Want to know what the City is up to? Well, sometimes it’s best to look at what the city is trying to buy. A couple weeks ago, the city of Los Angeles put this RFI (Request for Interest) up on their Business Assistance Virtual Network – basically, the site they post open business contracting opportunities: LINK
Here is the description: PUBLIC BICYCLE-SHARING PROGRAM FOR LOS ANGELES
“The City of Los Angeles, Department of Transportation is soliciting Letters of Interest from bicycle vendors/manufacturers, public transportation contractors, advertising companies, and other entities interested in developing, installing, operating, and maintaining a bicycle sharing program for the City of Los Angeles.”
I look forward to seeing their proposed locations, and seeing the project move forward.
What’s with the city of Los Angeles recycling failed socialist ideas from Europe? Paris tried implemented a similar program 18 months ago. The results?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7881079.stm
- “Over half the original fleet of 15,000 specially made bicycles have disappeared, presumed stolen.”
- “The company which runs the scheme, JCDecaux, says it can no longer afford to operate the city-wide network.”
- “Hung from lamp posts, dumped in the River Seine, torched and broken into pieces, maintaining the network is proving expensive. Some have turned up in eastern Europe and Africa, according to press reports.”
- “Since the scheme’s launch, nearly all the original bicycles have been replaced at a cost of 400 euros ($519, £351) each.”
Money quote:
“Remi Pheulpin, JCDecaux’s director general, says the current contract is unsustainable. ‘It’s simple. All the receipts go to the city. All the expenses are ours,’ he said.
The costs, he said, were ‘so high that a private business cannot handle it alone, espcially (sic) as it’s a problem of public order. If we want the velib set-up to keep going, we’ll have to change the business model,’ he told Le Parisien newspaper.
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True, a shared bicycle system has apparently worked better in Lyon, France. However, considering how City Hall works, I would be shocked if this program became anything other than another strain on the city budget with minimal benefit to the environment or the people of the great city of Los Angeles.
Ughh. The next person who talks about “failed socialist ideas” in reference to something completely benign and not really that socialist needs to be sent to a reeducation camp. Or better yet purged.
Bike sharing has worked in Portland for decades.
Well, that’s a systemic problem they are having. Based on my understanding on how the system works, there is no reason why it shouldn’t be financially sustainable. Basically, not only does the user you pay per use, but you also give a credit card number that they hold onto if the bike isn’t returned (advertising revenue aside)… If you don’t return your bike (or you steal it, or throw it into the river), they bill your credit card 150 euros. Financially, it should be set up so the managing company would be HAPPY if someone stole one of the bikes, because they earn a profit on each bike replaced.
As for the system in Paris, well, I’m not sure how they structured their business model, but I will tell you that the system is unbelievably convenient, and really fun actually… for tourists and Parisians alike. I hope they move forward with a program here, but as you pointed out, I hope they learn from other’s mistakes.
Fantastic!
Andrew, actually, reports of Velib problems are overstated, and some of the dire quotes may be ploys by contractors to renegotiate more profitable terms:
http://www.streetsblog.org/2009/02/12/reports-of-velibs-demise-greatly-exaggerated/
I was in Paris last Fall and it’s clear the system is a STUNNING success. It revolutionized how I saw and got around the city and from what I’ve read it’s really, really popular with locals, too. I think it’s a fantastic program. Really, really can’t overstate how much I love it. (Best part? The billboard companies pay for it.)
The problem with US tests of similar systems thus far (like DC’s) has been they’ve been done on such a small scale they’re not usable. Paris launched with stations all around the city. DC launched with only a hodgepodge of stations. You need lots of them for it to be convenient and to work.
I agree with David Murphy’s post. It has to be a wide release in order to work. Also, since LoJacks can go into cars and RFIDs go onto products we buy at stores, why can’t something similar be developed and discreetly installed on the bikes to locate any that go missing?
As for the “socialist” agendas, isn’t it rather extremist to dismiss any potential solutions to problems simply because they are different than the traditional, failed policies? If our nation had been that narrow minded, we’d have never made it to the moon.
NEWSFLASH: We already have plenty of “socialist programs” in the U.S. and they have been quite beneficial to our populace. Since their inception, frogs haven’t fallen from the sky, the earth hasn’t turned to dust, and we’ve survived just fine.
A bike program won’t be the nail in the coffin of the U.S.A., but failing to act on our problems, continuing to follow the same tried and failed tactics, and putting blinders on just might sound the death knoll for us.
Los Angeles has HORRIBLE traffic. We need solutions that aren’t limited to widening highways. We need better public transit, more public transit, and more options such as bikeshare programs.
Good conversation here. While this idea is not entirely a socialist idea (I will cede that), the bottom line here is how much is this going to cost the taxpayers of the city of Los Angeles? If the cost is minimal then this could be a way to reduce the cost of transportation to users. There has to be a cost/benefit analysis for any city service.
Responses to some previous posts:
“you also give a credit card number that they hold onto if the bike isn’t returned”
- great solution, yet I wonder if this system was used in Paris and Lyon. I expect many users of bicycles may not have credit cards (undocumented immigrants — BTW I am a big proponent of increasing immigration).
