Mobi By the Early Numbers

Mobi is still pretty small with 36 stations (so far) and roughly 390 bikes (growing daily).  And young — at two weeks or so into the rollout. But signs are good that Vancouver could be successful in joining the ranks of 800 or so cities with busy bike share systems.

Mobi has attracted 1,761 active users (people who’ve taken a Mobi ride) during its soft launch.  As of August 4, apparently 3,577 people have taken annual Mobi memberships and can join in the soft launch.  This is high annual-member-per-bike uptake, even for mature systems.
The number of rides per day so far is between 700 and 970; averaging around two trips per bike per day.  This would be low if Mobi were a mature, large system, such as New York City, Paris, London and so on, where the rides per day per bike can approach 6-8.  But for a 2-week old system with limited coverage area and limited user base (annual memberships only), it’s very encouraging. And it’s attracting attention in high places (the Federal Cabinet).

Next steps??  Open up day passes ($7.50 for unlimited 30-minute trips)  and monthly passes for purchase from kiosks in high-traffic areas. Plus gearing up rebalancing crews to move bikes around from full to empty stations.  Effective rebalancing depends on finding usage patterns from trip data and station numbers over time. And it’s not an easy thing to manage.
My personal experience so far has been excellent over a total of around 15 rides.  The communication gizmos work fine, the bikes are great to ride (if slow and heavy compared to my regular bike), and when I need help the staff are there and responsive.  So far so good. Roll on Mobi!
With information from Mia Kohout (Mobi GM) via Postmedia’s Vancouver Sun and the Daily Hive.