Publibike Considered

Reading Time: 2 minutes
I like to cycle but I don’t like the idea of having my bike stolen. I loved using a foot scooter but I find that e-scooters are frustrating because we can’t go above a certain speed. For months, or even years, I have been considering using Publibike bikes for shopping and getting to the train station but didn’t because a bike costs 3 CHF for half an hour, and ten centimes per minute to use after that. An e-bike is 5 CHF for the first half hour and then 20 centimes per minute after that. A muscle bike costs 24 CHF per 24 hours, and an electric bike is 48 CHF per hour.

Freedom

For me the use case is either to go shopping, to leave the car at home and without worrying about the bike being stolen or to commute from home to the train station without the half hour walk that I usually take, before going for a day of hiking.

The Bus might Be Cheaper

The issue is that at 2.40 CHF the bus is cheaper, but it’s once an hour, whereas the bike is on demand. This means that the bike makes sense if you want flexibility, and the bus makes sense if you want to save 60 centimes and are too rushed, or lazy to walk.

B-fit

The last option is to pay 99 CHF per year to use muscle bikes for half an hour for free. I know that getting to the station would take ten minutes or so and that getting to the shopping centre will be about 10-15 minutes as well.

The downside is that if e-bikes are the only option then you still pay 3.50 CHF for the first hour,rather than 5 CHF so the saving is minimal.

To amortise the b-fit plan you would need to use muscle bikes 33 times, so every week day for around 7 weeks. At this point your rides will cost 0 CHF as long as you stay beneath 30 minutes.

Hypothetical Uses and Costs

The cost per minute is 10 centimes, so 6 CHF per hour after the first half hour. With e-bikes it’s 20 centimes, so 12 CHF per hour. If I use the bike to go to the train station then the 99 CHF plan makes sense because I need a bike for a few minutes. If I go shopping without the plan, and I free the bike while shopping, then I will pay 3 CHF twice so it might be worth keeping the bike while shopping on the b-quick plan. On the B-fit plan I would cycle from one publibike parking, leave the bike, shop, and then get another, and the 15 minute bike ride would be "free".

And Finally

The use case of Publibike, in my eyes, is to replace a personal bike in those use cases where having your own bike stolen is a possibility. If you go shopping and the bike is out of sight for half an hour then it makes sense to take a bike share bike. If you have a 30 minute to the train station but a 10 minute ride then the bike makes sense. I thought that the e-scooter would fill that niche but it doesn’t. It lacks indicators, and it’s slow. If I am in traffic with cars. I want to be able to indicate which way I am turning, without having to balance with one hand.