Denver B-cycle, the city’s first shared mobility system, will ride off into the sunset early next year amid declining ridership and a new plan by Denver Public Works to overhaul how the scooters, bike shares and electric bicycles scattered across downtown are regulated.
Denver is pumping the brakes on its pilot program for shared scooters, electric bikes and dockless bicycles, trading the current permitting system for a competitive bid process that will result in “one or more companies” landing a contract with the city to operate so-called “micromobility” services, Denver Public Works announced Thursday.
“Having a contract really gives us more control on what kind of operation we want to have in the city for this type of mobility,” said Heather Burke, spokeswoman for Denver Public Works. “It allows us to put stricter guidelines in place. It helps us facilitate a stronger structure for shared vehicles in the city, and it also allows us to have well-defined rules and expectations.”
The city hasn’t determined how many contracts it will extend to scooter operators, but said it may be fewer than the five companies currently in Denver: Bird, Lime, Lyft, Razor and Spin, which operate more than 2,700 scooters combined.
Denver also plans to contract with a new docked bike share to replace B-cycle, but it’s anticipated there will be a months-long gap without such an option in the city. Officials expect to have the new contracts in place over the summer of 2020.
The city’s request for proposals, which will outline what Denver is looking for out of its contracted operators, is still being finalized and will be released at the end of January. Scooter and e-bike companies currently permitted to operate in the city will keep rolling with Denver’s Dockless Mobility Pilot Permit Program until the city’s contracted vendors begin operation.
Uber, which operates 500 Jump-brand electric bikes in the city, said Thursday that it plans to enter into the bidding process. If awarded a contract, the operator hopes to continue offering its bike services and add scooters to its fleet, according to Stephanie Sedlak, an Uber spokeswoman.
Spin, which has 438 scooters in Denver, expressed a similar sentiment.
“We look forward to reviewing the RFP and plan to submit a proposal, in the coming months, that addresses the transportation needs of Denverites,” spokeswoman Maria Buczkowski said.
B-cycle ridership down
One operator that no will longer cruise the streets: Denver B-cycle, owned and operated by the nonprofit Denver Bike Sharing.
The first shared riding option of its time in the city, Denver B-cycle will cease spinning its wheels on Jan. 30 after nine years in operation, in part because it has lost business to the electric scooters zooming around the city.
Talor Meyer, a carless 27-year-old, has taken more than 800 B-cycle trips this year and considers the departing program his primary source of transportation.
He uses scooters on occasion, he said, but prefers B-cycle because of its annual pass option and the reliability of knowing there’s a docking station outside his work and a bike will always be there.
“I don’t really know what I’m going to do when it’s gone,” Meyer said. “I’m hesitant to buy my own bike because my old bike got stolen. I imagine I’ll use scooters more and the Jump bikes, if they’re around. I’ll use more public transportation and just walk, I guess.”
Denver B-cycle usage has been headed downhill since its peak in annual ridership in 2014, declining 19% — from 377,229 riders to 305,440 riders — in 2018, according to the operator’s annual report.
“For years, the Denver B-cycle system relied on tourists and walk-up customers to subsidize ridership of Denver residents,” Denver B-cycle said in a news release. “That business has declined due to competition over the last two years.”
The original ride-share system is also aging and needs to be replaced, said Denver Bike Share executive director Mike Pletsch.
The service added 29 docking stations in 2012 and 2013, but has only installed seven new stations since then, bringing the city’s total to 89. New stations can cost $50,000 and bikes can come in at around $1,000 each.
“Upgrading our current product is not financially viable,” Pletsch said. “Our contract with B-cycle LLC is up in the end of January, so, unfortunately, there will be a gap in the service as we move through this transition.”
Current holders of the “5280” pass, which provided residents unlimited free rides of 60 minutes or less, can keep using their passes through Jan. 30, city officials said.
Spencer McCullough, who rides a bike he scored at a yard sale, said he was glad to hear Denver B-cycle acknowledge the system was out of date and wished the city would spend money dedicated to bikes on biking infrastructure instead.
“I’d like to see us stop focusing on the bikes themselves and on giving us a place to ride them,” he said.
Other two-wheeled options
To bridge the B-cycle gap, cyclists can turn to other options available in the city, such as the 500 electric Jump bikes sprinkled throughout the downtown area.
Under the new program, Burke said scooter aficionados are not likely to notice much change in their day-to-day rides other than, potentially, fewer scooter operators on the streets.
City staff established a temporary set of rules in the summer of 2018 after the companies shocked Denver’s government by deploying the vehicles without permission. The year-long “pilot program” was meant to test how riders would behave, and how the city might manage thousands of scooters and electric bikes.
“Only contracted vendors are going to be allowed to operate through this new system,” Burke said. “There wouldn’t be other companies able to just drop here. Last year, when Bird and Lime just dropped their vehicles, we didn’t have any kind of rules and regulations in place for electric scooters, so we asked them to remove their vehicles off the streets as we developed a pilot permit program.
“We tried to find a way to permit these vehicles in the city … but we decided to take a different approach because it’ll help us make sure we’re getting the most qualified operators and make this more of a partnership.”
