Bay Area BikeShare: How many trips at what cost?

Bay Area BikeShare

[Later: Not surprising that there's been no response from the folks at Bay Area BikeShare. Maybe if the Chronicle or the Examiner asked the question...]

I sent this request for information to Bay Area BikeShare yesterday:

The Orange County Register published this column on bike share systems in Southern California.

Can you provide comparable figures for your system? That is, how many trips you provided per year and at what cost?

Also: how much you received in government subsidies, direct or indirect.

Regards,

Rob Anderson

It's not that I think the program isn't potentially worthwhile or that it shouldn't get some kind of government support. After all, all public transportation programs by definition are supported by the taxpayers. We just need to see the numbers to learn what we're getting for the money to avoid the kind of outcome San Diego had:

During its first year, DecoBike sold 102,641 rides and 697 annual memberships in the city[San Diego] of nearly 1.4 million people, according to KPBS. That translates to an average of about 1,058 rides for each of the 97 stations set up so far---less than three rides per station per day.

If the numbers for Bay Area BikeShare are similar, the program is a failure and there simply isn't enough demand to justify the project.