Lyft Increases membership and e-bike prices in San José
Prices for bikeshare memberships and e-bikes are going up. For many of you, that statement is a big yawn. You don't use bikeshare because, well, you have a bike! Plus, bikeshare is only in and around Downtown San Jose. And even though the population of San José is larger than all of San Mateo County, many of you don’t live in San José, meaning, you just don’t see bikeshare in your neck of the woods. So why are we talking about this?
From e-scooters to bikesharing, micromobility solutions are the future of transportation in cities around the world. They help reduce vehicle emissions, improve health, reduce congestion and fuel consumption, and save us money. Given that around 60 percent of all trips in the United States are five miles or less and that 46 percent of automobile trips are three miles or less, there is undeniable potential for smaller-than-car transportation to enable more convenient and more flexible local mobility while creating greener, more connected and less congested cities.
For the past 8 years, the Bay Area has been testing out bikeshare, originally through a 100% publicly subsidized system. It's been a roller coaster of a ride with an ever changing industry. Remember Ofo? Ofo was just one of many examples of a private bikeshare company that rose fast and fell hard. There have been many.
Despite the bikeshare industry rollercoaster, we recognize bikeshare as an essential part of our transportation ecosystem, one that we must figure out how to make it work. That's why we at SVBC believe bikeshare should be viewed in the same way that we view public transit. In an ideal world, the best model would be to have a publicly owned and operated bike share system. Instead, it is owned and operated by a private company, Lyft. Sadly, Lyft has not yet figured out within the constraints of their agreement with the Metropolitan Transportation System, how to operate a profitable bikeshare system in the Bay Area.
That's why we are now seeing price increases. For those of you interested in the details of the increases, read on.
–
The bikeshare system has ebikes and classic pedal bikes. Historically, they have been priced the same. The reality though is that electric models are far more expensive to manufacture and maintain than regular pedal bicycles. Lyft pays for workers and equipment to collect and redistribute all the e-bikes that people leave at random locations and the company is fined when people stash e-bikes improperly on streets or public sidewalks. Lyft also incurs losses due to theft and vandalism. The new prices are a reflection of these realities and will mirror prices that have been in effect in San Francisco since February 2020.
See Bay Wheels’ new pricing for San José here.
Beginning April 5, Bay Wheels will be starting per minute e-bike pricing (20¢/min for members and 30¢/min for non-members). Users starting or ending rides in certain neighborhoods farther from the downtown core will pay no more than $2 in ebike fees for a ride regardless of trip duration. Bay Wheels will be making modest increases to general membership fees as well. Annual memberships will be raised from $159/year to $169/year. Monthly Memberships will increase from $25/month to $29/month. Prices for classic pedal bikes remain the same.
Members of Bay Wheels’ low income program, Bike Share for All, will continue paying $5 for their first year and $5 per month thereafter. Ebike fees will be kept low: Bikeshare for All members will pay just 5 cents per minute and no more than $1 dollar for any trip up to an hour. The Bike Share for All program has been very successful in San José with over 300 enrolled riders.
In making these pricing changes, Lyft has been working with the city of San José Department of Transportation. Their goals have been to ensure the system remains accessible for everyone, takes into account the ways people ride, and encourages parking behavior that leads to better bike availability when and where riders need them.
–
When all is said and done, Bay Wheels bikeshare is operated by a private company that must abide by the demands of its shareholders. This hasn’t yielded a great system so far and we’re skeptical of this market based approach. If we want bikeshare to succeed so that you can walk to the end of the block, hop on an ebike, and ride to where you need to go, all without dealing with owning, storing, and maintaining a bike, we need to find a better way to fund and operate the system. We are dismayed that prices are increasing and call on our elected officials to figure out how to make bike share succeed so that it can take its rightful place in a more sustainable, affordable, healthy and just transportation system.
