Capital Bikeshare turns 2 amid continued growth

Happy Birthday to Capital Bikeshare, the ubiquitous red bike that's becoming so emblamatic of DC, that it was used in an episode of NCIS.

The program has continued to grow in every measureable way. Despite fears that membership would drop once the Living Social members had to renew, long term membershiup is up nearly 40% from 18,000 last year to more than 18,000 today. Members took 183,000 trips (nearly double last year's total) and travelled more than 2 million miles (compared to 1 million last year).  The program should hit it's 3 millionth trip soon. (Update: Many of these numbers were wrong, thanks to a spreadsheet error but I've fixed them)

CaBi continues to do well financially too. Last spring they reported that they were making enough money to cover their operating expenses and were almost "operationally profitable." It's likely that by now they have, in fact, turned a profit on operations. And that's without tapping a very lucrative revenue stream - advertising. But DC, at least, has issued an invitation for bids to place ads on their stations, and that could bring in millions of additional dollars. Having sold nearly 200,000 daily memberships and 18,000 annual memberships that means total revenue of $2.75 million just on memberships alone, compared to $1.5 million last year. And if overage fees are comparable to last year, that would add another $1.5 million to the total. If not there yet, the system is on the cusp of total self-sufficiency. Not that subsidizing it is bad. 

Much of the growth in revenue and membership is probably related to the growth of the system.  They've added 700+ bikes and 74 stations over the last year, expanding to Alexandria, the National Mall (despite concerns that it would "destroy the nature of what makes the National Mall an American institution") and along the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor. 26 other stations were expanded.  The system didn't expand quite as fast as maybe some people projected last year, in part because of TIGER grants that weren't won, but much of what was planned then is still being worked. Arlington is planning to expand the system to Arlington Cemetery, the Pentagon, Shirlington and Columbia Pike, and Montgomery County is planning to add 48 stations in the county in addition the Rockville stations that are a little behind schedule.  Prince George's County got a grant from Maryland to study CaBi and even Fairfax might get in on the program. 

With increased revenue from advertising, a good flow of state and local investment (and maybe a TIGER grant win finally) there is still a lot of room for Capital Bikeshare to grow, and with it the region becomes cleaner, less congested, healthier and safer.  Pretty good for broken down socialism. 

Comments

[MM]

Are the "miles traveled" by CaBi users calculated using the pre-measured distance between stations, assuming users ride in a direct path from the check-out station to the check-in station? Seems like a lot of people, daily users in particular, are probably taking either indirect routes or very circuitous routes, meaning the miles traveled is probably much higher than reported.

It's probably a relatively meaningless statistic compared to trip numbers and subscriber counts, but if they're saying "CaBi saved X pounds of CO2 or X gallons of gas" then it could make those numbers look even better.

[Martha]

Where is the birthday party like last year?

[jj]

CaBi appears to use straight-line distance. I find most of my rides are between 25-40% longer than CaBi estimates because I acatually have to follow the street grid and cannot magically bike through buildings.

[charlie]

A couple points:

1)EOTR?

2) Was the fear that Living Social members would not renew, or that people would just take advantage of the lower price (as I did).

3)I'd suggest system expansion might cut down on overage fees. When you looked at the breakdown before, it was clearly a lot of tourists using the bike for 2-3 hours. Does having more stations on the mall change that.

4) Despite the success, I'd like to see numbers that point to a real mode shift in bikeshare. Or reduced congestion. Or other improvements. I pointed you to a link by TomTom a while back that suggested traffic in DC was 20% better. IS that biking?

5) In terms of TIGER-type grants, we've proved proof of concept. Go big. From now we can focus on organic growth.

It would be nice if we had a "get out and detail you CABI" day because some of the bikes look like they need some love.

[washcycle]

MM, I think they use the shortest route, but not as the crow flies. It's true that people may go out of their way, but the whole point is to determine how long a trip they replaced.

[washcycle]

1. EOTR means East of the River.

2. I recall several people saying that membership would drop once the LS members had to renew.

3. I don't know. I've been crushed at work and haven't had time to interview DDOT on this.

4. Survey's show a mode shift. I doubt we could tease out the impact that bikesharing has had on traffic as there are just too many variables.

5. Some of the bikes are starting to show their age, and ride a little less smooth. I meant to mention that.

[Chris Eatough, BikeArlington Program Manager]

We calculate mileage based on straight line distance, so we are under calculating. We also count trips that start and stop at the same station as zero miles. Another under calculation. These are about 5% of all trips.
Anyone want to work on a more accurate calculation using the published trip data?
No we don't have GPS or mileage tickers on any CB bikes.

[charlie]

The point on EOTR it how underused it still is.

In terms of bikes, wasn't it a 3 year projected lifespan on them?

[washcycle]

How underused is it?

The Anacostia Metro had 212 starting trips in the 2nd quarter of 2012. That's more than 12th and L, NW; Washington Blvd & 7th St N; 20th and L St NW; Fairfax Drive and Glebe Road; 19th and K St, and the White House station.

Also, that isn't a point. It is (or is not) a fact. Just saying some words is not a point.

Cheese hat elephant.

See, that's meaningless. If you have a point then make it.

[IMGoph]

does charlie ever have a point, other than to be contrarian? seems to be all he does on every DC blog I see him on.