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

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

#121

Post by ashelmire »

aventrix wrote: 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…

I have never seen an electric scooter in Philly. I bike or take public transit usually, and there are bikeshare docks all over.

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

#122

Post by s0rce »

8ytecoder wrote: post #71
ndespres wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my city, cars are parked everywhere, on the sides of every road, on sidewalks sometimes, now THAT is egregious!

A car parked on the street doesn't inconvenience me but a bike/scooter on the sidewalk does - every single day. I'm a cyclist myself. I do like the convenience of dockless bikes for drop offs.

Parked cars are always in the way, the ones double parked blocking the official bike lane are hugely disruptive and dangerous and the nearly permanently parked cars along the side block what could be actually effective biking and pedestrian infrastructure. Just because cars are parked on the "street" and this is the status quo doesn't mean its no longer an inconvenience.

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

#123

Post by Symbiote »

stevekemp wrote: post #77
Tiktaalik wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> This way the two systems can work together That's the way it works in Helsinki. In the summer docks appear, stocked with bicycles. If you look on the local transport-company website you can see a realtime map of the trams, busses, and the number of bikes available at each dock-site. For example on the following map you can see the number of bikes available near my house: https://www.reittiopas.fi/pysakit/HSL:116040…

> the other side of the road

That seems rather limiting. Here in Copenhagen, I don't know any GB/AU/NZ/etc people who can ride a bike but choose not to. I cycled from the airport to the city centre on my first day here...

It perhaps helps that I'm from SE England, so about once a year my dad would drive the car to (or through) France without a fuss.

Helsinki looks very green, I must plan a visit.

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

#124

Post by ams6110 »

torpidor wrote: post #117
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…

What you're missing is that bikes, and especially ebikes, are far more viable for transport than most Americans think. In Copenhagen for example bikes are actually the primary mode of transport, outnumbering cars on the roads. Bikes are literally the fastest way to get around in many places. There are a number of reasons it doesn't work well in the States, but broadly it boils down to a) fitness levels, and b) cultur…

Copenhagen in the summer is about 75° F and fairly low humidity. Ok for a comfortable cycle to work. Many midwest American cities reach mid 90's temp and high humidity. If you cycle to work you'll need a shower when you get there, assuming you don't get heatstroke on the way.

Cycling is not viable transportation in many areas, and you can't cherry pick a place like Copenhagen and use that to support a claim that it works everywhere.

Where I live, the weather is amenable to cycling maybe 4 months out of the year, and it's far faster to drive than cycle in any case.

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

#125

Post by jsemrau »

sushid wrote: post #119
ebikelaw wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No room for buses, trains, or regular bicycles? The nice thing about a regular bicycle is the unlimited range. Whereas the nice thing about an electric bike is the speed. My personal hierarchy is more like this: 0-1 miles: walk 1-10 miles: e-bike or bus or lyft 10-100 miles: regular bike or train > 100 miles: car

No buses for me. I've given it a try many times but in SF, unless you're on a popular commuting line, it's filled with crazy, aggressive homeless people. I've given up traveling via bike after losing my wheels to theft. My friend got his u-lock + loop locked bike's seat stolen while grabbing food to go at the Westfield food court around lunchtime. > 10-100 miles: regular bike or train SF to San Jose is 55 miles. To t…

When I was living in the valley I took the bus from Menlo Park to Cupertino. It took me 2 hours! By cars that's 25 minutes.

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

#126

Post by ams6110 »

apendleton wrote: post #90
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…

The DC system (the first large-scale system operated by what's now Motivate in the US) has been wildly successful. Most people use it for short-ish trips, and I think it's especially popular for last-mile trips from transit, and for tourists. Many DC residents who use it, myself included, do also own their own bikes, but maintain a membership to bikeshare because it's cheap, and useful in situations where you only wa…

I find the lack of vandalism and theft astounding. My town tried bike sharing way back in the late 70s or early 80s. The bikes were all destroyed or stolen within a few weeks.

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

#127

Post by Symbiote »

sushid wrote: post #119
ebikelaw wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No room for buses, trains, or regular bicycles? The nice thing about a regular bicycle is the unlimited range. Whereas the nice thing about an electric bike is the speed. My personal hierarchy is more like this: 0-1 miles: walk 1-10 miles: e-bike or bus or lyft 10-100 miles: regular bike or train > 100 miles: car

No buses for me. I've given it a try many times but in SF, unless you're on a popular commuting line, it's filled with crazy, aggressive homeless people. I've given up traveling via bike after losing my wheels to theft. My friend got his u-lock + loop locked bike's seat stolen while grabbing food to go at the Westfield food court around lunchtime. > 10-100 miles: regular bike or train SF to San Jose is 55 miles. To t…

I used to work with someone who cycled about 40km (25 miles) to work.

I admired his general health and determination. His alternative was a reasonably fast train; including walking at each end it was at most ⅓ of the time.

I think the most I ever cycled is about 80km/day, for a five-day cycling "holiday" in the low countries. It was a great trip, but I was completely exhausted at the end of each day.

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

#128

Post by ams6110 »

shadytrees wrote: post #69
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'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…

> They're great for groups and for late-night insobriety

Bikes have to obey the same traffic rules as cars and you can get a DUI if you're intoxicated and riding.

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

#129

Post by jsemrau »

ams6110 wrote: post #124
torpidor wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you're missing is that bikes, and especially ebikes, are far more viable for transport than most Americans think. In Copenhagen for example bikes are actually the primary mode of transport, outnumbering cars on the roads. Bikes are literally the fastest way to get around in many places. There are a number of reasons it doesn't work well in the States, but broadly it boils down to a) fitness levels, and b) cultur…

Copenhagen in the summer is about 75° F and fairly low humidity. Ok for a comfortable cycle to work. Many midwest American cities reach mid 90's temp and high humidity. If you cycle to work you'll need a shower when you get there, assuming you don't get heatstroke on the way. Cycling is not viable transportation in many areas, and you can't cherry pick a place like Copenhagen and use that to support a claim that it w…

You could argue that in winter its getting below 40 in Copenhagen and in you midwest American cities it might not?

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

#130

Post by oh_sigh »

Symbiote wrote: post #127
sushid wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No buses for me. I've given it a try many times but in SF, unless you're on a popular commuting line, it's filled with crazy, aggressive homeless people. I've given up traveling via bike after losing my wheels to theft. My friend got his u-lock + loop locked bike's seat stolen while grabbing food to go at the Westfield food court around lunchtime. > 10-100 miles: regular bike or train SF to San Jose is 55 miles. To t…

I used to work with someone who cycled about 40km (25 miles) to work. I admired his general health and determination. His alternative was a reasonably fast train; including walking at each end it was at most ⅓ of the time. I think the most I ever cycled is about 80km/day, for a five-day cycling "holiday" in the low countries. It was a great trip, but I was completely exhausted at the end of each day.

The people I know who bike to work probably operate on different calculus than just viewing it as a commute choice. On days where I drive in or WFH, I still end up on my bike for X hours/day - so bike commuting is basically doubling up commuting and exercise for me, meaning
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