On April 20th, Indego will be making a few important updates to our pass options and pricing. The updates you see below will support the continued growth of Philly’s bike share program. Indego will continue to provide savings opportunities to Passholders who make Indego part of their daily routine and to keep prices low for Philadelphians with a PA ACCESS card.
Summary of changes:
Guest Pass
- Price increase to $15
- Trip time extended to unlimited 60-minute rides
- Extended ride time fees for rides over 60 minutes increased to 20¢/minute
- Indego Electric fees increased to 20¢/minute
Indego30
- Price increase to $20/month
- Extended ride time fees for rides over 60 minutes increased to 20¢/minute
- Indego Electric fees increased to 20¢/minute
Indego30 Access
- No price increase
- Extended ride time fees for rides over 60 minutes increased to 7¢/minute
- Indego Electric fees increased to 7¢/minute
Indego365
- No price increase
- Extended ride time fees for rides over 60 minutes increased to 20¢/minute
- Indego Electric fees increased to 20¢/minute
Indego365 Access
- No price increase
- Extended ride time fees for rides over 60 minutes increased to 7¢/minute
- Indego Electric fees increased to 7¢/minute
Since Indego’s launch in 2015, the system has grown to over 1,400 bikes and more than 170 stations located across West, South, North Philly, and Center City. This spring, Indego will expand its service further west, filling in more of South Philadelphia, and along Kelly Drive to East Falls, and will continue to grow to more than 3,500 bikes and 350 stations by the end of its multi-year expansion.
Thank you for your continued support of the Indego system.
An extra 15 cents a minute on top of the subscription seemed like a lot; a 33% increase on top of that seems extreme. I will try to use the electric bikes less.
Please create a single or round trip ride fare. I would use Indego so much more often if I had the choice to just pay for a single ride instead of a full $15 pass. Also, would be awesome to have the system integrated with SEPTA’s fare system, but that’s a stretch goal.
i hope that the electric bikes are more frequently available and charged to reflect this price increase. ive begun using them less due to their being somewhat unreliable as to when i can access them and if they have a charge
These increases, especially to the extra fees, are seriously far too high. This puts these amenities far out of reach for a lot of people and makes it far less of a viable option for getting around on a regular basis.
Wait a minute FIFTEEN BUCKS for a 24 hour (“guest”) pass???? Plus an extra dollar for every 5 minutes if I grab an electric bike??
I get that you want to push people toward a monthly or annual membership, but at that price I’m just never even going to try it! $15+ is Uber prices!!!
Cities are for bikes and walking, not cars. -at least for residents and local commuters. It’s clear that indego will continue to undermine itself by not having a cheap single-trip option (ie. ~$5/30min) like every bike/scooter share program on this planet does. This puts a clear focus on squeezing revenue out of visitors, insentivising them to use rideshare apps.
Get yourself a bike, stop using ride share apps, and give Indego a reason to stay relevant.
Why don’t you have a 30 or 60 minute passes to encourage usage like other cities? $15 is excessive vs $3.00 if I only need it for a short stint.
This price increase makes it just as expensive to use an e bike as an uber??? This makes no sense I am never using an e bike again.
Why aren’t there short ride prices?
Until recently, when only electric bikes are available at a station, Indego waved the extra fee as one did not have the choice to choose between electric or regular. I was told today Indego is no longer extending this “courtesy”and if only electric bikes are available and you would like to use a bike, you are forced to pay the 20 cents a minute to use. Why are you changing this policy? Not everyone sees the electric bikes as an upgrade or a preference. I have an annual pass and ride back and forth to work. More often only electric bikes are available at my local docking stations. If this is Indego’s new stance, I’ll have to reconsider my yearly pass as the bus will be less expensive than Indego, if I take an electric bike to and from work everyday it will cost me $1000 dollars more a year on top of my Indego membership. Please reconsider, and reinstate waving electric bike fees when no regular bikes are available.
Thank you for this feedback, Erin! We had to make this adjustment to our policy as we added more Indego Electric bikes to the fleet due to high demand. Indego remains committed to maintaining a core fleet of classic bikes in our system, even as we add more Indego Electric bikes. We suggest biking to the nearest station with classic bikes and/or checking classic bike availability on the app before selecting a departure station.
Emily,
I understand that electric bikes are more expensive, but as someone who does not want to use an electric bikes, if that is the only available option, it does not seem appropriate to penalize me for the lack of availability of the regular bikes. I understand you see this as an upgrade, but by that logic, if I’ve made a reservation for an economy car at a car rental and they only have SUVs they “upgrade me” for free; if I am flying economy and they have to move me to first class they “upgrade me” for free. While I do not see the electric bikes as an “upgrade”, if there is no choice of bikes at the docking station, telling me to go to another docking station to get a choice of bikes, is Yes…20¢ for a minute is not a big deal, and $2 for my 10 min commute is not going to break the bank once in awhile …but if electric bikes are going to slowly push out the classic bikes and yearly I am paying over a $1000 on top of my membership, I will unfortunately have to give up my Indego membership.
I’ve been a member of Indego since April of 2015 and have appreciated the ethos behind this company. And I understand you need to meet your financial goals and cover costs. However, while I do not think you mean to be flippant, your response comes of as very dismissive of my concern. Indego has changed the rules…not me. And you did so without reaching out or amplifying this change to members. I thought Indego’s policy to waive the fee was a very responsible approach. If you are finding you have to “waive” this fee quite a bit, maybe the “demand” for electric bikes isn’t as great as you think.
