Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 157 posts

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

#41

Post by entee »

Tiktaalik wrote: post #23
godzillabrennus wrote: post #2

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 buse…

You can already use a clipper card to unlock a gobike in SF. It's how I do it all the time, and it's incredibly convenient. If only they had a station essentially every block or every other block; the one by my house is frequently empty.

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

#42

Post by tjr225 »

Spivak wrote: post #37

Can someone explain the economics of services like this? I just get the feeling that these bike-sharing services are running on a good sales pitch and a market which seems obvious but isn't really there. There are probably four or five competing services in my city and yet I have never actually seen a single person actually riding them. There are certainly people riding bikes but it's always their own bike. Complicat…

Here in Seattle I see people riding limebikes and Citibikes all over the place...it seems like a really popular service. I am really into bikes so I have multiple bikes of my own, but I don't believe I am who they are targeting to use that service.

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

#43

Post by Symbiote »

aventrix wrote: post #6
godzillabrennus wrote: post #2

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.

There aren't many dockless hire bikes in Copenhagen, but they cause no problem. That's because there's existing places for people to leave bicycles.

Maybe these startup should work with the city councils to install similar bike parking in some locations, either by removing 1-2 car parking spaces (10-20 bikes?) or using otherwise wasted space.

There are lots of examples on http://www.copenhagenize.com/2013/04/using-street-space-for-...

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

#44

Post by entee »

jaredsohn wrote: post #3
godzillabrennus wrote: post #2

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

The docking stations are convenient in some ways because you know where to go to find a bike and you can feel good that you're not leaving it in a place that is in the way.

If the stations were upgraded a bit, I bet the docking stations could charge the E-bikes. That would make it especially useful to have docks, far less labor involved in manually charging bikes, the rider sets it to charge automatically!

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

#45

Post by majormajor »

Tiktaalik wrote: post #23
godzillabrennus wrote: post #2

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 buse…

"Point to point" is a huge part of the appeal of cars over the existing public transportation network. We dedicate a ton of space to enabling point to point for cars, and barely any for bike docks and the like.

Dockless scooters are the most effective thing I've seen yet - in very limited areas, so far - at starting to combat the limitations of the public transit network compared to the road/sidewalk/parking lot network. Bikes are too big to work well in this way, but scooters have done well.

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

#46

Post by entee »

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #13
elvirs wrote: post #10

I wish they went after electric bikes or scooters. Not everyone feels like spinning pedals in the heat or cold after long day at work.

E-bikes are motor vehicles and can't be used on bike paths in NY state though they are street legal if registered. NYC park police actively ticket E-bikes on the west side.

In California, I'm fairly certain that if they're restricted to below 20mph they're just fine in bike lanes/paths.

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

#47

Post by vinay427 »

aventrix wrote: post #33
madeofpalk wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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).

Can you elaborate on the legality? In what way are they illegal?

This is fairly easy to investigate online, but here's an article I found for example: https://www.techadvisor.co.uk/buying-advice/gadget/is-it-leg...

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

#48

Post by bajaj »

Spivak wrote: post #37

Can someone explain the economics of services like this? I just get the feeling that these bike-sharing services are running on a good sales pitch and a market which seems obvious but isn't really there. There are probably four or five competing services in my city and yet I have never actually seen a single person actually riding them. There are certainly people riding bikes but it's always their own bike. Complicat…

Bike networks make for a great commuter option in crowded cities, for a few reasons:

- Storing a bike is a problem in cities like NYC and SF due to space constraints

- Electric bikes offer faster commute option than a regular bike but are more expensive to buy

- Bike theft is a really big problem in cities

- It's very convenient to have the option to ride a bike somewhere without worrying about carrying it around

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

#49

Post by usaar333 »

Spivak wrote: post #37

Can someone explain the economics of services like this? I just get the feeling that these bike-sharing services are running on a good sales pitch and a market which seems obvious but isn't really there. There are probably four or five competing services in my city and yet I have never actually seen a single person actually riding them. There are certainly people riding bikes but it's always their own bike. Complicat…

I use Ford GoBike daily in SF (one of Motivates' products) and I find it wonderful for solo trips (generally commuting)

In dense city environments:

* Fastest transit mode within a few miles (beats driving or Muni)

* Extremely cheap ($15/month)

* Much better than using my own bike for commuting purposes (no storage issues, flexible to switch transit modes, etc.)

* Mixed predictability compared to dockless such as Jump (more likely to be a nearby bike, less likely to be able to dock bike at destination).

Market wise, it's also great for last mile transit within an urban area, e.g. Commuters that commute into a dense city, but work a mile from the train station.

Post reply on HN