Philly's bike share program - "Ride Indego" - is launching. Thoughts? (Philadelphia: wedding, pricing)

[Mimidae]

It's officially starting Thursday April 23rd, with 60 stations. More stations are expected to be added after the first year of operations. Here's the website with map, FAQs, pricing: Ride Indego - Philadelphia Bike Share

A while back a lot of people here said a bike share wouldn't work in Philly because of the bike theft problem. Aside from the usual Philly-bashers, what do you guys think now - will Ride Indego work?

Pricing is a little higher than I thought it'd be. If just paying per use, it's $4/half hour. With a yearly membership for $10, it's $4/hour (minimum). You can also get a monthly membership, $15 a month, and you get unlimited free trips up to an hour at a time. After the first hour it's $4/hour.

I guess it takes a lot of funds to get something this big off the ground, but I was hoping this would be a cheaper alternative to public transportation. The yearly pass definitely seems like the way to go if you'll use it more than once or twice.

Other thoughts: the current crop of Philly bicyclists are pretty street savvy, but what happens when people who aren't so sure of themselves on city streets set off on these bikes? Will Philly drivers be patient with them?

Also, what happens if your intended docking station is full of bikes already, or you get to a station and there are no bikes to take out? I've never used a bike share program in another city, but for those who have - is this ever an issue?

Just to be clear, I'm not being a naysayer - I think this is a fantastic thing for Philly, all around. I'm sure there will be many kinks to work out at first. But it will be interesting to see how well this takes.

[kidphilly]

supposedly there is some app (have not been able to locate) that gives near real time updates on bike availability and open slots

[kidphilly]

on their lack of savvyness I think may take some time but will adopt - plus it appears their bikes will stick out maybe we all need to be on the look out for these folks. On the whole I think is very good thing - may get some tourists into areas they may have otherwise not traveled to. Think some places could benefit advertising this aspect

[rotodome]

It's worked out pretty well in NYC (a place where bike thefts are endemic!). Once people settle down & get used to it, no one will worry about thievery anymore.
Idiot tourists on bikes are the most annoying thing.

One thing is that the program ended up costing a lot more than was projected, and the budget had to be increased after the first couple of years. Some were kinda pissed that the thing was pitched as something that would cost the city/taxpayers nothing, and is ending up looking to cost the city 10's of millions of dollars.
But...people use and like it. It's a success. I think it will work out really well in Philly too.

In NY they ended up adjusting the number of bikes/docks at areas that regularly ran out of bikes/spots once the program ran for a while and it became clear what those spots are.

[NatasNJ]

I welcome it. I hope it forces some enforcement of people parking and stopping and driving in dedicated bike lanes (like on Spruce and Pine). I wish the exception for Church parking was not allowed because it kills all bike lanes on Sunday.

I believe the company has people that will get alerts when a station becomes empty/full and will move bikes around as needed to keep things fairly balanced. As patterns emerge they should get better at that.

[Mimidae]

Ah, there's an app. That makes sense. I also am looking forward to them adding more stations a little further west. 47th/48th and Baltimore would be a great spot, maybe where that city parking lot is. A ton of people around there would take advantage of it.

It's pretty exciting that Philly is getting something that Europe has had for years, and that Chicago and NYC already have. Makes it feel like Philly is that much more at the forefront. I hope it takes off.

[ForYourLungsOnly]

Awesome. Pittsburgh is supposedly launching one soon too. Let's hope they both do well. I can say I love using Divvy in Chicago. It has become an excellent transit option and has also been successful in the tourist/leisure front. It has been wildly successful and 175 new stations are planned by Summer.

I think this will be great in Philly. Will mapping/the app be comparable to Divvy? Any prototype examples?

https://www.divvybikes.com/stations

[kidphilly]

Originally Posted by ForYourLungsOnly

Awesome. Pittsburgh is supposedly launching one soon too. Let's hope they both do well. I can say I love using Divvy in Chicago. It has become an excellent transit option and has also been successful in the tourist/leisure front. It has been wildly successful and 175 new stations are planned by Summer.

I think this will be great in Philly. Will mapping/the app be comparable to Divvy? Any prototype examples?

https://www.divvybikes.com/stations

Have yet to see the app or figure out to get it (though looked a few days ago so maybe that has changed), which concerns me since it launches this week.

The website looks comparable

the app and site are supposed to identify locations and availability for both bikes and open slots real (nearly) time

Ride Indego - Philadelphia Bike Share

[ForYourLungsOnly]

Originally Posted by kidphilly

Have yet to see the app or figure out to get it (though looked a few days ago so maybe that has changed), which concerns me since it launches this week.

The website looks comparable

the app and site are supposed to identify locations and availability for both bikes and open slots real (nearly) time

Ride Indego - Philadelphia Bike Share

Yea, the real time app sounds comparable to divvys app. Hopefully it'll be up and running soon. I'm heading your way to attend a wedding in May

[mancat100]

I like the idea overall. At the risk of sounding like a suburbanite, though, it's really annoying that street parking is being removed to make room for the racks. They eliminated two street spots on Market just west of 2nd. The thing that puzzles me is there is a fairly long section of sidewalk just a few steps away that is extra wide and juts out into the same space as the parking lane. The rack could have been put there, saving the parking spots, and we'd have both. I just don't get the lack of planning in this case.