The Phenomenal Success of Capital Bikeshare

Anonymous

Nice!!

http://twitter.com/vabike VA Bicycling Fed.

DC is setting a great example!

Bike share systems are especially nice for visitors. Check out the articles from Frank Peters, a bike advocate from southern California, about Boston's bike share, and riding Boston's bike share.

http://www.greenidea.eu Green_Idea_Factory

Everyone shown is positive and I believe them, but normally a "...phenomenal success...". In 2010 there were over 340 million trips on D.C. Metro (rail and bus). Towards the end the guy mentions the number of members without saying how many trips were made, and also "about 40,000" day users who are not members. So you can see a bit about how this compares to collective PT use but not to private automobile use, or to walking (and one guy has perhaps apparently made the shift from walking to cycling which is nice but neutral as far as I am concerned.)

Perhaps the best literal quantification is the guy who claims to have lost 25 pounds. Great for him, but how representative is he?

Also - in the related area of demographics - we see no black people using the system. About 50% of D.C. residents are black.

It's also very nice to have the flashing warning about sidewalk-riding, but why nothing about Capital Bikeshare's helmet compulsion policy?

Clarence, I really like all the work that you do, but if the title for this was "People are excited about Capital Bikeshare" or similar, it would be accurate, though quantification would still be very helpful. Continual cheerleading is popular but it is not the best form of education, and as cities move forward (or not) with bike share and other intended improvements in sustainable mobility, a bit of salt along with the sweetness is needed. It helps with perspective.

Finally, it's nice for people with smart phones that there is a smart phone app. to tell people when docks are empty or full -- this is of course the bane of these so-called "3rd generation" systems, one of which may be coming to NYC sometime soon...

Clarence Eckerson

My Green Friend,

As with all our videos, there is just so much you can cover in 3 to 4 minutes of a video. I wouldn't even begin to call our video comprehensive, and this is why we provide lots of linkage when we can in every Streetfilm we do.

Many people frequently why we don't do this or don't talk about that or why we focused on this or that aspect. All of them might be right with their questions/queries but people also aren't going to watch a film on one bike share that is 20 minutes long. Trust me. We are trying to provide a nice current snapshot of what is going on. Search for any news story on bike share done on Captial Bikeshare and you'll find a miniscule amount of the information.

Of course the comments section is meant to be a place where people like yourself provide comments and linkages to aspects you want to talk about. Thank you. That's just great. Discuss. Do research. Just as our video last year talking about Donald Appleyard's work focused on maybe 2% of what he did, many Streetfilms are just a jumping off point for one subject.

And again, we have many Streetfilms lovers who are both very pro-helmet policies and many who are very angry about any kind of helmet regulation. As I have pointed out before, I'll leave that for others to discuss. We are not taking a position either way and if you look at the video we shot over the parts of 2 days, we show both users because that is what we captured over that time period.

http://www.greenidea.eu Green_Idea_Factory

Clarence, adding info - if just some text as segues over B-roll - about those statistics would have added much less than a minute.

Also, you were not taking a position about sidewalk-riding and I was not asking you to take one on helmets.

I also don't compare Streetfilms to typical corporate news outlets - and a formal problem with them is an addiction to showing everything as fast as possible.

http://walkbikejersey.blogspot.com/ Andy B from Jersey

Helmets. Shmelmets!

When I drive my car for transportation, I don't wear a helmet. If I were to drive my car as fast as possible on a track, I'd wear a helmet.

When I cruise to the deli on my 3-speed, I don't wear a helmet. When I ride my road or mountain bike as fast I possibly can, I wear my helmet

http://walkbikejersey.blogspot.com/ Andy B from Jersey

Also, knowing total number of trips per day, month or year would have been a great stat to put out there so it could be compared to other forms of transport. Number of users doesn't really tell us all that much.

http://walkbikejersey.blogspot.com/ Andy B from Jersey

Ughh! Should have said this before.

Great job Clarence!

Paul Bikehike

That's a nice one bike. And appreciating for Capital bikers too.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=538974687 Morten Lange

Nice film !
I think it captures many interesting and valid points, especially to the "outsider", or someone needing a nudge to have a closer look at bikesahring systems and opportunities.

