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New York has a rewards system for helping rebalance stations. Seems like it could be a good for Toronto but needs to be implemented properly, as unfortunately it can be abused by artificially creating the problem of a bunch of fully empty and completely full stations by moving bikes around, then solving that artificial problem and getting paid for that 🤣:


I saw that piece.

I think it tells a useful tale, the basic idea is good, but you need to cap the amount someone can earn within a set period, and you need to limit the number of identical movements by the same cyclist in a 3-hour window.

At the end, you really need sufficient staffing, with 'paid' volunteers being the proverbial cherry on the Sundae that allow for that much better service.
 
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I saw that piece.

I think it tells a useful tale, the basic idea is good, but you need to cap the amount someone can earn within a set period, and you need to limit the number of identical movements by the same cyclist in a 3-hour window.

At the end, you really need sufficient staffing, with 'paid' volunteers being the proverbial cherry on the Sundae that allow for that much better service.
Easy to mitigate I think.

Some potential measures:
  • Cap payouts per user
  • Don't offer payouts (rewards can be credit toward ebike ride minutes or discount on membership).
  • Don't offer 3x rewards for moving multiple bikes in a day
  • Don't allow more than 1 compensated repositioning trip in a certain time period (several hours)

Whenever you design any kind of scheme, you need to think about how users will break it. In this case, the intent is to reward incidental repositioning, not to make repositioning bikes a full-time gig.
 
From reddit: top stations in May and June only

1727401928357.png

1727401940740.png
 
From reddit: top stations in May and June only

I wonder why the docks at York U aren't there..............remember when I showed a week or so back that there were no bikes available on/near campus.......lets see if things have improved:

1727881779120.png


Really stretching this out to 28 stations.....clearly Bathurst is not local to York U, but I wanted to show the extent of the issue.

So 28 stations...........how many with bikes? 9

How many with more than 1 bike? 2

I will report that I checked twice since my previous post, and the results really haven't changed, Every time I've checked York U has zero bikes.
 
Hey UT, are any of you filing complaints with Bikeshare over the above?

I can't do all the heavy lifting myself.

I ask, because I see the York U area still has next to no bikes this morning............almost 2 weeks after I first made that observation.
 
Hi all, first time commenter on this thread. Is there any chance that BikeShare would expand the number of docks at well-used areas, as well as doing rebalancing of bikes more often/incentivizing biking to empty docks? I have started using BikeShare way more often, and I have noticed that:

a) in the morning, there are no bikes at say King/Charlotte, but completely full docks at King/Yonge.
b) in the afternoon, there are empty docks at King/Yonge, then full docks at King/Charlotte, necessitating biking around to be able to dock your bike.

I feel like these are "good" problems to have in that it means that the demand is there, but I do wonder what can be done to fix this, and what BikeShare is planning to do as their ridership base expands.
 
The Toronto Parking Authority Agenda for their next meeting is now out.

On said agenda is an item to pre-approve equipment purchase (bikes, docks and chargers) for the 2025 expansion.


As was said last year (but not achieved) the intent is to have all the equipment in place by the beginning of summer 2025.

I sincerely wish them well on that, as it would make immense sense and help boost ridership substantially.

1732286439837.png


Assuming they have all the equipment on hand to fulfill this year's promise to get to 860 docks (we're currently at 853) this will see us with 1, 040 docks by summer 2025.

This exceeds the target from the initial expansion plan by 40, which will be funded by developer obligations.
 
The Toronto Parking Authority Agenda for their next meeting is now out.

On said agenda is an item to pre-approve equipment purchase (bikes, docks and chargers) for the 2025 expansion.


As was said last year (but not achieved) the intent is to have all the equipment in place by the beginning of summer 2025.

I sincerely wish them well on that, as it would make immense sense and help boost ridership substantially.

View attachment 614054

Assuming they have all the equipment on hand to fulfill this year's promise to get to 860 docks (we're currently at 853) this will see us with 1, 040 docks by summer 2025.

This exceeds the target from the initial expansion plan by 40, which will be funded by developer obligations.

I’d love for them to look into newer models too! Stations that can charge ebikes? Bikes with larger basket that can at least fit a small grocery haul or a gym bag? Bikes with one more gear?
 
I’d love for them to look into newer models too! Stations that can charge ebikes? Bikes with larger basket that can at least fit a small grocery haul or a gym bag? Bikes with one more gear?

Put in for that!

Write to Justin, or to the Mayor.

Get it on the radar!

No harm in asking.

****

Also of note, Bikeshare will produce a new Expansion Plan this year for the period from 2025-2027/8.

They aren't asking for input yet, but get the idea out of front and at least it may appear in a survey of some kind.
 

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