Yesterday, we had a total of 23 riders from the four stations: 9 each from West 18th Street and 7th Avenue South; 4 from Kenmare Street; and 1 from 1st Avenue.
Initially, the bikes were distributed as follows:
10 at City Bakery (3 West 18th Street);
8 at Storefront (97 Kenmare Street);
and
6 at each Birdbath location (145 7th Avenue South and 233 1st Avenue)
At the end of the first day, they were distributed thusly:
10 at City Bakery;
11 at Storefront;
5 at the 1st Avenue Birdbath;
and
4 at the 7th Avenue South Birdbath
Even with 9 riders, the number of bikes at City Bakery remained constant. This means that those riders either stayed in the neighborhood or the number of returns to City Bakery was roughly equal to the number of check-outs from City Bakery. Either way, it’s pretty interesting.
Activity at Storefront for Art and Architecture, however, was a bit different as it appears to have been more popular with drop-offs than pick-ups.
Why is all this important to note?
Because bike-share systems are self-regulating. The ultimate position of the bikes tells you how people are using them and where they’re most needed. Based on the information culled form a single day, we’ve learned that perhaps we don’t need to start each day with 10 bikes at Storefront as they’re likely to remain there (and thus, not utilized within the system) throughout the day.
The only way a bike-share is effective is if bikes are available when and where people need them. We hope that with each day, we’ll continue to learn more about where, among our four stations, those places are.
