Baltimore bike-share under water? With update

A lot of empty bike share stations don't give friends of bicycling in Baltimore a warm and fuzzy feeling about the current state of this system which was only launched 11 months ago. The system expansion promised for this spring didn't happen, then there were reports about massive bike theft and about one station having been run over by a bus twice, and now the racks are entirely empty in many places. The explanation that the bikes are on a recall to get upgraded against theft feelsIt looks and feels like Uber CEO's absence which was initially called a "sabbatical" before it became clear he was out for good. The bikeshare company's website has no message posted that would explain the absence of share bikes for over a month now and no status is posted at the stations themselves. For members who paid a monthly or yearly fee for the right to use these bikes this is not comforting.

Bike share bicycle retrieved from the Inner Harbor

The BBJ also noticed the yawningly empty stations and explained the absent bikes with something they had found on social media where the company Corps Logistics placed a few messages. The BBJ writes:

Multiple posts from the Baltimore Bike Share on social media over the last few weeks state that bikes are in short supply as the unspecified upgrades take place. On Sept. 1, the bike share Twitter account responded to a user asking why they weren't seeing as many bikes out on racks by saying, "they are safe and being upgraded with new soft and hardware to increase security and reliability."  Why most of Baltimore's bike share racks are sitting empty

Bike Share message August 31

Maybe any fear about a demise of Baltimore's much touted bikeshare is as premature as the rumors about Mark Twain's death he eventually debunked himself, but unlike Twain Baltimore Bikeshare remains officially mum. Not exactly a customer friendly "information" strategy and not something that instills confidence  into the robustness of the system. Information is supposedly being released today and this post will be updated as soon as news come in. But whatever they are, big damage has already been done. With just 4 bikes in the system on Labor Day even bike enthusiasts must have given up on Baltimore's enterprise.

Bicycle advocates have bemoaned for months that Baltimore's system run by Corps Logistics with bikes from Bewegen is lacking a corporate sponsor, a way to prop up the budget which cannot be supported by the rental fees themselves. Other cities had shown that sponsor are urgently needed to get their systems through the first few years in which an initial network grows into a full system. Bewegen bikes were also just introduced in Howard County's new bikesahre system, also including e-bikes.

Kisok knocked over at empty bike station

The Baltimore SUN had already picked up on the problems and the many missing bikes in an August 7 article:

When Baltimore launched its $2.36 million Baltimore Bike Share system last fall, officials said the program would begin with 200 bicycles at 20 stations, then expand to 500 bicycles at 50 stations in the spring.
Officials have pushed back the program’s expansion to this fall, blaming a delay in receiving a steel component for the bike docks from the manufacturer.

Bike share came to Baltimore in the Fall of 2016

Baltimore bikeshare had initially been touted as being late but smarter, having learned from the mistakes other cities had made. It may well be that it not only started late and is, with its electric bikes innovative but also more costly to operate, but is also economically unsustainable. Let's hope it isn't so and that bikeshare will eventually take root in Baltimore just as Nextcar's car share did.

Update Thursday 8:00 am:

The City issued a press release Wednesday afternoon with the following text:

BALTIMORE, MD (September 12, 2017) The Baltimore City Department of Transportation today announced that the Baltimore Bike Share will be undergoing a temporary shutdown for maintenance and equipment upgrades in advance of the program’s one-year anniversary.

Starting on September 17, 2017, a temporary shutdown of the bike share system will be initiated so that maintenance work and system improvements can be performed.  Preparation for phase II station expansion will also be initiated during this time. It is anticipated that operations will resume by October 15, 2017.

In addition, upgraded security features will be incorporated during this period as a response to isolated thefts this summer. The combination of always-on GPS and enhanced security equipment will improve the safety and security of the bike share system.

With nearly 1,800 active users and 40,000 trips, Baltimore Bike Share has experienced high ridership since it was initially launched.  The temporary shutdown period will allow Baltimore Bike Share to incorporate necessary improvements and continue the strong momentum into its second year of operation. Riders can expect more information on planned improvements and promotions in the coming weeks.

Bikemore provided an update in which they present the need for upgrade as a credible cause for a complete shutdown of the system. Obviously, Bikemore is not the provider of the Baltimore Bikeshare system but they have usually good information.

There is no explanation why the shut-down would presumably begin on Sept 17 and last until October 15 and how this accounts for the fact that the system has been already essentially shut-down for the last month and why it would take two months to upgrade the bikes and stations. Apparently Bewegen, the mother company of Corps Logistics, will pay for the upgrades and install a newly developed Baltimore Lock.

Best I can tell, once it was known that bikes can be "rocked" out of their locks, this became very frequent and resulted in so many damaged bikes and docking stations that there was a backlog as large as 100 bikes (i.e. half the fleet) of bikes in need of repair. The company then stopped restocking the outlying docks and developed a new locking mechanism that now needs to be fabricated and installed. While old and new locks could theoretically co-exist, it is obvious that a complete shut-down makes the exchange easier. All of this is conjecture based on some info obtained from Bikemore.
None of this excuses the complete lack of transparency and information for bike users and the public. Even Wednesday's press release is so uninformative that it practically invites speculations and rumors about underlying problems bigger than locks.The Bikeshare website still doesn't carry a user advisory.

Bikemore promises that the advocacy group will also look to get some type of compensation for members and seems confident that the system will be up and running again soon better and expanded.

Klaus Philipsen, FAIA