“The next person who talks about “failed socialist ideas” in reference to something completely benign and not really that socialist needs to be sent to a reeducation camp. Or better yet purged.”
- Nice. Got to love ridiculous and absurd comments on the “Internets”. Government administration of goods and services instead of the private market is considered socialist. Regardless of the connotations in America of the word socialist — that is the reality of the definition.
AJ
- Wow, solid use of exaggerated nonsense and straw man arguments here. Look, their is a reason Europe consistently has higher unemployment rates and productivity rates than America — the private market is better than government bureaucrats at allocating resources. I trust the collective decisions of individuals in a free market far more than the individual “wisdom” of a bureaucrat.
In regards to our current economic malaise… the biggest cause was Greenspan — the Fed is government after all — lowering rates far below tools such as The Taylor Rule suggested — thus pumping in far too much money into the economy that resulted in speculation and massive asset bubbles.
Andrew, maybe you should quit while you’re behind. LOL
You quoted:
““Remi Pheulpin, JCDecaux’s director general, says the current contract is unsustainable. ‘It’s simple. All the receipts go to the city. All the expenses are ours,’ he said.”
It doesn’t sound like the taxpayers are the ones losing their investment in this, but potentially the private companies. So your concern about what the City of Los Angeles might lose on this venture seems baseless. It sounds like your concern lies solely with the profits of the private sector.
Here’s a little more info on the Velo system. It isn’t quite the disaster you seem to think.
“In Paris, borrowers use the Velib system about 75,000 times daily. The Barcelona system, Bicing, now boasts 25 million miles traveled on its 3,000 bikes. And in Lyon, France, a city of 2 million, residents have access to 20,000 bikes.”
It sounds like the Paris program is rather popular, as is the one in Barcelona. Lyon, as you mentioned, is a successful program.
“American programs, boosted by the popularity of the European systems, are coming close to launch with similar features: a swipe-card system connected to electronic bike racks, partnerships between local government and the private sector, and low rental costs.”
There are several payment options in place for the current systems and others being considered, including subscriptions. Even parking meters in many regions now take debit/credit cards, which many people have. The bikeshare system can probably adopt such a system too.
On to your other arguments…
While I agree that Greenspan was a moron, he certainly was hailed as a genius by those private interests you seem to think should be running everything. He helped them make a killing while helping set up the crushing economic blow from which our system is now collapsing. In fact, he got the job after years of “success” in the private sector.
You also stated, “the private market is better than government bureaucrats at allocating resources.” That’s hilarious! I hope you have heard of Blackwater and Halliburton. When the military took care of those services themselves, our military was better served and it cost us less because we actually got something for our tax dollars.
The bottom line is that there needs to be oversight and, when applicable, the “r” word – regulation. Programs such as the bikeshare one can work when properly researched, implemented, and managed.
BTW, the USPS is another of those quasi private organizations that is “independent within the government,” with private interests handling much of the services – and look what a mess that is. I’ve had two packages (of dozens I’ve sent in the last year) that actually made it to their destination without going missing, whereas the USPS pre 1992 (the year they got some corporate fatcat from the auto industry to run things like a private business) used to provide reliable service. These examples don’t speak well of your private sector argument.
By the way, the Fed is not “government only.” There are private interests involved. Actually, the Board of Governors includes former Wachovia and Morgan Stanley execs. In case you hadn’t heard, they were private companies that taxpayers have had to rescue with bailout funds because they were poorly managed and not properly regulated.
In fact, there are many who believe the private interests involved in the Fed have helped destroy our economy and pushed our system into a cycle of indebtedness from which we might never recover. But at least THEY have jobs and get bonuses, unlike millions of taxpayers. Good for them! LOL
As for your straw man comment, I guess when you cannot defend your views with facts, as I have above, it’s an easier cop-out to resort to name calling. But I’m content to be your scarecrow.
Finally, you made fun of someone who typed “internets” instead of “internet, which seems like an obvious and simple typo to make, but a petty way to insult the respondent – another a weak attempt at a defense.
So, in the sense of fair play, I will point out that you made a grammatical error in your latest post. It’s not “their is a reason Europe…” It’s “there is a reason Europe…”
Now I made a typo and saw it just as I hit “submit.”
“- another a weak attempt at a defense. ”
That’s what you get when you reply in the wee hours of the morning instead of sleeping. LOL
Andrew,
This is such a great idea!.
Bike sharing programs work. Your membership is linked to a Credit Card – This can’t be disputed (regardless of your argument concerning immigration…lol). It is the business structure of a bike sharing program and means bikes are replaced at your own cost.
American’s throw the word “socialist” and “socialism” around like it is a contagisis virus. This is an idea born to prevent congestion and help the environment, it’s “political affiliations”….lol…. Shouldn’t really matter.
“FOX NEWS REPORTS BIKE SHARING PROGRAM LEADING TO “SOCIALIST MEDICINE”….lol.”
It is a creative idea, eco-friendly idea and should be implemented in every major city in the world.
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The DC bikeshare Program appears to be a great success. You see these bikes everywhere in the city and the bikeshare program is expanding into md and va. I bought a cheap yearly deal and love the flexibility of picking up ( or dropping off)) a bike as needed.