61–70 of 137 posts
UnterCab: the Uber for pedicabs and piggyback-rides
SmallBearings: the RelayRides for rollerskates & skateboards
Hoparound: that seldom-used pogostick doesn't have to be gathering dust anymore
However I think this is a textbook example of the shortcomings of capitalism: while it is great for everyone to live in a city where you can use such a bike, there is no way in hell this will pay for itself.
JCDecaux operates the Vélib' system and was estimated to get the equivalent of 2000 euros per bike per year in advertising concessions from Paris' municipality [1] and still not to make a profit.
As pointed out by others there are very high running costs and I believe the only viable way to pay for this is through taxes. I also believe taxes are the only just way to pay for it, because everyone benefits from living in a city with more bikes and less cars not only the users.
Again, I'd love to be proven wrong and see SF become a greener city through this, but I'm a bit skeptical.
[1] in French http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vélib%27#Viabilit.C3.A9
I'm wondering what happens when someone gets hit by a car and complains that the bike didn't include a helmet. Don't get me wrong. I love the idea in every way, shape, and form - but I have serious questions about the legal safety issues.
I'm not sure how each service deals with indemnification against such claims, but the legal requirement, if it exists, to wear helmets, certainly makes a difference to uptake. For health reasons, helmets are not considered as hireable with bikes in the Australian schemes. This makes it extremely difficult for either tourists or casual interests to just get up and go.
I love the idea, but it's doomed to failure. I live in a city with a bike-sharing system. It's deeply unprofitable and exists only at the sufferance of the city government. There are a number of flaws. Number 1 is that people who ride bikes don't rent them, they own them. For $100 anyone can purchase a bicycle that will last indefinitely and be available 24/7/365. Number 2 is that people vandalize the shit out of bic…
"In addition, there is also an upfront cost of about $1,000 to $1,500 for every bike." A recent article from the Economist says London's bikes cost average price is £14,460/bike each, subsidised by government and advertising. Companies like ViaCycle will hopefully drop the price of these schemes. http://www.economist.com/node/21557527
E.g. everyone wants to ride towards downtown in the morning, so there are no bikes left elsewhere, and there isn't enough space downtown to hold all the bikes. And only 2/3 of the morning people want to ride back in the evening, because they're doing other things in the evening.
IIRC, some European cities have whole trucks that carry bikes between neighborhoods throughout the day to solve this problem. But that only works if you have big concentrated bike-parking stations. You can't do this if bikes are parked all over the place on the street.
It would be really interesting if this service would pay you to ride bikes in the opposite direction of demand. But I can't imagine that would be economical. There just aren't enough people to bike from downtown to the suburbs in the morning, plus you're going to have to pay for them all to get back downtown afterwards!
I love the idea, but it's doomed to failure. I live in a city with a bike-sharing system. It's deeply unprofitable and exists only at the sufferance of the city government. There are a number of flaws. Number 1 is that people who ride bikes don't rent them, they own them. For $100 anyone can purchase a bicycle that will last indefinitely and be available 24/7/365. Number 2 is that people vandalize the shit out of bic…
I saw the headline, read the article, got excited, landed on the homepage, looked for San Francisco on the list of programs... then left the site, disappointed. You won't get a lot of opportunities to capture customers like the one you just got (and lost) with me.
Use mailchimp or something similar and you can fill this deficiency in a few minutes.
"In addition, there is also an upfront cost of about $1,000 to $1,500 for every bike." A recent article from the Economist says London's bikes cost average price is £14,460/bike each, subsidised by government and advertising. Companies like ViaCycle will hopefully drop the price of these schemes. http://www.economist.com/node/21557527
How are they so expensive? That doesn't sound right, unless it's looking at the entire cost of the program per bike, rather than just the marginal cost of a new bike.