Comments on How about a weekend-only CaBi membership? - Greater Greater Washington

Comment by Falls Church

Tue, 25 Sep 2012 10:34:33 EDT

Yeay, let's have people do work for less than minimum wage and no benefits. Bad idea.

Does that mean you're opposed to poor people who sell Street Sense newspapers?

Comment by Jasper

Mon, 24 Sep 2012 20:31:05 EDT

@ Falls Church:How about giving memberships free to poor people and paying them a small amount for every bike they ride from a full station to an empty one?

Yeay, let's have people do work for less than minimum wage and no benefits. Bad idea.

Comment by Falls Church

Mon, 24 Sep 2012 17:09:40 EDT

Let people get a fob who aren't annual members. Then they could activate a daily pass by just checking out a bike.

I like this idea. I think what prevents more casual use on the weekend is not the cost but rather the inconvenience of interacting with the kiosk.

Cabi is analgous to internet retailing. Everyone thought that the reason people would buy stuff on the internet was because it was cheaper. It turns out the number 1 reason why people buy stuff on the internet is that it's more convenient. Similarly, Cabi isn't about saving money vs. the alternatives (at least for many people), it's about the convenience. Want to increase ridership, then increase convenience and don't worry so much about the cost.

That said, the biggest inconvenience is dock-blocking and no bikes. Perhaps an incentive scheme for riders to ride bikes from full stations to empty stations could be implemented. How about giving memberships free to poor people and paying them a small amount for every bike they ride from a full station to an empty one?

Comment by Richard Layman

Mon, 24 Sep 2012 17:08:43 EDT

Revenue is key. Frankly, when I write responses to RFPs for bike sharing, I say anything less than one month you're giving money away--and most systems (except for Chicago, NYC, and SF probably) don't have the kind of revenue potential from tourists that DC has.

Similarly, why Bcycle would provide complementary usership in other systems by members makes no sense to me either. I use WMATA. That doesn't mean when I go to another city that I expect to ride transit for free. But it does make me familiar with transit generally and willing to try it (and pay for it) when I am somewhere else.

Comment by Jerome

Mon, 24 Sep 2012 16:59:30 EDT

i would use CaBi if they didnt want to hold money on my debit or CC for more than 10 days which they say is the banks doing, i didnt want to buy a membership for something i knew i wouldnt use often

Comment by Joey

Mon, 24 Sep 2012 16:50:39 EDT

I second the idea from above of allowing the loading of day passes onto key fobs without a monthly/annual membership.

Why not make it like the SmarTrip card? It would save a ton of time at the kiosks, whose interfaces are quite poorly considered, in my opinion. It simply takes too long to check out a bike the second time in a day with a day pass, especially if you use the same card for two bikes.

Because I'm sure the key fobs have a not-insubstantial cost to CaBi, you could require day pass users to pre-load their account with at least $21, to be auto-reloaded when they get down to $7. This gives CaBi a little up front money as well and gives their finances a slight bit more predictability (as a side benefit).

Comment by M.V. Jantzen

Mon, 24 Sep 2012 16:30:26 EDT

I'd reject this proposal only for the sake of simplification. If there's any need for a new purchase plan, I'd much rather see them rent the bikes for single trip - something cheaper than the $7 fee for 24hrs; perhaps $3.

Comment by MLD

Mon, 24 Sep 2012 16:18:00 EDT

I also question whether we need to encourage use on the weekends. Total trips on weekend days are about the same as on weekdays (http://jdantos.wordpress.com/2012/01/17/capital-bikeshare-data-part-1/). Trips are more spread out into an all-day phenomenon though. Casual members take a higher percentage of trips on the weekend. As an annual member I find that it is hard to get a bike in the middle of an afternoon on the weekend.

Comment by David C

Mon, 24 Sep 2012 16:13:40 EDT

The busiest CaBi days are weekend days. I think each of the last four or five record days were on weekends.

I'm not sure how much demand there is for something like this, and what the price would be. $75 for one year of riding is an incredible bargain. I'd need to see some polling data to see how many people don't join because the fee is too high. But, if such a program were offered, my wife would definitely take the lower price - and I'm sure she's not alone.

So CaBi would make less money. And my wife would now have to pay extra to use the bikes on weekdays which might reduce ridership. Members might be net winners, but CaBi would probably lose (in all the metrics that matter).

Comment by Alex B.

Mon, 24 Sep 2012 16:11:37 EDT

I agree with Charlie and Corey. I don't think the first sentence of this article is correct. See this analysis of CaBi usage data:

http://jdantos.wordpress.com/2012/01/17/capital-bikeshare-data-part-1/

Weekdays and weekends total ridership is essentially the same. The pattern is different, but the total usage is very similar. If anything, the weekend usage patterns are less peak-y and therefore probably easier for rebalancing and so on.

Comment by charlie

Mon, 24 Sep 2012 16:07:29 EDT

@CoreyH; yes, I was wondering the same thing. I know that used to be true, and not sure if it true anymore.

A solution in search of a problem.

Comment by Corey H.

Mon, 24 Sep 2012 15:59:19 EDT

I really don't get the basic premise. CaBi sets ridership records on weekends, not weekdays. Average ride duration and length is higher on the weekends. How does that mean CaBi is used less on the weekends?

Comment by PS

Mon, 24 Sep 2012 15:13:02 EDT

Let people get a fob who aren't annual members. Then they could activate a daily pass by just checking out a bike. Before I was a member, I never bothered with the kiosk/credit card system. For non-members, having a fob that could be used to quickly grab a bike would be more convenient.

Just like having the Uber app configured on a phone - doesn't mean you will use it, but it's there just in case, and the increased convenience probably would lead to increased use.

And it would also permit semi-unlimited membership, you could turn on a weekend-only plan for your fob, or nights and weekends, etc.

Comment by Jasper

Mon, 24 Sep 2012 15:00:20 EDT

Sigh. We do not need a more complicated pricing scheme. CaBi has regretfully already made things more difficult since its start. Let's keep it simple. If you want to go for a weekend, you can buy two one-day memberships or a three-day membership for a dollar more. Problem solved.

Let's please not turn CaBi into metro's incomprehensible pricing mess.

Comment by Adam L

Mon, 24 Sep 2012 15:00:12 EDT

I don't think CaBi is on empty on the weekends as people think. There may be less traffic, but the most heavily used stations are still consistently empty or full on weekends.