Houston B-cycle is apparently in expansion mode again.
The system, which started in the spring of 2012 as a three-station pilot program and 18 bikes, is now 26 stations with roughly 200 bikes. Early signs of the first part of the expansion last spring seemed to be a success, as the increased network led to a large jump in users. According to Houston's office of sustainability, now an average of 1,300 trips are taken every week on Houston B-cyle around downtown. That's up from 150 checkouts immediately before the system expanded in March and 500 the week after.
Of course, ridership is a drop in the bucket of the several million auto trips taken in the city every day, and only a fraction of a decently used bus route (think about 2,000-3,000 boardings a day), but it's a start that will only grow bigger as the system spreads out within the I-610 Loop -- and remember, bike-share complements mass transit, it doesn't compete with it
Houston's bike-share folks seem to know what they're doing. You start in the densest parts of the city and build outward to develop a strong network. What's frustrating is the pace. Some bike-share systems subscribe to the "go-big or go home" school of building a network on the theory that a few stations give users few options and will be underused. What cities like Boston, New York, Washington DC, and Minneapolis did was to launch a large network of at least 60 stations and several hundred bikes to give instant access -- and all were wildly successful.
Like all public infrastructure, bike-share needs help for capital costs -- and government grants are a bit tougher to get in Texas for these sorts of things, as El Paso has found out to it's frustration. Houston B-cycle's pilot program was sponsored by a small federal grant that came from the stimulus package, while the expansion is being funded by a $750,000 sponsorship package from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas. Membership fees defray a good portion of the operating costs of the system. Similar-sized programs have taken root and are succeeding in places like San Antonio.
But it still seems expansion is maddeningly slow. Imagine if we could get a $7.5 million grant to fund a 1,800 bike expansion instead of a $750,000 grant for a 180-bike expansion? Imagine getting 13,000 checkouts (or more -- a denser network makes this more attractive) instead of 1,300 I mean, if TxDOT will move heaven and earth for a $5.2 billion sprawl-inducing third beltway for Houston, $7.5 million ought to be pocket change, right?
There are advantages to going under the radar too. The city can keep quietly improving the bicycle and cycling infrastructure in central neighborhoods and build a constituency for the program. As the safety and environmental benefits become apparent, bikes should become a much more accepted part of Houston, just like Metrorail has become. Every little expansion will gain new community groups and stake holders buying in (Rice University is hopefully next) who will push and defend the program as it continues to expand. precocious
Also, starting small and expanding incrementally might not draw the notice of this guy, which would be very much a positive thing, as any Metro planner can tell you.
So slow it is. Right now, it's tantalizing close to being useful to me -- but not quite. I now have two stations within a 15-minute walk of my home, but the problem is that it's a 10-minute walk in the opposite direction from many of the places I need to go. This isn't something that's convenient for me and thousands of my neighbors yet -- but it will be someday very soon.
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