tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/boris-bike-8988/articlesBoris bike – The Conversation2014-07-23T06:45:09Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/294382014-07-23T06:45:09Z2014-07-23T06:45:09ZWhat London’s bike hire scheme can learn from other cities as it searches for a new sponsor<p>London’s <a href="http://www.tfl.gov.uk/modes/cycling/barclays-cycle-hire?cid=fs008">cycle hire scheme</a> has become a prominent fixture in the capital’s transport network since it opened in 2010. Known as “Boris Bikes”, it is Barclays Bank that has provided commercial sponsorship for the scheme from the beginning, a relationship that is due to end in 2015. So the <a href="https://www.tfl.gov.uk/info-for/media/press-releases/2014/july/search-for-a-new-sponsor-of-london-s-iconic-cycle-hire-scheme-steps-up-a-gear">search is now on</a> for a successor with deep pockets, one that is willing to play a role in shaping the future of the scheme.</p>
<p>Many bike hire schemes begin small, with the number of bikes initially in the hundreds rather than thousands. But in London, helped by a swelling population of more than 8m people and the support of the city mayor, the scheme opened with 5,000 bikes and has gradually expanded to 11,200. It is now the second largest scheme in Europe, after <a href="http://en.velib.paris.fr/">Paris</a>. The financial support pledged by Barclays (£25m over five years) was certainly a factor that enabled the scheme to open at this scale.</p>
<p>The end of 2013 saw a decline in the number of journeys made, in comparison to the same period in 2011 and 2012, before picking up again in 2014 to hit a milestone of 30 million journeys. A study of the scheme’s users found they were disproportionately male and from more affluent areas of the city. Hopefully this issue will be addressed by the extension of the scheme to other parts of London, encouraging access to a wider spectrum of the city’s population. </p>
<p>For many schemes, including London’s, private sponsorship is an important element of the business model. <a href="http://www.jcdecaux.co.uk/">JCDecaux</a> and <a href="http://www.clearchannel.co.uk/">Clear Channel</a> (both outdoor advertising companies) are involved in many European schemes. They typically manage the scheme and supply capital for the start-up and running costs in exchange for rights to a proportion of the advertising boards across the city. The London scheme differs here in that the sponsor’s investment provides advertising of their brand, as opposed to increasing the share of the market they operate in. </p>
<p>For London, this external sponsorship is vital – Transport for London are <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jun/02/london-new-sponsor-boris-bikes-tfl-barclays-cycle-hire">looking for £37.5m</a> – and the scheme has not yet shown to be profitable. As Barclays withdrew their financial support, the scheme’s expansion into southwest London in 2013 was taxpayer funded. Nearby councils were reported to have jointly paid <a href="http://road.cc/content/news/111595-barclays-bank-paid-nothing-toward-south-west-boris-bike-expansion">around £4m towards the £10m cost</a>. </p>
<p>Schemes have sometimes relied upon an individual to champion the policy and ensure its success, especially in the early days of a scheme. London mayors Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson have had important roles for London, but a champion will continue to be needed to prevent the scheme from faltering. </p>
<p>As the London cycle hire scheme reaches a crossroads, what can be learnt from other schemes? The Paris scheme is seen as a great success but it relies upon high user numbers to offset the expense of sustaining it. Smaller schemes – for example those run by <a href="http://www.nextbike.de/en/">Nextbike</a>– offer a greater likelihood of financial sustainability, but lower running costs are a key factor in this. Crucially, in many cities cyclists benefit from wider roads and more defined space. In contrast, one of the most pressing issues for London is the <a href="http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/40-cyclists-killed-4-drivers-jailed-exclusive-investigation-reveals-only-one-in-10-drivers-are-jailed-after-being-involved-in-cyclist-death-9034187.html">safety of cyclists</a>, which is a problem for the city as a whole, including those using the bike hire scheme. </p>
<p>Busy, narrow roads and insufficient or absent cycling infrastructure dissuade many from using the scheme. Data suggests that a London hired bike is used <a href="http://www.ctc.org.uk/news/londons-cycle-hire-least-used-and-most-expensive-in-europe">far less frequently</a> over the course of a day than a bike would be in many schemes elsewhere. Infrastructure problems are seen as a key factor in this, and this raises the issue of value for money. Resolving the safety and infrastructure problems are of course not easy tasks, and real change in authorities’ attitudes towards cycling is occurring very slowly. But concerted effort and change here may well be the key to reigniting the initial success of the scheme.</p>
<p>The importance of a suitable sponsor for the scheme cannot be underestimated as their financial support will be essential. Public funding will undoubtedly continue to be needed but to a lesser extent if the scheme prospers. It has been contested that Barclays’ decreasing interest in the scheme may be <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-25330644">the result of the growing cycling safety issues</a> in London. This is perhaps the most difficult hurdle that the scheme, and whoever its new sponsor will be, must overcome in coming years. Bikes that aren’t used are no use to anyone, whoever pays for them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/29438/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Parkes receives funding from ESRC White Rose Doctoral Training Centre.</span></em></p>London’s cycle hire scheme has become a prominent fixture in the capital’s transport network since it opened in 2010. Known as “Boris Bikes”, it is Barclays Bank that has provided commercial sponsorship…Stephen Parkes, PhD student, University of LeedsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/229812014-02-17T06:08:00Z2014-02-17T06:08:00ZCan bikeshare systems ever stand on their own two wheels?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/41493/original/2vsngsnt-1392321040.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Bike and Go, or came and went?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jon Super/PA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In countries across the world, what can only be described as a bikesharing boom is taking place, with systems operating in <a href="http://www.bikesharingworld.com">686 towns and cities worldwide</a>, from Aspen, Colorado to Zhuzhou, China.</p>