Please consider reinstating the policy to waive the fee for use of electric bikes when classic are not available. I cannot imagine I am alone in this sentiment. And, if I am than fine, …just waive my fees :).
Quick note to echo Erin’s concern here to Emily & the rest of the Indego team.
I was surprised to have been charged for an electric ride the other day when no regular bikes were available. I thought it must have been a mistake, but was informed by customer service that there’d been a policy change.
(They were kind enough to credit me that ride as a courtesy, but sounds like I’d get charged for similar situations in the future.)
There’s a couple problems here:
– A policy change like this deserves to be publicized clearly. Letting it fall by the wayside is… I don’t know, sneaky, rude, shameful? Generally not great.
The policy itself is problematic in two ways:
First of all, as Erin eloquently stated, if you’re “forcing” us into an upgrade because no bikes are available, it should be comped. That’s just plain reasonable for you to make up for not having enough of the “regular” bikes at that dock / in the network.
If Indego has made a policy decision to so much prioritize the electric bikes at the expense of the regular bikes, then you should adjust your plans & make that clear or have the e-bikes built in. Right now it feels straight-up deceptive to sell me a plan with “unlimited 60min rides” if there aren’t actually any accessible places for me to use said plan.
Maybe the plan should be updated to say “Unlimited 60 mins ride on any classic blue bikes if you are so lucky to actually be able to find one.”?
(Sorry, I’m being snarky there, but this is actually quite frustrating.)
There’s a bigger picture systems/mission problem here too:
The original pitch for bikeshare was public health, affordability, equity & environmentalism. Part of that was biking as exercise, affordable fees for local rides, and building out a network that served the city.
By prioritizing e-bikes, I see a host of problems:
– Less exercise, fewer cardiovascular / public health benefits
– More fees, more budget strain for users
– More unnecessary batteries means more mining, environmental impact.
(We need those batteries for electric cars, sure… but not bikes!)
– More expensive bikes come at the expense of expanding the network in unserved areas.
This last one feels particularly important to me.
Right now the network, while growing, still prioritizes tourist / big business locations and ends up being a force in gentrification. In under-resourced neighborhoods, by the time Indego docks appear, that’s probably around the time that developers and higher property taxes are appearing and more vulnerable neighbors are being more actively displaced.
If all the $$ that was going into expensive e-bikes instead went into more regular bikes & docks being deployed all across the city along major corridors into every neighborhood, (For example, the full length of Broad, Market, Germantown, Ridge, 5th, etc) then we might have a network that was becoming a bit more equitable.
(Yes, I know, there’s pricing options for Access pass holders. But not so helpful if you don’t have docks or bikes in your own neighborhood.)
All to say, this policy change is really disappointing, and so is the focus on e-bikes in general.
I have been considering a yearly Indego pass since my bike was stolen, but seeing as you are now going to charge for electric bikes when no regular bike is available at a dock, I have to seriously reconsider. As someone with a disability, walking is very difficult. Asking me to walk to the next bike dock to get a regular bike isn’t a feasible option. This is just one more iteration of ableism cloaked in the name of making money. Shameful.
I feel the need to echo the past few commenters’ sentiments. Punishing users for living near *multiple* bike racks that are consistently devoid of classic (non-electric) bikes and then charging them for using the electric bikes that may be the only option present constitutes a “forced upgrade” and is shameful. The old policy of waiving e-bike fees if only electric bikes were available was sensible; however, the unexpected $3.67 one way fee I received this morning for a relatively short ride (18 minutes @ 20 cents per minute) was shocking and dissapointing. I checked bike availability before leaving the house this morning and I would have had to walk around 15 minutes to reach a classic bike, which someone else could have taken while I was on the way anyways.
Indego used to be financially sensible, but these changes on top of the ungodly price of the daily pass ($15) without a cheaper single trip pricing option make Indego bikes largely useless to both regular local users and tourists alike. I find it difficult to fathom that any of these changes are profitable; however, profit is the only conceivable motivator for them, since they neither increase accessibility/availability nor enhance the experience for consumers that rely on the service and are trying to save money.
It is imperative that Indego either make sure that classic bikes are available consistently at most/all stations or that they remove this “forced upgrade” policy. Otherwise, I will certainly be cancelling my monthly membership and I’m sure many others will be returning to the incredibly disjointed but more affordable SEPTA options.
I echo your comments, Paul. I know that Indego is aware of this and I understand that Indego has increased their electric bikes but has not been able to do so for the classic bikes due to availability. I do not understand why they stop waiving the fee when there was no option othere than an electric bike. An increase of 20 cents a minute for an electric bike is extremely expensive on top of a pass especially when it is an undesired “upgrade”. I find fewer and fewer classic bikes available and often have no choice but to use an electric bike.
As someone who travels septa via market frankford line we aren’t paying for septa either it’s all bullshit nothing is free not even water !!! They are gonna try selling us fresh air soon and these dumb mfs will buy the sh*t
I agree with these observations and complaints. I am also disappointed/angry when only e-bikes are available at my usual station. To mitigate the charge, and I’m sure some of these commenters have done this as well, I look on the app for the nearest station that does have some classic bikes, and I ride there on my “forced upgrade” and make an exchange. I thus incur a small charge, always less than a dollar, and then continue my ride on the classic bike.
Still, I do want to give a shout-out to customer service (who probably have nothing to do with the “forced upgrade” policy). Whenever I have had a problem, they are readily available and quick to appropriately address the issue.