Why not make bike share "free" for seniors, college students, high school students, etc.?

Curbed DC reports that at the DC Streetcar 3 year anniversary press conference, it was announced that Capital Bikeshare membership will now be free for veterans and also that "D.C. Circulator service will now be free through March."

I don't know how many veterans there are in DC but think this will have almost zero impact on increasing uptake of transportational cycling.

If you're gonna give free memberships, and you want to have a substantive impact on transportational cycling, rather than merely score political points, provide them to demographic segments where there are large potential benefits for uptake.


1.  DC (and Arlington) already has a program to provide very low cost membership, $5, to low income residents (Community Partners Program).

2.  Seniors lag in bicycling, and often in DC are vociferous opponents of adding bike facilities.  Why not work in specific ways to boost senior usage.

3.  High school students 16 years or older--DC already funds a free youth transit pass ( | WMATAWashington, D.C. Kids Ride Free Program, WMATA). Adding Capital Bikeshare access could be a boon--16 years old is the minimum age under the Capital Bikeshare User Agreement.

4.  College students are a great demographic for building in as routine long term positive behaviors.  Promoting transportational cycling to this group would be huge and a way to communicate to the city's colleges that they are valued.

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One of the problems of having a dis-integrated mobility system ("The answer is: Create a single multi-state/regional multi-modal transit planning, management, and operations authority association") is that each service tends to be siloed off from the others. For example, bikeshare is run by the local jurisdictions separate from the metropolitan transit system. If you start or finish your trip by bike share you have to have a separate membership/pay a fee in addition to your transit trip.

By contrast, in Medellín, use of bikeshare is integrated with the transit farecard and is free.

Promotion. Ranchi City, India is launching dock based bike share. The inaugural launch will include a 4.5km "Cyclothon" as one of the promotional events ("Go green, join the 4.5km cyclothon for free," Telegraph of India).

Most bike share programs launch with that kind of event. Why not do it monthly, at least in the temperate months, say from May to September, as a promotional event, to constantly build and maintain interest in a program that needs to be continually marketed?

Free Days. In conjunction with local sponsors, both the Bixi system in Montreal and Divvy in Chicago offer free day access for a few days each year.