[kazevedo]

Definitely true. Redistribution is always a hurdle, though with viaCycle's realtime data, we can do some very cool things with incentives and pricing to help the system balance itself.

Bixi takes a lot of parking spots partly because finding space for large stations is difficult. By using existing bike racks, we can often put in bikes without modifying anything. Plus, although parking is lucrative, replacing room for one car with 10 bikes that 100 people can use is a good trade in our book.

[graeme]

Oh, I actually meant via cycle avoids the parking revenue loss. It's a good thing.

The pricing incentives idea is awesome. A win for commuters, free marketing for your service, and free labor.

Someone would need an account for that, with payment info. Any plans to increase account uptake to serve that purpose?

[kazevedo]

Ah, got it. Thanks!

We do take payment info on signup. Right now programs are localized so we set up different websites for each, but we hope to link everything together in the future. You can see an example at http://gt.viacycle.com

[msrpotus]

Does that actually work to balance out demand enough? I know Paris tried to do the same thing but found that incentives weren't enough. Then again, that was the city government, so they may have been more constrained in terms of how large the incentives can be than you.

[graeme]

Incentives wouldn't have to solve the problem totally. As long as they made some users happy and redistributed some bikes, incentives would help reduce costs.