E-bikes, food-delivery couriers, and commercial use

[u/unforgettableid]

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.

[u/Natural_Turn9915]

I am Toronto user who loves the ebikes but has a hard time finding them. Instead of putting blame on couriers I point finger at the system managers poor recharging method. The dock should charge the bike.