I am concerned that Bixi’s are failing in Melbourne because of the compulsory helmet thing. As I have blogged about here, http://averagejoecyclist.com/?p=1455, my own city’s plans and hopes for a Bixi system could also be torpedoed if we don’t drop this HELMET law!

And then what a waste – more lives are saved by bicyling exercise than are lost by not wearing helmets!

Ordained…

Bixi is meant for short trips, there are monthly or yearly plans (78$) but casual users and tourist pay a 5$ “membership fee” which allows unlimited 29min rides during a 24h period.

All users are subject to the usage fees after that 30th minute – a common misunderstanding… and potentially costly mistake!

The first 30 minutes of each trip are free. The second 30 min period will cost an extra 1,50$, the next is 3,00$ and so on, up to the maximum of 6$ per half-hour.

Most users I know park the bikes every 20 minutes or so and wait the required 5 minutes break before taking another.

Over the past year, I’ve been caught only about 6-8 times not counting the odd times when a station failure prevented me from getting the 15-minute overtime when you hit a station that is already full and a quick call saw those charges erased.

I personnaly find the 30 minutes a bit short for a city the size of Montréal… Paris seems to have a much greater density of stations and the circular city patern makes it easier to get to/from where you are going within 15-20 minutes… a more logical limit would be 45 or even 60 minutes for a north american city.

Despite the flaws, it’s a great BIKE and a very convenient way to get around or just to get some exercise when it’s nice out. If it starts to rain, I just park it and take the Métro back home!

Are they really serious about making this work?

Sounds to me like this scheme is being imported on a tiny scale so that someone somewhere in City Hall can make up lots of lovely promotional literature about Melbourne’s cycling credentials whilst doing very very little. I suggest you look to Auckland Cycle Chic and ask how their bike share scheme is going (not well, on all accounts) This is all very sad of course as Melbourne has incredible potential as a cycling city – it’s flat as a pancake and the CBD is reasonably compact. Indeed, I think it is the most pedestrian of all Australia’s cities – there is certainly no need to drive a car in central Melbourne, and the bixi scheme COULD have helped further demonstrate that.

It wont though, it will fail. What are the local cycle advocacy groups doing about this?

As for the GPS, I confirm with M. Darveau, that the bikes do not have GPS, but rather RFID tags, if I recall correctly. It allows for some tracking near the stations, but not globally.

For argument’s sake, let’s say a helmet can be protective. The thing is that it has to fit properly to do this. This can only be guaranteed at a shop, with qualified personnel for the initial fitting, and then training of some sort for further adjustments.

This is not possible for mail-order helmets (one could argue that buying helmets this way should not be possible for fitting reasons, but people have free choice) nor for any helmets available at a dispenser or a nearby store with unqualified staff… or disposable ones, whatever the heck these are.

So without going into any possible legal outcomes, this seems to run counter to the helmet-as-protection logic.

Another thing is that normal helmets – as I understand it – are not meant to be carried in a bag all day, because the head is made to be inside it, i.e. the two form a temporary composite structure (kind of like water supporting a large ship – think of the Titanic in the eponymous movie, with the stern breaking off when the bow went under). Helmets are actually fragile.

There are some new foldable helmets but they don’t fit in a pocket or small handbag. So much for spontaneity, something good share bike programmes are great at facilitating. (I would also hope that the makers of these helmets would be happy to not sell so many, if you know what I mean).

Disposable helmets would also seem to be anti-environmental for waste reasons.

It might be great for Public Bike System to go for this, but if the helmets thing causes a problem it may create a negative (and lasting) feeling, even if Victoria state officials eventually change the law.

I too think that both Australia and NZ need to lose the compulsory helmet laws. (I’ve noticed a lot of kids and adults living near me ignore the rule anyway) All cities in Australasia need bike share schemes. I like the shaft drive bikes they have in France. e.g for bike share innovation look at these guys: http://www.smoove.fr/

Even smaller towns should get bike share schemes too.

Maybe Bixi are prepared for Melbourne to fail so they can then get the law changed elsewhere so they can have successful schemes there. I wouldn’t care if Melbourne looks bad. I reckon it already does.

Not sure where you took that but this is not true. There is no such system in the bike. This would require a powe source (battery), gps unit, modem to relay position to PBSC AND electronic brake system.

Bixi and the MHL aren’t likely to coexist easily.

Brilliant closer, good on yer! And another pro post, as usual – thanks.

However, like you, I’ve yet to work out how to do it with compulsory bike helmets. And you can’t even import the stylish helmets from the UK or Denmark because Australian helmets have to comply with specific Australian standards which are more rigorous than US/EU standards, mostly because they require constant batch testing by the manufacturer.

Jetsetting Joyce

I’ve just realised (well, have been informed) that that is the Hon Tony Abbott riding in the racing gear. I didn’t recognise him with all that clothing!

Cheers,

Paul

I think if the bike share schemes are rolled out in Australia, with or without a helmet solution, it could well be a watershed for the review of compulsory helmet legislation. Time will tell.

Those people on the situp bikes look so much more like *people*. I’d like to think the guy in the racing gear is actually racing, but I doubt it looking at the path he’s on and the background.

I’ve seen that helmetless guy cycling around Brisbane before on his situp bike

Cheers,

Paul