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Lyft Follows Uber Into Bike-Sharing Lane, Buying Owner of CitiBike

nytimes.com

21–30 of 157 posts

Re: Lyft Follows Uber Into Bike-Sharing Lane, Buying Owner of CitiBike

#21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oakland, California has some of the worst streets in America, and getting worse. There are Limes and Birds on every corner of downtown.

I live near Downtown Oakland and have yet to see one of these Scooters on the road -- so far the primary use case in Oakland seems to be teenagers blasting around Lake Merritt on the weekends.

There were 6 on each corner of Broadway & Grand at 7am today.

Re: Lyft Follows Uber Into Bike-Sharing Lane, Buying Owner of CitiBike

#22
post #9
post #5

How does the popularity of bikes compare to electric scooters? Anecdotally, I see a lot more Bird and Lime S scooters flying around than I do bicycles these days - and we do have docked bicycle and Lime bikes and Ofo options available in my city. Having tried many of these services, I find the electric scooters to be the most enjoyable, although the electric bikes are quite fun too and can be a better experience if y…

Here is what you mean when you say a scooter: https://www.limebike.com/hubfs/Assets/bike-s-2.jpg?t=1530481... Here is what much of the world thinks is a scooter: https://emmy-sharing.de/wp-content/uploads/Schwalbe_45-links... Just to clear that up. If it was between those two I'd take the latter given that hitting a pothole on that Lime thing is liable to stop all forward momentum suddenly and precariously. But reall…

The latter bit seems unnecessary.

Re: Lyft Follows Uber Into Bike-Sharing Lane, Buying Owner of CitiBike

#23

If they can offer these without the inconvenient docking stations it’ll be a much more popular transportation option.

I don't agree.

With permanent, known stations, a dock system can be more easily integrated into the existing public transportation network. This way the two systems can work together, and make the transportation of the region more efficient in general.

These bike share startups should honestly all be to some degree folded into the public transportation network in general. It should be a mid to long term goal for buses, bike share and metro to be able to use the same public transport metro card.

We've already seen many examples of this of dockless systems being a nuisance to businesses, local residents, and city governments. This is the sort of public service that doesn't make a lot of sense to be handled privately IMO.

Re: Lyft Follows Uber Into Bike-Sharing Lane, Buying Owner of CitiBike

#24
post #9
post #5

How does the popularity of bikes compare to electric scooters? Anecdotally, I see a lot more Bird and Lime S scooters flying around than I do bicycles these days - and we do have docked bicycle and Lime bikes and Ofo options available in my city. Having tried many of these services, I find the electric scooters to be the most enjoyable, although the electric bikes are quite fun too and can be a better experience if y…

Here is what you mean when you say a scooter: https://www.limebike.com/hubfs/Assets/bike-s-2.jpg?t=1530481... Here is what much of the world thinks is a scooter: https://emmy-sharing.de/wp-content/uploads/Schwalbe_45-links... Just to clear that up. If it was between those two I'd take the latter given that hitting a pothole on that Lime thing is liable to stop all forward momentum suddenly and precariously. But reall…

> Though I think the unstated single most important selling point for the Lime scooter over the electric bike is that you don't need to deal with the homicidal, low awareness, little education American driver and the abhorrent infrastructure (and policies) that enable them.

How so? Both Lime scooters and electric bikes are supposed to be ridden in bike lanes on the road, although enforcement can be hit-or-miss.

Re: Lyft Follows Uber Into Bike-Sharing Lane, Buying Owner of CitiBike

#25
post #9
post #5

How does the popularity of bikes compare to electric scooters? Anecdotally, I see a lot more Bird and Lime S scooters flying around than I do bicycles these days - and we do have docked bicycle and Lime bikes and Ofo options available in my city. Having tried many of these services, I find the electric scooters to be the most enjoyable, although the electric bikes are quite fun too and can be a better experience if y…

Here is what you mean when you say a scooter: https://www.limebike.com/hubfs/Assets/bike-s-2.jpg?t=1530481... Here is what much of the world thinks is a scooter: https://emmy-sharing.de/wp-content/uploads/Schwalbe_45-links... Just to clear that up. If it was between those two I'd take the latter given that hitting a pothole on that Lime thing is liable to stop all forward momentum suddenly and precariously. But reall…

> Though I think the unstated single most important selling point for the Lime scooter over the electric bike is that you don't need to deal with the homicidal, low awareness, little education American driver and the abhorrent infrastructure (and policies) that enable them.

