The Charm City Bikeshare project took a hit last month when Bixi, the
Canadian company contracted to supply the bicycles and equipment, filed for bankruptcy. Fear not, city officials said at the time, funding for the project remained in place and a new supplier would be found.
At Bike Maryland’s annual state symposium in Annapolis on Tuesday, Barry Robinson, Baltimore City’s transit and marine services chief, said Social Bikes,
a New York-based company, has now been selected to replace Bixi.
Although a contract hasn’t been signed yet, Robinson noted that Alta,
the Portland-based company that will operate Charm City Bikeshare, has
partnered with Social Bikes in other cities and that he expects the deal
to be finalized soon.
“It’s a little like changing horses in
mid-stream, if that metaphor makes sense,” Robinson said, noting the
sudden switch in bicycle suppliers with a scheduled summer launch date
for Charm City Bikeshare. “But it might also be a blessing in disguise.
This is a much less expensive platform and allows for a flexibility that
we didn’t really have before.
“The Bixi deal was much more
expensive,” Robinson said, adding the savings will help defray initial
start-up and operating costs. “This will be about a one-third of the
cost.”
In terms of cost and flexibility, Robinson noted that the
Social Bike “stations” look more like traditional bike racks than the
heavy duty docking stations that Bixi manufactured, such as the ones
used in the Washington D.C. metro area Capital Bikeshare
program. And, bicyclists will be able to lock rented Social Bike
bicycles for short periods of time to other generic racks, railings,
parking meters, and sign posts, for example, while renting and using the
bikes. Ultimately, Social Bikes will have to be returned to one of the
25 planned official Social Bike stations around the downtown commercial
area.
Generally, once a bike-share membership is purchased, the
first 30 minutes of usage is free, with costs going up each subsequent
half-hour. Bike-sharing systems, designed for short urban trips, are now
in 650 cities worldwide, according to Bikeshare.com.
Phase
I of the Charm City Bikeshare project calls for 250 bikes at the 25
stations, and remains scheduled to launch July 1, Robinson said, to
coincide with the new fiscal year. Phase II, which would double the size
of Charm City Bikeshare, doesn’t have a firm timetable, Robinson said,
adding that the city needs to find a lead sponsor, or several sponsors,
to support the project before it can move forward with Phase II.
Anne
Root, Montgomery County’s bikeshare program manager, said the recent
expansion of Capital Bikeshare there continues to grow in membership.
Overall, she said, Capital Bikeshare now has 308 docking station, 2,600
bikes, 24,000 members—and 6.1 million trips under its belt since
launching four years ago. Capital Bikeshare is also expanding to College
Park and Prince Georges County.
Ideally, said Chris Merriam, executive director of Bikemore,
Baltimore City’s nonprofit bicycling advocacy organization, Charm City
Bikeshare members will be able to use Capital Bikeshare bikes—and vice
versa—making travel, whether for work or visit, that much easier between
the two metro areas, particularly now that MARC train service is available between Baltimore and D.C. seven days a week.