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Biki, Honolulu’s bike share system, is poised to raise its rates as it simultaneously tries to reverse dwindling ridership. 

Higher rates would be used to replenish its fleet of bikes, some of which are out of commission because they were broken or stolen after the program’s launch in 2017.

Rates will go up for its three member-based plans on June 1, and a new annual membership option will be added. 

The Free Spirit plan will more than double its rate from $25 to $55. That plan gives users 300 minutes of riding to use whenever they want and .

The two other plans, The Commuter and The Voyager, are monthly and currently allow an unlimited number of rides of up to 30 minutes or 60 minutes, respectively, for $15 or $25. New rates will be $25 and $30, and The Voyager’s maximum ride length will decrease to 45 minutes. 

Biki’s plan for residents who receive government assistance, Everybody Rides, will remain at $10 per month for unlimited rides of up to 30 minutes.

Biki is hoping to avoid the service cuts that have plagued its peers. That means investing in additional bikes and surviving long enough to eventually purchase electric bikes, which Biki hopes will make the service more attractive to future customers who don’t want to work as hard pushing pedals.

Ridership Revenue Declining

Biki’s service area includes about 130 stations . It announced its rate changes in an email to members almost two weeks ago.

“Just as bicycle gears require a bit of grease to spin smoothly, our business needs to adapt as we encounter rising costs,” the email says. 

Insurance rates are going up for Biki’s for-profit partner, Secure Bike Share Hawaii LLC, and about a third of the 1,400 bikes it started with are no longer in circulation, according to Todd Boulanger, executive director of Bikeshare Hawaii, Biki’s nonprofit parent organization. 

He wants to buy 288 new bikes so there are enough available for potential riders. Besides initial startup funding from both the city and the state, along with a grant for nonprofits during the pandemic, Biki doesn’t receive money from either government source. 

Its options for raising money include increasing fares or finding money through sponsorships or donations.

Some bike shares in other cities are named after a large corporate sponsor. New York’s is sponsored by Citibank, and Boston’s is sponsored by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts.

But Honolulu doesn’t have the same pool of big-ticket companies who might be willing to shell out that kind of money, according to a 2014 study on . 

“It’s really tough to find large corporate investors that will put their name on a bike,” Boulanger said in an interview. 

Raising rates is the more straightforward option.

“We held off on raising The Commuter and The Voyager rates — which were the typical monthly plans that our kamaaina members use — for almost seven years,” Boulanger said. 

The one-way rate, which Boulanger said is geared toward visitors, went from $3.50 to $4.50 during that same period.

Visitors accounted for about 40% of Biki’s rides but 75% of unique ridership , the last year this statistic was available. 

When tourism cratered during the pandemic, Boulanger thought Biki would have to slash its coverage area to reduce costs. But as tourists started to return in 2021, a shortage of rental cars nudged demand for Biki upward. 

Now, however, ridership is steadily declining. 

Biki’s 120,000 unique riders in 2019 decreased to about 76,000 in 2023. Boulanger blames this drop on the rise of remote work, growing popularity of other transportation options like e-bikes, fewer Biki bikes available and a change in tourist demographics.

“We’re still waiting for the return of Japanese tourists” who tend to take longer and more expensive Biki trips than other users, Boulanger said. 

“That’s always been a big help for our bottom line, and until Covid helped subsidize our member rates,” he said.

Avoiding A Doom Loop

Bryan Mick is one of those members. 

When Biki launched, he worked downtown for the city and started using it as a way to get to appointments during the day. At some point, he started using it for his commute from Kaimuki because biking to his office took about the same amount of time as parking in a faraway lot and walking.

He’s concerned about what the higher rates mean for Biki’s long-term outlook, and made an analogy to the bar scene when he was younger.

“You could tell when a nightclub was about to go under when they raised their prices on beer by like a dollar. Because it meant their customer base is down, their revenue is down, and rather than thinking about ‘How do we attract more people,’ we just try and close the gap on” existing customers, he said. “And that usually doesn’t end well.”

Boulanger is wary of this dynamic, too. He said that reinvesting the money from higher rates will help avoid a doom loop.

“If a system is less convenient, and if the system’s less visible, people would use it less,” he said. “And so we’re trying not to go there. So we’re trying to add more bikes. And we’ll see how successful this fare change is.”

Biki is applying for state grants to add e-bikes to its fleet, Boulanger said. They would be more expensive for both Biki and the customer but could appeal to people who might not want to get sweaty riding a regular bike.

This is especially the case for people who live in hilly areas. 

“We don’t have stations right now in the back of Palolo. We don’t have stations up in Nuuanu, or Kahala. We have members and we have users that would gladly cycle in those areas if we had a station. But those areas are somewhat challenged by topography or distance,” Boulanger said.

Biki is also asking the city for more money. Boulanger said he started doing that about three years ago when sponsors pulled back funding during the pandemic.

So far the answer has been no, and Honolulu’s draft budget next year doesn’t allocate any money for Biki.

But in a written statement, spokesperson Travis Ota said that the city Department of Transportation Services is considering giving Biki money for fiscal year 2026, and that the department is looking for federal sources of funding to assist Biki.

Along with its $1 million contribution to Biki’s launch, the city contributes public space to the operation by allowing it to put stations in parking spots along the street.

This setup has drawn criticism that the city gives too many perks to Biki with too little oversight. determined that Biki cost the city more than $460,000 in lost parking and permit fees. 

Mick worries that the higher rates will be more fodder for Biki’s critics. He also is concerned about the money being used wisely. But he’s still a member and supporter despite living outside its coverage area now.

“I’m actually glad to have it as an option,” he said.