to work on their own bikes (including those who graduate from category 1) are more likely to use CaBi in off-peak hours, or at least in non-monopolar usage patterns, which at best would help rebalancing and at worst shouldn't impact bike availability as much as the strain from CaBi commuters does.

by Jacques on Apr 8, 2011 1:58 pm • link • report

I'm phoning to see if they have a multi-use membership.
I have apartments and I don't rent to car owners but do provide bicycles for tenant use already. Getting CiBi membership for tenants would be really nice.

We really should ask that developers get CiBi membership for tenants or condo buyers and allow CiBi stations. This would help CiBi and the city a lot.

by Tom Coumaris on Apr 8, 2011 2:44 pm • link • report

FWIW I bought one as a renewal. I've used CaBi 11 times on 7 different days since I joined in September. Personally I was scratching my head over whether I would renew or not come next fall. Now I've gone and done it.

@jacques - there are also those who don't live OR work near the bikes, or commute at all for that matter (like me), but go into DC & Arlington on occasion and find them useful for that. I don't think they fit into either of your categories.

by Steve O on Apr 8, 2011 2:51 pm • link • report

@OX4 - I have inside information that your wait for R-B bikes is going to be very short. Very.

by Deep throat on Apr 8, 2011 2:53 pm • link • report

Sorry, I tried to use the link, and maybe I'm just missing something - did the referral credit happen so I couldn't see it at all? Was it invisible to the purchaser, e.g., me?

by Stephen on Apr 8, 2011 3:19 pm • link • report

@Stephen -- the way I understand Living Social, when you click on a referral link (whether it's the link to join, resulting in a $5 credit to the referrer, after you make a purchase, or it's a link to the specific deal, which goes toward getting the referrer a free deal), you--the purchaser--won't be notified, only the referrer will.

by Jacques on Apr 8, 2011 3:38 pm • link • report

Oh, figured it out - yes, invisible to me, a referral hidden in the link. Coolio!

by Stephen on Apr 8, 2011 3:46 pm • link • report

"I suspect there are a lot of people hesitating over buying an annual membership until the stations actually appear in the R-B corridor. We've been promised, but talk is cheap and already a month late."

This. I really want to take part in the deal but I won't until know where the stations are going to be. They should have waited until they announced the future locations with a set timeframe. I'm also one of those people who are not sure they will get $75 worth of utility out of the program, but would be willing to risk $37 to find out.

by Raika on Apr 8, 2011 7:15 pm • link • report

Raika, I'm in agreement with you (in that future station announcements and this deal should have overlapped). That said? If your concern is the Rosslyn side of the R-B equation? I like your chances. Very much. Very soon.

by MB on Apr 8, 2011 7:43 pm • link • report

One of the best methods of cabi has for advertising is having members use the bikes.

If on your 3 block-walk to work, you see 5 cabi bikes being used every day, you become interested in the system.

Once something is normalized, it's easy to gain new users. People are scared to go first with stuff. If martha from accounting uses it, then biking in the city cant be that hard, right?

Bikes at a station look interesting, but scary for the risk averse. Seeing the bikes in use removes that fear.

by JJJJJ on Apr 8, 2011 8:59 pm • link • report

@MB

Unfortunately, my interest is in the Ballston side so the rumors that they may announce stations next week for the Rosslyn area doesn't help much. If I knew the bikes would reach Ballston sometime before it starts getting cold outside again in the fall that would really help convince me to take the deal.

by Raika on Apr 9, 2011 12:29 am • link • report

@ Raika: The fine print says that your membership only kicks in at the first time you use it. I plan to wait until the Rosslyn station is up. BTW: They better make that a big one, because I predict a lot of people will commute to Georgetown and back.

by Jasper on Apr 10, 2011 12:18 pm • link • report

Going into the weekend, I believe CaBi had about 6,400 members.

With 13 hours to go in the Living Social sale, they've already sold 7,355 memberships.

I'd call that a successful promotion.

by Alex B. on Apr 10, 2011 3:30 pm • link • report

Capitol Bike Share/alta bicycles denies health insurance to employees who ride bikes for the job.

THIS ONLY HAPPENED TO EMPLOYEES WHO RIDE BIKES FOR THE JOB!!!.

i quit my job today and i am so happy not to be working for a bunch of incompetent people anymore. when i was hired in november i was a full time employee with benefits and an option to have health insurance after a set amount of time. starting feb. Alta bikes, who is the mother company of Capitol Bike Share, changed thier policy and made me and all of the people in my position a part time employee with out benefits. i/we was also denied any buy in on the health plan they ues for full time employees. then a week or so later, they gave back everything TO ONLY THREE of the 8 people effected and called them managers. the rest were paid the amount of PTO they were alotted for the year (i had around 27 hours) and no longer allowed to work a 40 hour week capping out at 32hrs.
THIS ONLY HAPPENED TO EMPLOYEES WHO RIDE BIKES FOR THE JOB!!!. the employees who drive vans (rebalancing the system), and station technitions were NOT affected by this change in policy. they all still have a full timer with insurance and benefits.

by Bradley Saaks on Apr 17, 2011 5:49 pm • link • report