Baltimore is set to award a bike-share contract

[LockH]

http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimor...re-is-set-to-award-a-bike-share-contract.html

A Canadian company specializing in electrically assisted bicycle systems is about to receive a $2.4 million contract to run a bike-share system in Baltimore.

Baltimore's Board of Estimates is expected to approve Wednesday a contract that will have St. Georges, Quebec-based Bewegen Technologies Inc. designing, installing, operating and maintaining a new bike-share system. Bike shares have riders paying a fee to check out bicycles from docking stations placed around cities.

Interesting... maybe. Zero mentions in ES Bible re ebike company "Bewegen".
http://bewegen.com/

OR "BikeEmotion". Huh.

 

[puregsr]

Seriously, Baltimore? Are they for real? They'll get destroyed faster than that hitchhiking robot got dismantled In Philly.
In all seriousness, glad to see some investment in the infrastructure of Baltimore.
PS. I used to work in Baltimore.

 

[LockH]

"The city's Board of Estimates awarded a $2.3 million contract to Bewegen Technologies for a 500-bike system. About 200 of those bikes will have electric motors."
http://technical.ly/baltimore/2016/03/16/baltimore-bikeshare-set-fall-debut/

A bikeshare program is set to appear in Baltimore in the fall, and some of the bikes will provide a little electric help for going up hills.

The city’s Board of Estimates awarded a $2.3 million contract to Bewegen Technologies to create Charm City Bike Share. The Canadian company also has agreements to operate bikeshares in Birmingham, Ala., and Richmond, Va.

The bikeshare will include 50 stations and 500 bikes, according to Bewegen. Early plans indicate the stations will initially be located in the downtown area, with locations also in Southeast Baltimore (Canton, Fells Point and Patterson Park), South Baltimore (Federal Hill and Locust Point) and Union Square, Hollins Market and Jonestown. Pricing is still being worked out.

“This program differs from bike rental programs because it is designed specifically for short trips,” Johnson said.

About 200 of those bikes will be powered by a system known as pedelec, which provides electric-powered pedal assistance for riders. The system also features built-in GPS that shows each bike’s location, and features an app.

While Bewegen will provide the bikes, the system will be run by CorpsLogistics, which plans to hire about 80 veterans through partnerships with nonprofits and military bases. The company is also moving its headquarters to Baltimore, said Bewegen CEO Alain Ayotte.

Board of Estimates documents identified two other bidders, Motivate International and Zagster Inc., which protested the award to Bewegen.

The city has tried to implement a bikeshare program twice before. Montreal-based Public Bike System was selected in 2014, but the company went bankrupt. Despite a contract, a 2010 attempt involving Wisconsin-based B-Cycle never got off the ground.

At a Wednesday morning press conference outside City Hall to show off the bikes, Bicycle Advisory Commission chair Jon Laria spoke of the bikeshare as needed in a city that is lacking transit options, even if it wouldn’t solve all of those transportation issues.

“This is not a luxury,” he said. “This is a necessity. This is a market-driven initiative.”

 

[sonnetg]

wow...this would be excellent if this is true. I haven't found any other source for this news. I really hope this initiative comes into fruition. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Here's some more info: http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/news/2016/03/16/baltimore-bike-share-to-have-largest-electric.html

 

[LockH]

Here's some more info: http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/news/2016/03/16/baltimore-bike-share-to-have-largest-electric.html

Hehe... A BUSINESS-oriented publication.

The Business Journals are the premier media solutions platform for companies strategically targeting business decision makers.

(Says Business Guy reader) "Golly. Maybe we could sell these things?"

"... largest electric fleet in Western Hemisphere." The largest CONCENTRATED fleet maybe. The fleet of the ES ebike nation MUCH bigger, just scattered all over. Yet another nail in the coffin of the auto industry.

 

[LockH]

Still in news "Forthcoming Baltimore bike share will offer largest electric bike fleet in North America"
http://foxbaltimore.com/news/local/...-largest-electric-bike-fleet-in-north-america

residents to share 200 distinct yellow electric pedal assistance bicycles, or “pedelec” rides designed, installed and maintained by selected vendor, Bewegen Technologies Inc. 300 other bicycles will also be a part of the program.

