ViaCycle (YC S12) Is A Zipcar For Bikes, Coming To San Francisco Soon • Hacker News Board

Re: ViaCycle (YC S12) Is A Zipcar For Bikes, Coming To San Francisco Soon

#91

Post by SomeCallMeTim » Wed, Aug 15, 2012, 7:17 PM UTC

jellicle wrote: post #79

AkThhhpppt wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Counterpoints: http://en.velib.paris.fr/ http://www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/cycling/14808.aspx http://www.citybikes.se/en/ http://www.dublinbikes.ie/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bixi

Not sure how those are counterpoints, in that they are all deeply unprofitable services provided by large governments that are subsidized to the tune of tens of millions of dollars per year. Maybe you should read my comment again.

I'm not sure how it matters that they're subsidized.

Cars are subsidized via road building/maintenance, after all, and it's likely to cost less to maintain a few bikes than it does to maintain roads/parking for the cars that would displace them.

Imagine if there were no transportation subsidies and road maintenance were privatized. A nightmare. It seems entirely reasonable that forms of transportation that can help bring tax revenues to a city are subsidized, and therefore entirely reasonable to create a start-up based in part on those subsidies.

Re: ViaCycle (YC S12) Is A Zipcar For Bikes, Coming To San Francisco Soon

#92

Post by schiffern » Wed, Aug 15, 2012, 7:18 PM UTC

Seems very similar to SoBi's offering. SoBi has the advantage of built-in vandalism detection, welded on GPS tracker (it looks like ViaCycle's is bolted on), a sealed shaft-driven drivetrain, and a more durable frame geometry.

http://socialbicycles.com/

Exciting times. It looks like the next generation of bike sharing systems is arriving.

Re: ViaCycle (YC S12) Is A Zipcar For Bikes, Coming To San Francisco Soon

#93

Post by biafra » Wed, Aug 15, 2012, 7:20 PM UTC

jellicle wrote: post #27

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 own a bike. Actually two. But even with two bikes I do not have one available 24/7 because sometimes I have to use different transportation. Then I am somewhere and my bikes are somewhere else. If it wasn't for a monthly fee I'd sign up for the service in my city and use it about once a week.

Re: ViaCycle (YC S12) Is A Zipcar For Bikes, Coming To San Francisco Soon

#94

Post by hapless » Wed, Aug 15, 2012, 7:24 PM UTC

jellicle wrote: post #27

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…

If you read the TC article, the firm intends to make money selling services to cities, universities, etc just as you suggest.

The end-user price points are just examples of what's feasible if you buy their products.

Re: ViaCycle (YC S12) Is A Zipcar For Bikes, Coming To San Francisco Soon

#95

Post by mahyarm » Wed, Aug 15, 2012, 7:27 PM UTC

jellicle wrote: post #81

mahyarm wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know of so many bike theft stories from my friends in SF, that this program is attractive because of those stories. It won't be your typical $100 bike-shaped-object and for $80/yr you can avoid all the bike theft, ownership and maintenance costs and stress.

If you check out a bike, and it disappears, you're responsible for it. So instead of a $100 headache, you now have a $1500 headache. You do avoid maintenance costs, of course. Which are $0/year for many bicyclists.

These things are self locking, so you release it as soon as you leave it unattended and are not liable anymore. If you had to look for a docking station, it would be not practical.

How does zipcar handle car theft?

Re: ViaCycle (YC S12) Is A Zipcar For Bikes, Coming To San Francisco Soon

#96

Post by rprasad » Wed, Aug 15, 2012, 7:27 PM UTC

jellicle wrote: post #81

mahyarm wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know of so many bike theft stories from my friends in SF, that this program is attractive because of those stories. It won't be your typical $100 bike-shaped-object and for $80/yr you can avoid all the bike theft, ownership and maintenance costs and stress.

If you check out a bike, and it disappears, you're responsible for it. So instead of a $100 headache, you now have a $1500 headache. You do avoid maintenance costs, of course. Which are $0/year for many bicyclists.

Nobody who bikes regularly or serious owns a $100 bike. Good bikes start at around $1500, which is why bikes are such frequent targets for theft.

Re: ViaCycle (YC S12) Is A Zipcar For Bikes, Coming To San Francisco Soon

#97

Post by _delirium » Wed, Aug 15, 2012, 7:28 PM UTC

SomeCallMeTim wrote: post #91

jellicle wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure how those are counterpoints, in that they are all deeply unprofitable services provided by large governments that are subsidized to the tune of tens of millions of dollars per year. Maybe you should read my comment again.

I'm not sure how it matters that they're subsidized. Cars are subsidized via road building/maintenance, after all, and it's likely to cost less to maintain a few bikes than it does to maintain roads/parking for the cars that would displace them. Imagine if there were no transportation subsidies and road maintenance were privatized. A nightmare. It seems entirely reasonable that forms of transportation that can help b…

I agree that cities subsidizing a bike-sharing system can make sense. But that doesn't help ViaCycle, which is going to have trouble if they can't run the system at a profit, since unlike the city of Paris, they can't pay for it out of tax revenues.

Re: ViaCycle (YC S12) Is A Zipcar For Bikes, Coming To San Francisco Soon

#98

Post by rprasad » Wed, Aug 15, 2012, 7:30 PM UTC

jellicle wrote: post #27

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 see what you did there, citing 3-year old articles on the start-up problems of then-brand new bike services. Of course, as you can see from other comments, those bike services no longer have those problems, and appear to even be quite successful. It's sort of like the difference between Groupon 3 years ago and Groupon today, but in reverse.

I hate the idea of promoting cycling (roads are for cars, not bikes), but there's nothing about what ViaCycle is doing that suggests it is doomed to failure.

Re: ViaCycle (YC S12) Is A Zipcar For Bikes, Coming To San Francisco Soon

#99

Post by koji » Wed, Aug 15, 2012, 7:34 PM UTC

maartenscholl wrote: post #56

Concerning the design of the bikes, I think there is still room for improvement. The designers can look at the design of the Public Transportation Bike ("OV-Fiets") in the Netherlands[1] which was a major success in a country where there already were more bikes than people before it's introduction. For a bike that is available 24 you would want a bicycle lamp on the front with a dynamo instead of just reflectors. Thi…

There is definitely a lot of things we can do with the bicycles. viaCycle is actually bike agnostic. It's a modular device we can retrofit to secure onto numerous types of bicycles. It's easy to add features to bicycles as well, such as baskets, bells, etc. Customization is part of the offering. We're just showing off the bare-bones test bikes for the most part.

Re: ViaCycle (YC S12) Is A Zipcar For Bikes, Coming To San Francisco Soon

#100

Post by jprobitaille » Wed, Aug 15, 2012, 7:35 PM UTC

kennon wrote: post #43

jellicle wrote: post #27

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…

Despite owning my own bike, I have considered signing up for DC's bikeshare program (havent pulled the trigger yet; just moved here). A couple advantages for me: - I don't have to worry about my own (rather nice) bike getting stolen - I don't have to lug around a lock+chain for short trips. - I'm not stuck with my bike if I use another means for the return trip (e.g., going to a bar, then cabbing home or hitching a r…

Welcome to DC!

Sign up for CaBi - if for no other reason than it helps prevent you arriving at your destination looking like a sweathog from the walk from the metro.