Richmond weighs shutting down e-bike share program

Richmond’s citywide electric bike share program could be shut down by the end of the month after city staff recommended the council move to conclude it and redirect remaining funding to a competing e-bike lending library.

According to Richmond public works staff, the Today bike share program has cost the city nearly $3 million since its launch in August 2022, and the program is not financially sustainable without ongoing grants or a city subsidy. Current funding is expected to run out at the end of June.

But the company operating the system told the council last week the program is closer to success than failure, and that two changes requiring no new spending could quickly shift the trajectory.

“Without spending any more money, you’ve already done this: you stamp these encroachment permits, our team goes out and installs 10 more racks, and I bet you start to see utilization change,” said Sean Flood, CEO of Today, which operates the bike share system on the city’s behalf.

The city owns the bikes and racks outright. Today is the operator, not the owner.

Gabino Arredondo, the public works project manager overseeing the program, presented the staff’s recommendation to conclude the program. He cited low ridership, high cost per trip, and a lack of sustainable funding.

"This program is not financially sustainable without any ongoing grants or funding from a city subsidy," Arredondo said.

The program currently has 13 stations, all concentrated in the southern half of Richmond. Today submitted encroachment permits for 10 additional stations roughly a year ago. Arredondo said staff held off approving them because they were uncertain about the program's future.

"We want to know what the future was for the program before we expand," he said.

Councilmember Cesar Zepeda pressed on that reasoning. "If we would have had 10 more, we could have had no cost," he said.

City Manager Shasa Curl acknowledged Zepeda's point but said the broader calculus hadn't changed. "The grant funds have run out. We do not have general fund dollars for this program," she said. "It looks like, thank you for evaluating the pilot. It's time to move on."

The per-ride cost cited by staff drew pushback from Today's representatives.

David Touwsma, a co-founder of Today, said the figures included roughly $1 million in upfront hardware acquisition costs, an accounting approach he said skews the numbers.

"If you reduce or remove that from the calculation, it shows material improvement," Touwsma said.

During periods of active outreach with ride vouchers, Touwsma said, the cost per ride dropped to around $150, and repeat usage jumped significantly.

"Voucher users went from 2.25 rides on average to over seven rides per user," he said. "We've issued over 2,000 vouchers throughout the time we've been working with the system."

According to city budget documents, the program cost the city $641.03 per trip since Today took over operations in September 2023 through March 2026, with total expenditures of $2,989,761. In fiscal year 2026 alone, the cost per trip was $479.90, with the city spending $512,049 over nine months.

Ridership data presented at the meeting showed 4,664 total trips taken by 4,560 registered users since launch, an average of one trip per registered user. Only 18 percent of registered users took more than one trip.

Today also pointed to the program's $80-per-month subscription cost as a fixable problem, one that the city controls rather than the operator.

"If tomorrow you want this to be free to all members of your community, it can be," Flood told the council. He said changing the pricing structure would require only a software update. "It's a technology shift, where you can see it in the app, and then it's advertising it to the general public," he said in a follow-up interview. "It's an almost no lift change that could be very transformative."

Curl did not directly respond to the pricing proposal; instead, she reiterated the funding constraints. "We don't negotiate contracts in open session," she said when Zepeda raised the possibility of a no-cost expansion.

One of the sharper exchanges of the meeting concerned grant-seeking.

Arredondo said that despite working with Today for over a year, he had received no grant applications from the company.

"I've been working with them for a year and four months, and I have not gotten one grant application," he said, contrasting that with the city's micro-mobility program, Richmond Moves, for which staff had already submitted four grants.

Flood disputed that account.

"In February, we sent a very long detail of bike share, how the system's going, how other systems are funded, and a list of different grant opportunities that we should pursue," he said. He said Today's team is currently drafting language for a Metropolitan Transportation Commission grant due June 22 that could fund expansion of the system, and that the city technically has to submit it.

"Here we are in June having the conversation, as opposed to in February," Flood said. "I think that's the important part."

Staff's recommended alternative is the e-bike lending library, a separate program under development that would allow residents to check out bikes for longer periods. Funding a construction gap for the facility would unlock $2.5 million in Transportation Climate Communities grant money, including $1.2 million in construction funds and $1.3 million in operating support.

Lina Velasco, Richmond's director of community development, said the program would operate differently from bike share. “You would check out a bike, so you don't have to return it the same day, similar to a book,” Velasco said.

Councilmember Jamelia Brown was not convinced the alternative had proven its case.

"Given the poor utilization of one program, the high subsidy levels, the taxpayer cost per ride, it demonstrates that the existing program model doesn't work," Brown said. "So I'm just saying, what evidence do you have that would support the lending library performing materially better?"

Brown also raised concerns about asset protection, noting that some of the city's existing e-bikes had already been stripped. "How are we going to protect our assets?" Brown asked.

Velasco said staff would return with more details on theft mitigation at the next council meeting.

Vice Mayor Doria Robinson recused herself from the portion of the meeting concerning the lending library. Robinson's partner, Najari Smith, is the executive director of Rich City Rides, which will operate the bike lending library.

Flood said Today planned to meet with city staff and individual council members in the days following the meeting.

"I think the city's closer to success in execution on what they originally wanted two and a half, three years ago, than folding it up," he said. "But I think it just takes a little proactive collaboration."

A follow-up budget session is scheduled for June 16.

YOU GET MORE WITH A PAID SUBSCRIPTION

Your subscription enables Grandview Independent to deliver more:

More time devoted to in-depth reporting
Longer, more comprehensive stories
Greater coverage of what matters to our community

Quality journalism costs money. Subscriptions allow us to keep reporting the stories that matter, without paywalls getting in the way of critical community information.

CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE - Starting at just $10/month

FOLLOW US FOR BREAKING NEWS:
• Twitter: @GrandviewIndy
• Instagram: @GrandviewIndependent
• Facebook: @Grandview Independent