KC Bike share

[KCPowercat]

How long did you have them out? After 30 minutes its $2 per bike per 30 minutes.

[earthling]

While maybe there was an overcharge.... I was checking in a bike in City Market last weekend and a couple groups of people were looking at the station, saying $7 for the whole day is a great deal. It seems many think you get the whole day for $7 with one checkout. I had to explain the 30 minute limit and it at first turned some off, but then they understood that they get to use it all day long as long as checking in every 30min in any station around downtown. It took some explaining that is probably not clear when quickly looking at the rates. Not that that was Grid's issue.

[KCPowercat]

Man I don't know, that sticker is pretty clear showing more than a half hour is a charge....obviously there is some learning curve for people though.

[longviewmo]

Reading some of the comments elsewhere, it seems like people think they have to bring it back within 30 minutes. I guess there's some learning curve there too, or complaining about that is cheaper than spending $2.

[KCPowercat]

Reading some of the comments elsewhere, it seems like people think they have to bring it back within 30 minutes. I guess there's some learning curve there too, or complaining about that is cheaper than spending $2.

They do if they don't want to be charged $2...that said, you can check in and check back out from the same station....and not be charged.

[GRID]

How long did you have them out? After 30 minutes its $2 per bike per 30 minutes.

We went ahead and did the 24 hour deal from the start so we wouldn't have to worry about how long we were out. Should have charged us $7 twice. Not sure why it came up with two charges of 7 and two charges of 14.

[GRID]

While maybe there was an overcharge.... I was checking in a bike in City Market last weekend and a couple groups of people were looking at the station, saying $7 for the whole day is a great deal. It seems many think you get the whole day for $7 with one checkout. I had to explain the 30 minute limit and it at first turned some off, but then they understood that they get to use it all day long as long as checking in every 30min in any station around downtown. It took some explaining that is probably not clear when quickly looking at the rates. Not that that was Grid's issue.

OH, I didn't know we had to check in every 30 minutes. That's kinda goofy. I'm pretty good with this kind of stuff and I totally missed that detail. I can see where this would be an issue.

[KCPowercat]

While maybe there was an overcharge.... I was checking in a bike in City Market last weekend and a couple groups of people were looking at the station, saying $7 for the whole day is a great deal. It seems many think you get the whole day for $7 with one checkout. I had to explain the 30 minute limit and it at first turned some off, but then they understood that they get to use it all day long as long as checking in every 30min in any station around downtown. It took some explaining that is probably not clear when quickly looking at the rates. Not that that was Grid's issue.

OH, I didn't know we had to check in every 30 minutes. That's kinda goofy. I'm pretty good with this kind of stuff and I totally missed that detail. I can see where this would be an issue.

Every bike share I've ever seen works this way, including DC. It doesn't function as a recreation bike that is yours for the day. It will actually text you and tell you this if you let it text you when you signed up.

http://www.capitalbikeshare.com/pricing

[GRID]

While maybe there was an overcharge.... I was checking in a bike in City Market last weekend and a couple groups of people were looking at the station, saying $7 for the whole day is a great deal. It seems many think you get the whole day for $7 with one checkout. I had to explain the 30 minute limit and it at first turned some off, but then they understood that they get to use it all day long as long as checking in every 30min in any station around downtown. It took some explaining that is probably not clear when quickly looking at the rates. Not that that was Grid's issue.

OH, I didn't know we had to check in every 30 minutes. That's kinda goofy. I'm pretty good with this kind of stuff and I totally missed that detail. I can see where this would be an issue.

Every bike share I've ever seen works this way, including DC. It doesn't function as a recreation bike that is yours for the day. It will actually text you and tell you this if you let it text you when you signed up.

http://www.capitalbikeshare.com/pricing

I might call them and see if they will refund some of it, but no big deal. I'll take it as a learning experience. It's a nice system and like everything new, there is a learning curve. I need to slow down sometimes and read shit I guess. I have never rented the bikes in DC. I have my own.

[KCPowercat]

Just saying, it's not "goofy", it's how all these systems work.

Come on, call and see if they will refund some???? Consider it a donation to the system of a city you used to call home. Feel free to chip in more for this and the street car at neighbor.ly as well

[GRID]

Just saying, it's not "goofy", it's how all these systems work.

