CityCycle- a cheap bicycle-rail integration solution?

[#Metro]

Just had a thought.
Would CityCycle be a hit with the tourists on the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and possibly Ipswich?


The other thing is, would this be a very cheap and convenient way to get bicycle-ferry and bicycle-rail integration.
In the inner city, buses tend to avoid rail stations- a cheap bicycle-rail integration would be CityCycle at the inner city rail stations (thinking Milton, Auchenflower, Toowong, Taringa) and ones a bit further out at suburban centres 1km or so from the station.

This way, people could take a bike in the morning to the station, less than 30 minutes, leave it. Go to work, come back to the station in the afternoon, ride out to their local shops, leave the bike there and go home.

Its cheap. Very cheap!

  :bi  :bi  :bi

[haakon]

I think the Gold Coast could be successful, good Advertising demand and a nice flat area.

As much as I would love to see it around Ipswich the Advertising revenue to bike loss due to vandalism due to drunken idiots ratio would be to far into the red.

[ButFli]

Once you get outside the very inner suburbs where people-density is higher, I think you're probably better off providing better BYO-bicycle accomodation rather than CityCycle. The advertising revenue from a suburban street is going to be significantly lower than in the CBD making expansion to these areas unprofitable. Let's not forget that the subscription fees are virtually nothing compared to the advertising revenue - that's where the money to run the scheme comes from. In a suburban setting the CityCycles will only be used twice a day - once to the station in the morning and once home at night. A bicycle in the CBD will be used ten to fifteen times each day. Anecdotal evidence suggests that in schemes where bicycles are used infrequently problems with vandalism and theft are far worse.

So yeah, I am totally pro-cycle but I don't think CityCycle is suitable for all circumstances (yet). You know, horses for courses and all that. Maybe in the future when people and Governments might be inclined to put more money up for the scheme we could see a CityCycle station on every street corner all over Brisbane. Really I think it has to be a gradual expansion outwards from the city centre rather than isolated 30 minute rings around train stations.

[#Metro]

Ok, fair enough. What about places outside Brisbane like Gold/Sunshine Coasts?

[longboi]

Probably not. Its more of a commuter/resident type of service to cover small distances in high-density areas and quite frankly, I think you would be very hard pressed to find anyone in Queensland willing to use a bike hire program outside Brisbane.

[#Metro]

Does anyone have a list of all the cities that have bike hire schemes like CityCycle. I've heard that there are 160 cities operating the scheme IIRC.

I also found something odd... Deuche Bahn, the German rail operator runs something bizzare called 'Call a bike'.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_a_Bike

Used in Berlin, Frankfurt, Cologne, Stuttgart, Munich, Karlsruhe. Arlington, Virginia is preparing the first Call a Bike system in the United States, which should begin operation in late 2008 or early 2009.

It looks like you can get them from some rail stations...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_a_Bike
http://translate.google.com.au/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.callabike-interaktiv.de%2F&sl=de&tl=en&hl=&ie=UTF-8

[WTN]

What about the very busy areas on the Gold Coast? There's plenty of tourists around. But coming up with a hire scheme that fits them will be the hard part.

[ButFli]

I personally think the Gold Coast would be a go-er for CityCycle. Especially along the beachfront there where there is a cycleway for the entire length of the Gold Coast (isn't there?). I would have thought the people traffic through there would be more than adequate to support the advertising revenue required. The only thing is maybe the salty air would corrode the CityCycles - especially the electronics. I guess you could make the whole thing out of stainless steel but they're heavy enough already - over 20kg!

As for Call a Bike, it would be even worse than CityCycle for low density Brisbane suburbs. With Call a Bike the bicycles are locked to any old thing. This might be alright in the centre of a city, but in the suburbs you might need to search for hours and walk for kilometers to find one. At least with a CityCycle station you know where you can go to be almost guarenteed of finding a bicycle.

[longboi]

Not if the helmet laws stay as-is. Its hard enough for everyday commuters to lug around a helmet, I'd imagine it would not even be considerated by tourists.

[ButFli]

I agree that the helmet laws are ridiculous and make any public bike scheme almost unworkable. When I said CityCycle would be a go-er on the Gold Coast I meant it would be a go-er financially and making no comment on how many people would use it. These schemes are actually more viable the less people use them because the advertising revenue stays the same but the maintenance and staffing costs are reduced.

[#Metro]

As for Call a Bike, it would be even worse than CityCycle for low density Brisbane suburbs. With Call a Bike the bicycles are locked to any old thing. This might be alright in the centre of a city, but in the suburbs you might need to search for hours and walk for kilometers to find one. At least with a CityCycle station you know where you can go to be almost guarenteed of finding a bicycle.

Well I thought it was a bit bizzare. I don't really see how the German scheme stops someone from throwing it in the river or vandalising it because there seems to be no station that verifies that you have actually returned the thing! Maybe they are just nicer over there?