Except you do some places. In San Francisco it is illegal to ride an e-scooter on the sidewalk. You are supposed to ride in the bicycle lanes.

Re: Lyft Follows Uber Into Bike-Sharing Lane, Buying Owner of CitiBike

#26
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The one major annoyance I've found with them is that coverage is extremely restricted. In SF, coverage doesn't reach Fishermans Wharf, Golden Gate bridge or Golden Gate park. When I was in SF for tourism a few years ago, it was a complete non-starter even though at a glance it seemed like the most promising option.

>in SF for tourism a few years ago, it was a complete non-starter That's intentional - http://www.sfexaminer.com/transportation-officials-halt-fund...

FWIW, it was also extremely restricted when I used it in Toronto. Coverage only went as far as middle of Korean Town, meaning you couldn't use it to go to, say, High Park. For commuting it was an even sillier proposition, because the coverage overlapped with the densest subway/bus grid in the city, and it was not much cheaper per month than a subway pass, unless you got a groupon for it.

Re: Lyft Follows Uber Into Bike-Sharing Lane, Buying Owner of CitiBike

#27
post #6

If they can offer these without the inconvenient docking stations it’ll be a much more popular transportation option.

There is a quiet war brewing between city councils and dockless bike companies. It's tough to say whether cities will embrace a dockless bike/scooter future, or if they will ultimately ban the companies from operation, leaving a market for docked bikes to remain.

Quiet, perhaps, but visually egregious. Lime bikes are seen daily abandoned and often lying on sidewalks, on grass, in fields & even on street curbs.

Re: Lyft Follows Uber Into Bike-Sharing Lane, Buying Owner of CitiBike

#28
post #5

How does the popularity of bikes compare to electric scooters? Anecdotally, I see a lot more Bird and Lime S scooters flying around than I do bicycles these days - and we do have docked bicycle and Lime bikes and Ofo options available in my city. Having tried many of these services, I find the electric scooters to be the most enjoyable, although the electric bikes are quite fun too and can be a better experience if y…

Worth noting that those Bird and Lime scooters are illegal in some countries, like the UK. Bird cannot expand to the UK without laws changing (which I'm sure there's plenty of lobbying going on to ensure).

Re: Lyft Follows Uber Into Bike-Sharing Lane, Buying Owner of CitiBike

#29
post #5

How does the popularity of bikes compare to electric scooters? Anecdotally, I see a lot more Bird and Lime S scooters flying around than I do bicycles these days - and we do have docked bicycle and Lime bikes and Ofo options available in my city. Having tried many of these services, I find the electric scooters to be the most enjoyable, although the electric bikes are quite fun too and can be a better experience if y…

For me, it breaks down to:

0-2miles - Scooters (or walk),

2-5miles - Electric Bikes (or Uber),

5-15miles - Uber/Lyft

It is a nice little transportation stack Uber and Lyft are fighting over.

Re: Lyft Follows Uber Into Bike-Sharing Lane, Buying Owner of CitiBike

#30
post #9
post #5

How does the popularity of bikes compare to electric scooters? Anecdotally, I see a lot more Bird and Lime S scooters flying around than I do bicycles these days - and we do have docked bicycle and Lime bikes and Ofo options available in my city. Having tried many of these services, I find the electric scooters to be the most enjoyable, although the electric bikes are quite fun too and can be a better experience if y…

Here is what you mean when you say a scooter: https://www.limebike.com/hubfs/Assets/bike-s-2.jpg?t=1530481... Here is what much of the world thinks is a scooter: https://emmy-sharing.de/wp-content/uploads/Schwalbe_45-links... Just to clear that up. If it was between those two I'd take the latter given that hitting a pothole on that Lime thing is liable to stop all forward momentum suddenly and precariously. But reall…

Ok, I know we like to dump on Americans with impunity, and I'm not even going to get into whether it's deserved or not, but have you driven in much of the rest of the world?
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