Live data from Hacker News

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

nytimes.com

61–70 of 157 posts

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

#61
post #48
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

I could see a service doing extremely well if they offered something for people who want to bring their own.

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

#62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

According to the Lime app, there are at least 50 Lime-S scooters within 1km of the corner of Broadway and Telegraph right now. There are 9 outside 12th St BART alone.

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

#64
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Why do you find that electric bikes work better for longer trips?

deleted

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

#65
post #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.

Imagine if you could combine the two - take a scooter to your Uber/Lyft drive for a discount/bounty so it can get recharged?

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

#66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're illegal in the same way that if you sticking four wheels on a fridge and driving it down the street is also illegal. They're not road worthy, and you can't use them on footpaths in the same way you can't cycle on footpaths.

FWIW I was just in london and saw a bunch of people riding their own Mi scooters in the street. (That's the same scooter Bird uses.)

Sure, and people smoke week or break the speed limit despite the legality.

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

#68
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 in NYC I haven't really seen any scooters ever, whereas Citibike is everywhere.

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

#69
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'd be curious to know where you live that you have four competing bike-sharing services. That, at least, is surprising to me. Here in NYC the Citibike program has been massively successful, with bike ridership doubling almost overnight (I recommend Sadik-Khan's book STREETFIGHT where she talks about being the commissioner of the DOT and overseeing the deployment). But it was successful because it had buy-in from the local government and because NYC is such a high-density city. Statistically most trips here are under 3 miles, so bikes are a really good fit once you build out a bike network with paint and handshakes.

It's definitely true that ride-sharing apps give bikes a run for their money, but it's worth pointing out that those apps are heavily subsidized by the investors on those companies' boards. $9 rides from one end of Brooklyn to the other will not last (see, for example, surge pricing -- when prices get REAL). I think, when we think about how to scale cities up going in the future, that cars cannot be how we hedge our bets. Their impact on the environment and people's healths and the rates of manslaughter should relegate them to a secondary mode of transportation. They're great for groups and for late-night insobriety, like you point out, but they should hopefully become a utility player in the landscape of things when we picture cities in, like, the year 2050 or the year 3000.

So in many ways bikes are an investment into the future. They've paid off in many places already, and hopefully as American cities move away from the sprawl (thank you, auto lobbies, for all you've given us) to something more modern they'll only become more relevant. It's also worth pointing out, I think, that bike-sharing networks can easily sustain other types of traffic. I see hip-looking people using electric skateboards in the bike lanes all the time, and I'm sure we'll eventually find a way to co-exist with the hoverboarders and the scooters once the panic over those modes of transportation die down. I believe the market behind bike-sharing is only going to grow and there's gold there, but what do I know.

EDIT: It looks like a lot of people jumped on you since I started writing this long comment, so I feel bad for piling on. Just wanted to chime in with one success story.

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

#70
post #12

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

In Dallas, dockless bikes are nothing but problematic. People have gotten in the habit of dumping their bikes on strangers' front lawns and laying them down on sidewalks without using the kickstand. There was a pretty public case of a blind man being seriously injured because someone left a bike just laying on the sidewalk. In retaliation, much of the citizenry has taken to vandalizing the bikes. There are pictures o…

Same thing with the electric scooters in SF. I've even seen many vandalized scooters--including one that someone had lovingly taken a dump on.
Post reply on HN