E-bikes are a ‘game changer’ for bike shares
Deb Cohn-Orbach/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Ridership on the systems in cities big and small after the pandemic is stronger than ever, and bike-share operators say the electric devices are a big reason why.
Heartland Bike Share, a nonprofit that operates in the Omaha metropolitan area, introduced its first e-bikes in 2018, when the technology was still relatively novel for most cyclists. But last year it relaunched its 400-bike system with exclusively e-bikes.
“The e-bikes are preferred nearly 100% of the time over the classic bikes,” said Benny Foltz, the CEO of ROAM Share, which operates the service. “The only times the classic bikes were being ridden were because there were no e-bikes available, or the rider just didn’t understand that there was a difference.”
Foltz told transportation experts Tuesday that e-bikes cost more to buy and more to maintain than traditional bikes. The system’s 80 docking stations, for example, don’t recharge the batteries, so bike-share workers have to swap out depleted batteries with fresh replacements to keep customers moving.
“It costs more, but we are moving more people around to where they want to be by bike,” he said during a webinar for the Eno Center for Transportation. “We definitely see it as a worthwhile investment in public transportation. I think the future will be e-bikes in nearly all bike-share programs.”
The electric-assist bicycles were a hit not just in the hilly terrain of Omaha, he noted, but also in the relatively flat landscape of Lincoln, Nebraska, where his group operates another bike share. “We still see this increased usage of our e-bikes” in Lincoln, he said. “We have 25 e-bikes [a fifth of the bikes available], but they’re getting 70% to 80% of all the trips.”
In fact, e-bikes appear to be driving the popularity of bike shares across the country. Other modes of transportation—including for scooter shares and traditional bikes—saw declines during the early days of the pandemic, but there has been a “steady increase” in the use of e-bikes ever since they have been rolled out, said Samantha Herr, the executive director of the North American Bikeshare & Scootershare Association.
Her organization is still pulling together ridership information from 2023, but Herr said indications are that e-bike use has contributed to “extremely high” ridership numbers on shared bikes and scooters.
“It’s been a real game changer for our bike-share system,” said Waffiyyah Murray, program manager for Indego, Philadelphia’s city-run bike share. “It’s understandable: They allow people to take longer trips with less effort.”
E-bike ridership has been particularly high among older adults and in neighborhoods that are far from downtown, Murray said.
Some customers in Philadelphia, though, prefer the classic bikes, she said, because they cost less. The city is working on a price scheme that makes e-bikes affordable while still allowing other people to use the classic bikes.
But e-bikes come with some safety considerations, too, Murray added. The Philadelphia bike-share system caps speeds at 17 mph. “They’re not going super-fast. It’s more of a pedal assist than a motor so you’re not flying down the street.”
Foltz said bike-share operators also have to worry about theft of e-bikes. When Omaha first rolled them out, it did not have asset trackers or GPS devices installed on the e-bikes, and the organization was losing about four a month. Since the group installed tracking devices on their e-bikes three years ago, though, it typically loses about 1.5 a month, he said.
Mia Kohout, the CEO of Vancouver Bike Share Inc., said her Canadian organization has electrified 10% of its stations and hopes to increase that to 20%. That’s enough power to make sure that all of the system’s bikes are powered by the grid without having to swap batteries.
Daniel C. Vock is a senior reporter for Route Fifty based in Washington, D.C.
NEXT STORY: Federal broadband subsidy cut amid fears over its future