Rates for electric Bixi deterring users
Bixi hiked rates for its electric bikes this season, which is deterring many users.
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Kate
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j2 09:55 on 2021-04-18 Permalink
I had to use one to rush some comfort items to my partner at the hospital the other day to beat curfew and was happy for the convenience and the massive savings compared to a taxi. (I just realized I forgot my helmet, mandatory on the electric bikes)
This reminds me of when car2go stopped rolling over to automatic 24 hours after 90 minutes. It was a hell of a feature but obviously cost them money.
Ignoring joyriding, the people using the 45 minutes to commute would be paying +$400/year (assuming 200 working days, bidirectional use) on the old rate.
This would be $1800/year with the new rate. But I’m trying to think of how far out you’d need to be to do 45 minutes on especially an electric bike. Capable of averaging say 30kph (assist kicks out there), but of course traffic. That’s quite the commute and also more likely to require withdrawal for charging (whether on the newer stands or by an employer).
You _could_ switch to the non electric bike for part of the ride. It’s not impossible to find flat rides that long in Montreal but most likely there’s downhill in at least part of your ride in one direction. (The bike swapping delay probably applies when swapping between types, but shouldn’t)
j2 09:58 on 2021-04-18 Permalink
Oh and that BIXI ride saved me $15. I know because she ended up being freed and we took the taxi back. Downhill, alas, but there was no way I was putting her on a bike.
Joey 09:59 on 2021-04-18 Permalink
Pretty sure there aren’t even 200 working days in a Bixi season…
Meezly 10:16 on 2021-04-18 Permalink
Weren’t electric bixis a flat $1 extra on top of your regular membership? So they’ve changed how they charge to 10 cents/minute. So if you go over 10 minutes, then it starts getting more expensive.
There are noticeably more electric bixis this year, so I guess this is a way to recuperate their investment. On weekday mornings, I’ve seen stands where it’s all electrics left and no regular bixis. So it does look like the new rates are deterring users.
Also the more electrics out there, there fewer slots left for regular bixis. But it used to be a minor challenge to find an electric one, so I think it’s a fair trade-off.