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1400 pounds per bicycle for bicycles that are ridden 5 hours a day? Fairly low maintenance.
Realistically or not, the goal of the London program was that it would be self-sufficient, at least independent of any tax dollars beyond support for capital and infrastructure costs. The sponsorship and the usage fees were supposed to be enough cash to cover the operating expenses. TfL does a lot of polling and one of the complaints the public has about the program is that it is costing the taxpayer money when they were told it wouldn't. Juxtaposed is a complaint from the users that the increased fee structure makes cycling expensive enough that many people would rather take public transit. Damned if you do, damned if you don't, perhaps, but if one of the reasons the program was succeeding was because it was cheaper than public transit, I'm not certain how long it will be able to survive without government spending tax dollars to support it. Hell, let me rephrase that: I'm certain the program(me) can't survive without government spending tax dollars to support it.
h' 1.0 said:
Well.... is the goal of such a program to ultimately be self-sufficient?
I read (possibly in the linked article) that there is little data available as to what sort of revenue any of the bike share programs actually generate (would love to be corrected on that)..... but I don't know how we leaped to the idea that a bike share program is supposed to be profitable enough to be completely self-sustaining. Divvy was presented as a transit option, a "last mile" solution to complement bus and commuter rail..... I don't see much criticism of Metra or CTA for not being completely self-sustaining.
globalguy said:Actually, it's rather straightforward and should be a big RED FLAG for all things "bikey" in Chicago's future. London's Mayor, Boris Johnson, has done squat to make the program self-sufficient and Barclay's will end its sponsorship in 2015. At least London has dedicated bike transportation professionals in its gov't.
It sounds like someone over there needs to learn to frame their arguments a little better then. The tax money being spent to put a low impact travel option on the streets ultimately saves tax money being spent on all the damage and infrastructure wear caused by personal motor vehicles. It's not an "extra" expense even with no private sponsorship.
Reboot Oxnard said:
Realistically or not, the goal of the London program was that it would be self-sufficient, at least independent of any tax dollars beyond support for capital and infrastructure costs. The sponsorship and the usage fees were supposed to be enough cash to cover the operating expenses. TfL does a lot of polling and one of the complaints the public has about the program is that it is costing the taxpayer money when they were told it wouldn't. Juxtaposed is a complaint from the users that the increased fee structure makes cycling expensive enough that many people would rather take public transit. Damned if you do, damned if you don't, perhaps, but if one of the reasons the program was succeeding was because it was cheaper than public transit, I'm not certain how long it will be able to survive without government spending tax dollars to support it. Hell, let me rephrase that: I'm certain the program(me) can't survive without government spending tax dollars to support it.
h' 1.0 said:Well.... is the goal of such a program to ultimately be self-sufficient?
I read (possibly in the linked article) that there is little data available as to what sort of revenue any of the bike share programs actually generate (would love to be corrected on that)..... but I don't know how we leaped to the idea that a bike share program is supposed to be profitable enough to be completely self-sustaining. Divvy was presented as a transit option, a "last mile" solution to complement bus and commuter rail..... I don't see much criticism of Metra or CTA for not being completely self-sustaining.
globalguy said:Actually, it's rather straightforward and should be a big RED FLAG for all things "bikey" in Chicago's future. London's Mayor, Boris Johnson, has done squat to make the program self-sufficient and Barclay's will end its sponsorship in 2015. At least London has dedicated bike transportation professionals in its gov't.
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