No public subsidies. A day pass for the equivalent of 98 cents. Unlimited 90-minute rides for $14 per year. How?
The first time I stumbled on the Stockholm eBikes website and did a currency conversion, I figured there must be some mistake. The website says a 24-hour plan “just to unlock a bike and enjoy Stockholm eBikes for 24 hours” costs 11 Krona, or 98 cents at current conversion rates. A 7-day plan is 26 Krona ($2.32). A 30-day plan is 35 Krona ($3.12). And a whole year of unlimited 90-minute e-bike rides costs a measly 157 Krona, or just about $14. If you want to ride more than 90 minutes in one trip, you will be charged an extra 11 Krona (about $1) per extra hour.
This is not simply cheap by e-bike rental standards. It is several orders of magnitude cheaper. And it is a story with global implications for the bikeshare industry and urban transportation in general. Because bikeshare systems have entered a paradox. The invention and proliferation of e-bikes have the potential to make bikeshare systems even more useful thanks to the effortless pedaling including on hills and higher speeds. But virtually every system has surcharges to ride an e-bike, making it expensive to use over time.
(...) Per the contract with the city, Inurba can only raise the price of the system along with inflation, so this isn’t some introductory pricing scheme. Instead, they are trying the theory that a well-run transportation system can be cheap, useful, and accessible to all. It’s a bold move that, if effective, would be one of the most dramatic improvements to bikeshare in the industry’s history.