<p>Despite their apparent popularity however, they are not without their problems. The London scheme lost its main sponsor late last year when Barclays <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-25327164">declined to renew its funding</a>, and the biggest equipment provider for bikesharing programs in the US, the Canadian firm Public Bike System Company (PBSC), recently <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c68b4080-82b7-11e3-8119-00144feab7de.html">filed for bankruptcy protection</a>.</p>
<p>Individual schemes have specific problems, but these developments do prompt the question: what does it take for a bikesharing system to be economically viable, if indeed that’s possible?</p>
<p>Whether a bikesharing system can stand financially on its own two wheels depends on a number of factors – and different markets have different needs. More than 50% of members from the publicly funded <a href="http://capitalbikeshare.com/">Capital Bikeshare</a> in Washington, DC use the system to access other forms of public transportation, according to a <a href="http://capitalbikeshare.com/assets/pdf/CABI-2013SurveyReport.pdf">member survey from 2013</a>. Yet data collected by Rui Wang and Chen Liu at the University of California, Los Angeles suggest that bikesharing can function as a viable means of public transit even <a href="http://www.nctr.usf.edu/2013/10/bicycle-transit-integration-in-the-united-states-2001-2009/">without rail or bus networks</a>.</p>
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<p>As a mode of public transport, a bikesharing system would require public subsidy to support capital investment. The reality, however, is that public funding is not always available, which means many town councils and city authorities have left funding to the operators and equipment suppliers.</p>
<p>In some cases, it may be possible that a bikesharing system could be supported entirely through private sponsorship and user fees. To date, very few programs have managed that, with few models generating sufficient income to be profitable across the service area. New York City’s <a href="http://citibikenyc.com/">Citi Bike</a>, North America’s largest bikesharing system that launched in Summer 2013, has not turned a profit despite <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/us-news-blog/2012/may/07/new-york-bike-share-scheme-sponsor">sponsorship of US$46m</a> from Citibank and MasterCard and a turnover of millions of dollars in fees. But more time is needed to better understand its economic viability, since the system has only been in operation about seven months.</p>
<p>The sponsorship-based bikesharing model still remains relatively unproven, but several other cities in the US have followed suit – largely due to dwindling city transportation budgets. Those cities include Portland, Oregon; Atlanta, Georgia; Providence, Rhode Island; and Orlando and Tampa, Florida – all expected to launch a service this year.</p>
<p><a href="https://kansascity.bcycle.com/">Kansas City B-cycle</a>, owned and operated by a not-for-profit company, recently turned to the internet for funding. The organisation used a <a href="http://kcbcycle.neighbor.ly/">crowdsourced funding page</a> to raise cash to purchase more equipment to expand the system. And while a similar attempt last year fell short of its goal, the current round has managed to raise more than US$300,000.</p>
<p>In Paris, the renowned <a href="http://en.velib.paris.fr/">Vélib’ system</a> is powered by an advertising model. Funding for the service comes from the media giant <a href="http://www.jcdecaux.com/en">JC Decaux</a>, which in exchange is awarded advertising rights to all the city’s bus shelters. As the name suggests, the London <a href="http://www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/cycling/14808.aspx">Barclays Cycle Hire</a> was funded through sponsorship from the bank, but its departure leaves the system’s future in question after the current contract expires in 2015. Outside of Paris and London, most European cities fund their bikesharing programs through public subsidy.</p>
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<p>On the other side of the world, bikesharing programs in Asia – and in China in particular – have been quietly outpacing the rest of the world. Such systems, also popular in Japan and South Korea, rely almost entirely on public subsidy. In China, all of the nation’s 164 schemes and estimated fleet of 358,000 bikes are publicly owned. The <a href="http://www.earth-policy.org/data_highlights/2013/highlights40">world’s largest schemes</a>, in Wuhan in central China and Hangzou on the east coast, have around 90,000 and 70,000 bikes, respectively (compared to 20,000 in Paris).</p>
<p>In Taiwan, the country’s premier recently encouraged cities to pursue bikesharing programs, but he cautioned that they could not all expect to enjoy government subsidy. And in other cities, like <a href="http://cleanairinitiative.org/portal/node/12100">Pasig City</a> in the Philippines, the Asian Development Bank has helped fund the country’s first bikesharing system, <a href="http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/302942/adb-unveils-tutubi-bicycle-project">Tutubi</a> (“dragonfly”).</p>
<p>The economic viability of bikesharing programs is a question of circumstance and intent. A business model proven to work in Miami Beach or New York may not work in Minneapolis or Salt Lake City. Regardless of circumstance, if a city intends to create a bikesharing service that will add another layer to their public transport system for all to use, it will probably require some level of public subsidy. Programs that are entirely privately funded tend to deploy equipment in affluent neighbourhoods and tourist destinations where they will see plenty of use, but they may also exclude low-income parts of town.</p>
<p>Having said that, any financial stake a local government authority has in a system through provision of public subsidy can also provide a greater say over where bikes and stations are set up, pricing levels, and how to most effectively integrate the bikes into existing public transportation networks to foster the public good.</p></small><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/22981/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Susan Shaheen receives funding from the Mineta Transportation Institute, which is a University Transportation Center (funded by the US Department of Transportation and Caltrans) to conduct research on public bikesharing.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Christensen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In countries across the world, what can only be described as a bikesharing boom is taking place, with systems operating in 686 towns and cities worldwide, from Aspen, Colorado to Zhuzhou, China. Despite…Matthew Christensen, Survey Researcher, University of California, BerkeleySusan Shaheen, Adjunct Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Co-Director, Transportation Sustainability Research Center, University of California, BerkeleyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.