https://www.indystar.com/story/opinion/columnists/james-briggs/2019/12/20/blueindy-indianapolis-electric-car-sharing-greg-ballard/2709243001/ RIP BlueIndy, a great concept that was too clunky to work in Indianapolis Dec. 20, 2019 James Briggs
[images https://www.gannett-cdn.com/media/2016/10/07/INGroup/Indianapolis/636114402933033051-06-blueindy-123014.jpg BlueIndy electric cars are parked at the company's charging station on the northeast corner of Meridian and Washington streets, Indianapolis, on Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2014. (Photo: IndyStar file photo) https://www.gannett-cdn.com/media/2017/08/01/INGroup/Indianapolis/636371841780096866-BlueIndy-Stations-JRW02.JPG BlueIndy has installed a station of five parking spots for their rentable smart cars, eliminating a stretch of public parking in front of SoBro Cafe along 52nd Street, Indianapolis, Monday, July 31, 2017. Some business owners say the BlueIndy stations have occupied public parking that was integral to their business. (Photo: Jenna Watson/IndyStar) ] I’d like to say that Indianapolis is going to miss BlueIndy. But that’s not true. There have never been enough people using the electric car-sharing service for any tears to be shed over its failure. So, instead, I’ll tell you why I’ll miss it — and why I think Indianapolis is worse off now that it is going away. BlueIndy parent company Bollore Group on Friday announced it will shut down in May after more than four years of sluggish growth and financial losses. BlueIndy’s demise eliminates one of Indianapolis' only alternatives to car ownership before most people really even understood what it was. BlueIndy should have gained traction. It had a simple model of enabling people to rent a car in one neighborhood and leave it in another for a relatively low cost. The service fizzled for many reasons, though, some of which are explicitly Bollore Group’s fault and others that could be chalked up as unforeseen market limitations. For starters, Indianapolis’ car ownership culture presented a small base of potential adopters — probably smaller than anyone understood when the service launched in 2015. That problem was compounded by BlueIndy’s user experience, which was too clunky to convert the members it gained into evangelists who would convince other people to sign up. Even the people who used BlueIndy didn’t really love it. As a result, BlueIndy rentals plateaued at around 50,000 per year after starting out with 36,150 in its first year, according to a recent report from the Indianapolis Business Journal. BlueIndy is the best way to go to the airport I say all this from the perspective of being a frequent BlueIndy user and apologist, who also spent a fair amount of time on the phone with customer service representatives over all-too-common problems such as station kiosk malfunctions. At its best, BlueIndy made my life easier. As I’ve written before, it has enabled my wife and me to share one car while living in Irvington, even with a baby, because I could walk to a BlueIndy station and drive Downtown for work in 12 minutes at a cost of about $4. That is more than the cost of a bus ride, yet less than half the cost of a trip through Uber or Lyft (not to mention the added benefit of avoiding awkward conversations with drivers). I’ll especially miss BlueIndy whenever I need to travel to or from the airport. Being able to drive a car to the parking garage and walk over to the terminal (and use the same process in reverse upon arrival) made trips to and from Indianapolis International Airport uniquely stress-free. Alas, for each example of things that went well, there is an equal number of examples of stations not working properly, cars making weird noises and either no cars or parking spaces available where I needed them. The cars were unpleasant to drive and the check-out process was over-complicated and prone to glitches. France-based Bollore Group, which launched a similar service in Los Angeles, never demonstrated the wherewithal to improve BlueIndy’s service or convince more people to try it. BlueIndy maxed out around 3,000 memberships, many (if not most) of which were free. There was no apparent path to growth or profitability for BlueIndy. It’s a shame. Many people wanted BlueIndy to fail There are, of course, many people who disagree with my perspective and likely will cheer the implosion of BlueIndy. They include business owners who are angry about losing street parking in front of their stores and restaurants for the sake of BlueIndy stations. They also include some Democrats, who argue that former Republican Mayor Greg Ballard agreed to a bad deal on behalf of the city. Those Democrats have a point. Indianapolis stands to lose substantial money. BlueIndy launched as a $50 million investment, with $6 million coming from the city. BlueIndy agreed to share profits, which it never earned, as well as pay the city $45,000 a year. I’m not great at math, but I know that $45,000 times four years of service equals less [than] $6 million. Now, the city is stuck with nearly 100 BlueIndy electric charging stations and no easy answers for what to do with them. The politics of BlueIndy have always been strange. If you were to forget everything you know about Indianapolis and hear that the city subsidized a car-sharing program that scattered all-electric vehicles across town, and that one political party supported it while the other opposed it, you might reasonably assume Democrats were the ones in favor. You would, of course, be wrong. BlueIndy is ceasing service at an interesting moment — when many Republicans are complaining about a new rapid bus route in Indianapolis called the Red Line, which is off to a rough start. Many of those same Republicans have been die-hard supporters of BlueIndy, while many of the Democrats brushing off the Red Line criticism have wanted to shut down BlueIndy since it launched. Both projects warrant criticism. But, when it comes to innovative transportation solutions, BlueIndy and the Red Line are pretty much all Indianapolis has (barring the long-term viability of scooters, which might yet be a fad). The loss of BlueIndy is a setback for everyone who cares about having a city where mobility is not synonymous with car ownership. Largely because of BlueIndy’s own failures, though, its exit from the market will be like a tree falling in the forest. Few people will notice and even fewer will be disappointed. Indianapolis is losing an asset that never really felt like one. [© indystar.com] https://www.ibj.com/articles/blueindy-ceasing-operations Electric car service Blue Indy ceasing operations December 20, 2019 ... the electric-car-sharing service that launched in September 2015, is pulling the plug on its Indianapolis fleet. “We regret to announce that Blue Indy ... https://cdn.ibj.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/rop-blueindy1-120417-450bp.jpg + https://skystatement.com/2020-democratic-candidates-where-each-stands-on-electric-cars/ 2020 Democratic candidates: Where each stands on electric cars DECEMBER 22, 2019 ... look at what the leading candidates say about electric vehicles ... 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