Photo by Brian Addison
Cycle Hop, the organization that has been the operator of Long Beach’s massively successful bike share, will no longer be overseeing the program.
In an email sent to users, Cycle Hop stated:
“We are writing to inform you of some changes to the program. Moving forward CycleHop will no longer operate Long Beach Bike Share, as the City of Long Beach decided on another direction. Beginning today the City of Long Beach assumed the role of owner/operator of the system, and as such CycleHop is no longer responsible for the program or any associated liability, including any obligations under the now terminated Long Beach Bike Share Rental Agreement & Waiver.”
The program has been one of the more successful bike share programs in the state: nearly 17,000 people have signed up to use the bikes since its launch in March of 2016 according to Cycle Hop, having generated some 75,000 trips across 150,000+ miles.
While the City has not released a formal response, I’m awaiting a response from the City asking them how they will handle operations or if they plan on releasing a RFP in search for another operator.
6 Comments
“Long Beach’s massively successful bike share program.” How is this massively successful? We are a city of over 470,000 people and 17,000 signed up? Sometime writers just throw numbers out there and hope their readers can’t do math.
That’s 17,000 people who decided to take over 75,000 trips on a bike instead of a car across 150,000+ miles. Which means that those cyclists saved nearly 8 tons of CO2 emissions (should they be driving medium-sized cars—I did an average for the sake of conversation).
Yes, that is a massive success.
Sometimes, commenters just want to be trolls and hope the author doesn’t call them out.
You have absolutely no way of knowing if the 75,000, 2 mile rides would have even been taken in a car. It is very likely the 2 mile trips would have not happened at all, or that the person would have walked, or taken a bus if they did take the trip. This is not a “massively successful” program. Making things up does not make it so. Holding journalists accountable is trolling?
First off, most people who walk or take the bus own a bike already because they depend on that for transportation; data shows that people who sign up for bike share are largely car owners. Either way, those trips weren’t done in a car—and that’s good.
What you’re not considering in population are several things: those who can’t ride bikes (seniors, disabled folks, extreme youth), those unable to afford bike share, those who are prohibited from using bike share (don’t have a phone or are too young to sign up), those who already own bikes, and those who just don’t want to bike.
Biking accounts for a very, very small percentage of the way most Long Beachers travel. Considering we got 17,000 people to sign up, that’s impressive. If you disagree, fine—but that number is not small.
I’m confused, does Patricia actually expect upwards of 100,000 people to sign up for the program? The fact that you don’t consider 17,000 people taking action to help mitigate fuel emissions and create a more active lifestyle for themselves an impressive feat is erroneous. Typical cynic masquerading as a realist.
Nice article Brian. Thanks for the info.
“Sometime, commenters Just want to be trolls…” I literally lol’d. I agree with Brian all the way.