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What Dockless Bikes and Scooters Are Exposing

haveago.city

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Re: What Dockless Bikes and Scooters Are Exposing

#151

Post by 05 »

kingnothing wrote: post #52
vkou wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone who is not comfortable/fit enough to bike on an American road should probably bike on a non-crowded sidewalk. There are over 800 cyclist deaths, from being hit by cars, every year in the United States. How many pedestrians have been killed by a cyclist hitting them? Forcing someone biking at 7 mph off the sidewalk and onto the street creates more danger then it protects us from.

And there are 1.3 million deaths per year in auto accidents. Cars are dangerous. http://asirt.org/initiatives/informing-road-users/road-safet...

1.3M worldwide, 30-40K US.

Re: What Dockless Bikes and Scooters Are Exposing

#152

Post by 05 »

nanomonkey wrote: post #58
vkou wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone who is not comfortable/fit enough to bike on an American road should probably bike on a non-crowded sidewalk. There are over 800 cyclist deaths, from being hit by cars, every year in the United States. How many pedestrians have been killed by a cyclist hitting them? Forcing someone biking at 7 mph off the sidewalk and onto the street creates more danger then it protects us from.

There have been several studies showing that you're more likely to get hit by a car biking on the sidewalk then riding on the street. Drivers don't look for bicyclist riding on the sidewalk, you will get right swiped.

Unless they make the same people bike in a randomly decided way during the study, it's likely selection bias to a large extent - more experienced cyclists would ride on roads, less experienced (and on worse bikes without disc brakes) - on sidewalks.

Re: What Dockless Bikes and Scooters Are Exposing

#153

Post by JshWright »

darawk wrote: post #127
bunderbunder wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fedex deliveries blocking the road for a short time are generally considered preferable to removing a whack of on-street parking from every block in order to have an excess of loading zones, or not being able to have deliveries at all. sidewalk signs for bars are regulated, at least in my city. They have to leave (IIRC) 6' of clearance on the sidewalk so they don't obstruct pedestrian traffic. Whether those rules are…

> Fedex deliveries blocking the road for a short time are generally considered preferable to removing a whack of on-street parking from every block in order to have an excess of loading zones, or not being able to have deliveries at all. You mean the way that the minor inconvenience of having a few scooters laying around is considered acceptable in return for having a cheap, efficient, green solution for last mile tr…

There are many (particularly those with mobility or vision related disabilites) that would disagree with your use of the word "minor" to describe randomly placed obstacles on the sidewalk...

Re: What Dockless Bikes and Scooters Are Exposing

#154

Post by mentalpiracy »

jarvuschris wrote: post #126
kingbirdy wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same in Philadelphia

There are some zipcar spots on streets in Philly

Enterprise has a few streetside too. Almost assuredly, these companies pay Philly for the rights to that those marked spots.

Re: What Dockless Bikes and Scooters Are Exposing

#155

Post by obel1x »

Angostura wrote: post #137
gkoberger wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean... like Getaround and Zipcar already do? The streets are filled with companies using public spaces: Fedex deliveries blocking the road, sidewalk signs for bars, Getaround rentals, food carts, mailboxes, ATMs, parking meters, Scoot scooters, taxi lines, Lyft/Ubers, Redbox DVD rentals, annoying Greenpeace petition people, construction, billboards, etc. I don't think it's a cost-saving measure for scooter/bike…

Certainly, where I live in London, Zipcar has arranged with the council to have special bays marked, reserved for them. The council like car-sharing, so are happy - but it is done in a manageable way.

There is also Zipcar Flex in London. You can park the cars in on-street parking, even paid or residents bays. But they have only agreed it with some councils so far. Map: https://www.zipcar.co.uk/takethebluepin#zipzone-map

Re: What Dockless Bikes and Scooters Are Exposing

#156

Post by staticautomatic »

BrainInAJar wrote: post #117
staticautomatic wrote: post #67

This article reeks of spin. I'll bet real money that it's a PR piece.

Yes the all powerful bike lobby

Is there some reason you think these companies aren't using some of their VC money for this PR war?

Re: What Dockless Bikes and Scooters Are Exposing

#157

Post by humanrebar »

skookumchuck wrote: post #24
CydeWeys wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One obvious solution would be to add more bike parking. Bike parking is rare in most cities, which is why you end up with people locking their bikes to poles, fences, trees, benches, and anything else available. It's amazing how much urban space we're willing to dedicate to cars in the way of streets and parking (most of it free!), and yet bicycle parking is often a rarity.

When I was a kid, the schools had long rows of bike racks festooned with bikes. These days, a school has a single 5 foot rack with one forlorn bike in it and parents have to authorize their kids to bike to school. When I drive by a school when they let out, the 20mph speed limit is a bit pointless because there are hardly any kids walking home (unlike the mobs when I was a kid). Their moms are all waiting in a long l…

The risk is that some kid runs around the car and into traffic to get in on the other side. You want cars to go slowly enough to quickly brake if small children dart into traffic.

Re: What Dockless Bikes and Scooters Are Exposing

#158

Post by hvidgaard »

jonemo wrote: post #124
hapless wrote: post #2

If Hertz or Avis attempted to use public space to park their inventory, local residents and city officials would pitch a fit. Public parking exists for the benefit of the public at large, not as a cost-saving measure for rental firms. The same is true of bicycles. You can store your private bicycle almost anywhere you like in public. But city fathers will naturally take a dim view of a business using that public spac…

> If Hertz or Avis attempted to use public space to park their inventory, local residents and city officials would pitch a fit. I don't have a counter-example for your very specific statement, but these are close: * The car rental company "Rent a Wreck" in San Francisco drives between 5 and 20 of their camper vehicles off the lot and parks them in public parking spaces every morning around 7am and brings them back in…

> I asked @sf311 on Twitter why these things don't get enforced, but parking scooters on sidewalks does [0]. The answer:

>> These scooters do not have a license plate. So it does not fall under SFMTA DPT.

>> DPW BSM permits use of and enforces ordinances regarding public areas, as pertains to blocking items that don't have a license.

> [0]: https://twitter.com/jonemo/status/985989669895553024

Excellent example of Red Tape in the wild.

Re: What Dockless Bikes and Scooters Are Exposing

#159

Post by stupidcar »

Angostura wrote: post #139
woah wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The inconvenience and danger caused by cars is so much more. You have to be on alert to avoid being killed by them. Huge swaths of valuable city real estate are devoted to free or low priced subsidized storage of cars for entitled car owners. It's astounding that this has gone on for so long and it needs to be stopped.

I seldom see cars driving on the pavement.

When bikes are ridden on the pavement, it's usually because road design and/or car drivers are making the road too dangerous for them. If you think about it, the pavement is not somewhere the average cyclist wants to be any more than a pedestrian wants them there. Even without people filling them, pavements are irregular, uneven and cluttered spaces, optimised for slow-moving bipeds who can stop, start and turn on a dime. If there's a safe roadway available, cyclists will use it.

Re: What Dockless Bikes and Scooters Are Exposing

#160

Post by lmm »

matttproud wrote: post #130

This article's author has a chip on the shoulders regarding automobiles: > pick up their cars and drop them off _anywhere_ in the city (emphasis mine) Really? One may not park a car _anywhere_. There are typically laws dictating when, where, and for how long. Whether the laws are respected or enforced are a different matter. Individuals inconsiderately stranding means of transportation across the city is patently uns…

> There are typically laws dictating when, where, and for how long. Whether the laws are respected or enforced are a different matter.

It's not a "different matter". What affects people's lives is the law as it's experienced and enforced, not what's written in the statute book.

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