Come on, call and see if they will refund some???? Consider it a donation to the system of a city you used to call home. Feel free to chip in more for this and the street car at neighbor.ly as well

Yea, it's better than chipping in via speed camera and red light camera tickets. That's how DC gets their money from tourists that don't know there are 5000 ticket cameras across the city till they get home.

[dangerboy]

Hey guys here are some updates/explanations...

1. Pricing - It's two-tiered. First you buy an access pass, and then you pay usage charges based on the amount of time the bike is checked out. The first 30 minutes of each checkout is free. The pricing structure is designed to encourage short point-to-point trips.You can keep the bike all day if you want, and we have capped the usage charges at $40 per day, which is very competitive with a traditional day-long bike rental.

In general, the pricing structure is very consistent with other bike share systems around the world. We are following what has developed into the industry standard. Our pricing graphic and language is modeled after Denver B-cycle, which we think has done the best job of explaining what is admittedly a complicated setup.

I encourage Grid and anyone else with questions or concerns to call us at 816-205-7056. We do offer adjustments to charges for people who were genuinely confused.

2.Neighbor.ly - More press should be coming soon. It started with a soft launch and will soon move into a more public phase.

3. Bike facilities - The city made a big commitment to compliment bike share with new bike facilities. There is a new plan for several miles of bike lanes Downtown. The City recently applied for federal funding, and PIAC is being asked to contribute a substantial local match. Next the Downtown community will need to show strong support against anticipated resistance to the removal of travel lanes and on-street parking that will be required to retrofit streets with bike lanes.

4. Hills. Yep, KC is the hilliest place with bike share. Though San Francisco is coming next year. We'd love to upgrade to seven speed bikes, but that will require more money.

5. Fundraising - we are a nonprofit and don't yet have any public funding. Advertising, corporate sponsorship, and user fees are the revenue model. Unfortunately the local business community has been *very* slow and hesitant to embrace something new. So right now we have no timetable for adding stations Downtown or expanding to other neighborhoods.

You can help by backing us on Neighbor.ly, asking City Council members to support us, asking your employers to advertise or sponsor, etc.

[GRID]

thanks for the info dangerboy. I see these systems all over the place but typically have my own bike. KC has a great starter system. Although I think getting bikes with more gears may be a higher priority than even expanding it as hilly as downtown KC is.

[chingon]

3. Bike facilities - The city made a big commitment to compliment bike share with new bike facilities. There is a new plan for several miles of bike lanes Downtown. The City recently applied for federal funding, and PIAC is being asked to contribute a substantial local match. Next the Downtown community will need to show strong support against anticipated resistance to the removal of travel lanes and on-street parking that will be required to retrofit streets with bike lanes.

I will probably not use the bike share very often (maybe 2/year) but I will kick into the neighborl.y just to support this aspect of the plan.

[coreyo]

I've been seeing quite a few families downtown using the bikes. Pretty neat to see 6 people all jumping on at once.

[DaveKCMO]

free month just expired, so i upgraded to annual. PLEASE DO IT.

[KCPowercat]

I asked bikeshare via twitter with no reply...

Do you think they would have a problem with users locking their helmets to the posts holding up the ads at the end of each station? I want to use a helmet but I really am annoyed carrying it around with me to dinner, drinks, etc. before taking my return trip.

[flyingember]

I asked bikeshare via twitter with no reply...

Do you think they would have a problem with users locking their helmets to the posts holding up the ads at the end of each station? I want to use a helmet but I really am annoyed carrying it around with me to dinner, drinks, etc. before taking my return trip.

I wouldn't. there's too many petty thieves out there.

a premium locker would be an interesting add on to a station. like pay a little extra and your swipe card opens a locker at each station.
and to keep them from being permanent lockers, one swipe opens for use, the next opens to retrieve and you must checkout a bike from a new station to get a locker at that station again

add-ons are where profit is.

[KCPowercat]

I'd be willing to risk my 20 buck helmet. They have locks that would make it simple to lock a helmet around a post.

[taxi]

Helmets are not a popular item among thieves, as there is not much of a market for a used helmet and pawn shops will not take them. At least the pawn shop wouldn't take mine. Maybe it was too smelly.