(featured on Fox 45 this morning)

 

[LockH]

News from October: "81,000 miles ridden during Zyp bikeshare's first year in Birmingham":
http://www.al.com/news/birmingham/index.ssf/2016/10/80000_miles_during_zyp_bikesha.html

Includes:

Zyp Bikeshare, an initiative of REV Birmingham, launched in October 2015 with about 175 bikes and 25 docking stations. By the spring, Zyp had 400 bikes (about 325 out at a time), including 100 electric pedal-assist bikes, and 39 docking stations.

Here's some of Zyp's yearly statistics:

More than 81,000 miles traveled on Zyp bikes and 3 million calories burned
63,051 total bike rides
11,687 occasional members, including daily and weekly pass buyers

The most popular bike stations are the two located at Railroad Park downtown, Symes said, and they account for about a third of all of the checkouts.

https://www.zypbikeshare.com/about/e-bike/


Oooops:
https://www.facebook.com/Birminghambikeshare/reviews/

 

[LockH]

"Downtown Partnership to give $10,000 for Baltimore Bike Share passes for low-income riders":
http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bs-md-downtown-partnership-bike-share-20161228-story.html

... to subsidize monthly Baltimore Bike Share passes for low-income city residents, reducing the cost of unlimited one-hour trips to $3 a month, the nonprofit announced Wednesday.

It launched in October with 185 bicycles at 21 stations, mostly around the downtown area. An expansion to 50 stations and 456 bikes is planned in the spring.

Riders took more than 5,800 trips and rode 8,000 miles in the first month.

 

[LockH]

Bike Share’s demise a disappointment for bikers and a black eye for DOT
("A look back at a decade of failed bike share efforts as Baltimore scoots off to the next big thing"):
https://baltimorebrew.com/2018/08/1...pointment-for-bikers-and-a-black-eye-for-dot/

Starts:

Times were changing in car-centric Baltimore, or so bike advocates thought a decade ago, when some city officials began promising to actively promote better street design and two-wheeled transportation.

A big breakthrough came in 2010 when a request for proposals (RFP) was issued seeking a vendor to operate something new for Baltimore:

A network of kiosks where rental bikes, accessed through membership or a day pass, could be picked up and dropped off.

Includes:

A Long Time Coming

The bumpy road Baltimore followed – as it planned, promoted and executed the various bike sharing iterations – stretched out over many years. It’s unclear how much was spent in that time on those efforts. Asked by The Brew for an estimate, DOT has yet to provide one.

But here’s a year-by-year account:

• 2011 – Plans for a 250-bike program are hatched – then dropped – at a time when Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is under fire for a budget that boosted downtown tourist activities while cutting recreation centers and other neighborhood services.

... and:

• 2015 – The city accepts a $2.1 million bid from Bewegen Technologies to start a bike share system. DOT rejects a much lower bid ($587,500 from Motivate International, formerly Alta Bike Shares) and a higher one (Zagster of Cambridge, Mass.).

• 2016 – Bewegen launches Baltimore Bike Share with fewer than 200 bicycles. (Its debut had been delayed by months because of what officials described as a manufacturer’s supply problem.)

• 2017 – A new mayor and a new set of problems, including poor maintenance and stolen bikes. Incoming DOT director Pourciau shuts down the program to install theft-resistant “Baltimore locks” and other improvements. Only about 50 bikes are in service when the program reopens.

• August 2018 – Pugh pulls the plug on Bike Share.

Other than a $10,000 subsidy from the Downtown Partnership to cover memberships for low-income users, no corporate sponsor ever came forward.

Users paid $2 for a 45-minute single trip or $15 for a monthly pass for unlimited rides over 30 days.

... AND:

Troubling Sign: Disappearing Bikes

During the less than two years of its existence, Bike Share’s failings were well documented.

Reporters found bikes missing from the docks. Riders conducted some even more robust research into the failings of the bikes, the app, the locks and maintenance by the company Bewegen hired, Westport-based Corps Logistics.

“Baltimore’s bike share system is close to shutting down once again due to a lack of maintenance from its operator and its equipment’s inability to handle wear,” software developer Brian Seel wrote in a detailed and prescient Baltimore Fishbowl piece a few weeks ago.

“Most troubling, two out of every five bikes in the system have disappeared,” Seel wrote. Docks were so broken that bikes could not be locked in them, he found. That left electric-assisted bikes unable to be charged and other bikes vulnerable to theft.

Last year, Seel began a post on his blog with this tldr (too long didn’t read) summary:

“I rode around all of the city to all 25 bike share docks and only found four working bikes.”

Beginning to think that dealing with the pubic is never a winning proposition. (About half are of less than average intelligence. It's a "math thing".)