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1)How will you spread word about this service being available?
2)Where will the bikes be available from? Depending on location this will have a huge influence on how useful the bikes will actually be
3)Make sure anyone borrowing a bike understands that they will be liable if the bike goes missing. Something such as a credit card at least on file is a good deterrent to bikes "disappearing"
4) Same thing as 3 for the locks, you will have to make sure people know that they need to lock up bikes
5) Depending on your fund, you could have an option to tip after returning a bike, this would allow a small amount of money to keep bikes in good shape.
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I guess it will streamline considerations quite a bit if I note that it's a military college, so we have the ability to apply a bit more of an iron fist if desired. With that in mind, here's what I'm thinking.
1) We have broadcast TVs throughout the campus, which we could put messages on. The main details could be hosted on one of the university's web site, to keep the "hey this exists" messaging clean and simple. Other initial communication could be via university-wide email or weekly orders groups.
2) It's a small campus, so choosing a location should be fairly easy. We only really need one drop point, which would be close to our security centre, which the users would obtain keys from.
3) Not so worried about the credit card on file, as long as we know who had the bike, we have options for cost recovery. Still, I think this is the hardest nut to crack. If the users just have it for exercise, there are no issues. However, if they are using it to run errands or try out commuting, they will need to secure it at their destination. This opens the bikes up to the possibility of theft and vandalism. Part of this can be mitigated by choosing "safer" locations, and another part by us supplying decent-quality locks. I would prefer a longer cable lock, since there are not always great places to lock up in town. I personally often use lamp posts. We could have a briefing or something on how to lock up so they can prevent the easy thefts.
4) See above.
5) Our fund is healthy enough that we won't need to worry about tips for maintenance. Long-term, I'd love to see an internal club step up to take on maintenance duties, but that might open up additional problems. Our short-term (up to 3-year plan) would be to outsource the maintenance, which would give us enough time for proof-of-concept. If it's a success at this stage we might be able to make a case to develop that capability in-house. I did talk to a vendor today that suggested an outdoor pump and basic tool station that could be next to the bikes. I would probably want to have consumable flat kits that could be signed out. Not sure if we would need to bother about cost recovery here. We might try to front the cost for the first bit and see how it goes. Trying to balance costs with admin burden.
Thanks for the feedback! I know I still have more to think through and if any of it is completely out of whack, having a sounding board is really useful.