I don’t see rental bikes on a daily rate as a primary mode of transportation. Plenty of people only come into the city on certain days, or visit cities they don’t live in, or otherwise just need to get around a single place they would’ve walked. They need the ability to start and stop in arbitrary places, and not bring something with them.
Keep in mind that this program is for people who likely have no other means to get around, so it would be their main form of transportation.
As a personal example, before my son could get a licence, he used an e-scooter to get to his school co-op placement on a daily basis. He would have used local rentals, but it was cheaper to own one.
But from what I hear about places that offer rental prpgrams on a monthly program, they do get used very often as a main form of transportation. And plenty of people, regardless of their income, use a bike as their main form of transportation, too.
That’s more in line with how I’ve seen these programs pitched in the past. Tourist bikes and downtown bikes to provide options in car-congested areas. I used them in Honolulu, Karlsruhe, Denver, and a number of other places and it was always because I was visiting without a car.
Having said all that, I spoke with someone from my local bikeshare recently who told me they’re doing a low income program where you can actually own the bike after you’ve used the program a certain amount of time. We are very suburban with skeleton transit in most areas, so you can’t cover the distances without a car or bike.
I don’t see rental bikes on a daily rate as a primary mode of transportation. Plenty of people only come into the city on certain days, or visit cities they don’t live in, or otherwise just need to get around a single place they would’ve walked. They need the ability to start and stop in arbitrary places, and not bring something with them.
Keep in mind that this program is for people who likely have no other means to get around, so it would be their main form of transportation.
As a personal example, before my son could get a licence, he used an e-scooter to get to his school co-op placement on a daily basis. He would have used local rentals, but it was cheaper to own one.
But from what I hear about places that offer rental prpgrams on a monthly program, they do get used very often as a main form of transportation. And plenty of people, regardless of their income, use a bike as their main form of transportation, too.
That’s more in line with how I’ve seen these programs pitched in the past. Tourist bikes and downtown bikes to provide options in car-congested areas. I used them in Honolulu, Karlsruhe, Denver, and a number of other places and it was always because I was visiting without a car.
Having said all that, I spoke with someone from my local bikeshare recently who told me they’re doing a low income program where you can actually own the bike after you’ve used the program a certain amount of time. We are very suburban with skeleton transit in most areas, so you can’t cover the distances without a car or bike.