Anonymous

This film aside, I actually think the tendency for environmentalists to fixate on statistics and wonky rational arguments is a bit counterproductive in the big picture. Anecdotal evidence, "relate-able" narratives, and aspirational branding are much more powerful ways to persuade people on a mass scale. People are concerned with their own interests first, and those of the community second, so it is more effective to frame things in those terms. Progressives need to look at how corporations and the right are so effective at selling ideas that are total nonsense, and borrow some pages from their book to sell things that do make sense. I was literally shouted out of a MoveOn meeting for saying that a few years back, but as someone who works in advertising I know it is true.

http://www.greenidea.eu Green_Idea_Factory

@station44025 - You are right, but as tellers of truth - which is a notch above storytellers (advertising biz) - we need to back up the emotion with some facts, in order to strengthen it. No wonk or predominance or even large proportion of stats., certainly, just some straightforward facts. Back to the film: If the goal of Capitalbikeshare was indeed just to get people excited and increase numbers of cycling then perhaps they are successful, but once you start using numbers you need to put them in context.

Eric McClure

Sweet. Can't wait for NYC bike share.

http://www.facebook.com/maggieclarke Maggie Clarke

I used the Bixi bikes in Montreal last week. I felt like a Montrealer. I liked using a credit card. The bikes were geared low (good for the hills) but the first one I took out had Horrible squealing on the brakes... it's important that the bikes get serviced frequently

Andrew

We have bike share in Dublin Ire and it has being a insane success 55k members with over 2 million hires in under two years on 450 bikes. Cycling is the easiest way to do short journeys and most journeys are short. Plus with a sit upright type of bike it's a pleasure

JYW

They forgot to mention how frequently stations are full and/or empty. Its more of a lottery system.

Jonathan Gordon

Once again, you hit it out of the park Clarence! I think you covered a lot of the bases and now I really want to try bikeshare some time.

Martin

I am inclined to agree with Green Idea Factory's comments that the title "phenomenal success" should be tempered. Yes, bike sharing is the buzz. Everyone in Charlotte NC is hyped up to get it, especially by next year's DNC convention here. But fools can rush in where wise men fear to tread. Yes, upper end bike sharing at the level of cost and sophistication of D.C. or Paris or Montreal where the tourists and visiting businesspeople abound, where urban gentrification is taken for granted, where Metro subway lines crisscross, where street systems are wide and gridlike, where density is high, yes, these a reasonable criteria for success.

But second tier American cities, especially in the Midwest or Southeast might call for more prudence or else face some pretty embarrassing consequences.

Martin Zimmerman
Charlotte Area Bicycle Alliance

Ben from Bed Stuy

I recently visited DC and I got a 24 hour membership. What a joy! I might have just hung around the house watching TV for a couple of hours. Instead, I used my bikeshare membership to tool around town, and I saw so much of DC (the Capitol Building, the Mall, Downtown, Whitehouse, etc. etc.) in not much time.

Here in NYC various vendors (like Bike N' Roll and many many bike shops) have seen for years how tourists like to bike here in NYC. I can't wait to have thousands of daily bikeshare users from all over the world enjoying our system.

Plus, I hope that the NYC system is friendly for a visitor (with a daily membership) as well as for an annual visitor.

I think when more bikes are on the streets, the lanes fill up, and the will to further build out the cycling network grows steadily.

Great film Clarence!

Rustik

Amazing! I want a system like that in Guadalajara, México!
Keep showing and changing this world.!

Rustik

http://twitter.com/accav Atlantic Creative

This is a great program - they seem to have satisfied all objections that people have to using bikes in DC. Will definitely grab one the next time I'm there.

Dmfeelings

so why aren't there more black people in this video?

http://heartworms.net/ Heartworms

Nice, thank you very much

Tao

You made a great film. I wouldn't have watched it if it was over 10 minutes. Throwing text on a video turns it into a lecture, which is not what i want to see; we have the talking heads to deliver some information.

susan

I would like to see a video done in San Francisco

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