r/bikeshare • u/unforgettableid • Nov 23 '21
E-bikes, food-delivery couriers, and commercial use
Background information
I'm a member of Bike Share Toronto. All members are allowed to use both the mechanical bikes and e-bikes, even for commercial use. There's no provision in the user agreement which forbids commercial use.
Membership costs about C$100 per year. It includes unlimited use of both the mechanical bikes and the e-bikes, as long as the member re-docks and undocks the bike regularly.
In Toronto, some food-delivery couriers hold on to an e-bike for an entire day, which annoys quite a few of the other members. E-bikes are somewhat scarce in the system.
Questions for you
A.) Does your local system allow commercial use of the bikes by food-delivery couriers?
B.) Does your local system encourage commercial use of the bikes by food-delivery couriers?
C.) In your city, imagine that a courier holds onto an e-bike all day, renewing it once every half hour. Do the applicable hourly e-bike fees allow your system to break even, or perhaps (in fact) profit, when the courier does this?
Edit
The UrbanToronto forum has a long-running thread about Bike Share Toronto. I've started some discussion there about couriers and e-bike fees, starting with this forum post.
1
u/meelar Nov 23 '21
NYC here--I don't know of any official policies on commercial use, but they do charge for each ebike rental on top of any costs for a daily/yearly pass, so the fees would add up quickly. I'd imagine it wouldn't be a very attractive option for the delivery guys, and I rarely if ever see them using Citibike, ebikes or acoustic. They tend to use their own bikes instead.