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Uber Will Rent Scooters Through Its App in Partnership with Lime

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Re: Uber Will Rent Scooters Through Its App in Partnership with Lime

#171

Post by taejo »

scootermcscoot wrote: post #87
edaemon wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That wouldn't be too difficult, and I think some cities have done that. The problem is that it's difficult to enforce and there isn't much incentive to try; are they going to give out tickets for poor scooter parking? Who would they ticket? Bird/Lime, the user, or the unknown person who moved it afterwards? I think docking stations are the better solution. Portland has docked shared bikes and they work well. It preve…

Why would it be so hard to enforce? Treat the problem, not the symptom. If the problem is that people leave scooters in the middle of the sidewalk, pass a code that says scooters blocking a thoroughfare will be impounded. Don’t mandate to the companies where their property must be stored, let them know where it can’t be stored and hold them accountable thusly. If Bird had to pay a fee to get scooters out of impound,…

Or rather, the owner worries about recovering the fee from the last driver. This works fine for dockless car rentals; the only reason I can see that it wouldn't work for bikes is that the margins are too small to actually cover administering such a system.

Re: Uber Will Rent Scooters Through Its App in Partnership with Lime

#172

Post by trillic »

mFixman wrote: post #163
bit_logic wrote: post #103

I was thinking about the debate on scooters and it made me realize something: Bike lanes are a disaster, probably one of the biggest mistakes in road design and planning. The basic idea was sound, but it was done the wrong way. Everywhere you see a bike lane, that should've been the concrete sidewalk extended into that area with a painted stripe separating pedestrians and bicycles. Go to a beach and you can see the c…

The part you are missing, like most people who aren't used to exercise and see city planning in a car-centric way, is that a bicycle can go at a serious speed in a city. Bike lanes in sidewalks work in beaches because bikers tend to drive at a comfortable cruising speed. Daily commuters usually bike in the ~15-25mph range in a city (and a lot faster in suburbs and country roads); that speed is dangerous for pedestria…

Detroit is using this type of bike lane on all newly renovated roads. Most notably East Jefferson which was just finished.

Re: Uber Will Rent Scooters Through Its App in Partnership with Lime

#173

Post by Steltek »

KozmoNau7 wrote: post #167
Steltek wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's been tried and it's really not that easy. - Cars will make turns that cross your protected bike path and with parking in the way, a bike's already minimal visible cross section is reduced even more. - Bikes need to make left turns which is difficult when there are parked cars in the way. - Pedestrians will happily walk everywhere in your bike lane (oblivious to your bell ringing due to headphones), regardless of…

>"Cars will make turns that cross your protected bike path and with parking in the way, a bike's already minimal visible cross section is reduced even more." Proper turning/bike lane design and prioritized space for cyclists takes good care of this. In lighted intersections, stagger the lights so bikes have priority. >" Bikes need to make left turns which is difficult when there are parked cars in the way." Make bike…

> Proper turning/bike lane design and prioritized space for cyclists takes good care of this. In lighted intersections, stagger the lights so bikes have priority.

At the one intersection I'm most familiar with, a separate bike light almost always results in the driver becoming confused and causing a near crash. I've learned to wait a few seconds to avoid being hit.

> Make bikes do hook turns (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hook_turn) instead of using the cars' left turn lanes. It's significantly safer and doesn't require bikes to cross traffic lanes.

That takes signficantly longer, as you're guaranteed to sit through at least one signal phase. Again at my favoritist intersection ever, hook turns are what are marked but only newbie bikers use this technique. Everyone else just takes their chances doing something radical so they're no better off.

Re: Uber Will Rent Scooters Through Its App in Partnership with Lime

#174

Post by ceejayoz »

adrianN wrote: post #160
ceejayoz wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Japan has a vastly different approach to public transit versus the US.

So? That's a result of city planning that could have happened in the US as well.

It didn't, though, so we must deal with the repercussions of those choices. I'm all for increasing the walkability of our cities, but I want a say in how that happens as a citizen, via my elected representatives. I'm not comfortable with Uber making those decisions for my city.

Re: Uber Will Rent Scooters Through Its App in Partnership with Lime

#175

Post by KozmoNau7 »

Steltek wrote: post #173
KozmoNau7 wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>"Cars will make turns that cross your protected bike path and with parking in the way, a bike's already minimal visible cross section is reduced even more." Proper turning/bike lane design and prioritized space for cyclists takes good care of this. In lighted intersections, stagger the lights so bikes have priority. >" Bikes need to make left turns which is difficult when there are parked cars in the way." Make bike…

> Proper turning/bike lane design and prioritized space for cyclists takes good care of this. In lighted intersections, stagger the lights so bikes have priority. At the one intersection I'm most familiar with, a separate bike light almost always results in the driver becoming confused and causing a near crash. I've learned to wait a few seconds to avoid being hit. > Make bikes do hook turns ( https://en.wikipedia.or…

A certain minimum level of driver/rider education and sense of self-preservation is also needed, obviously.

Re: Uber Will Rent Scooters Through Its App in Partnership with Lime

#176

Post by tacorama »

trillic wrote: post #172
mFixman wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The part you are missing, like most people who aren't used to exercise and see city planning in a car-centric way, is that a bicycle can go at a serious speed in a city. Bike lanes in sidewalks work in beaches because bikers tend to drive at a comfortable cruising speed. Daily commuters usually bike in the ~15-25mph range in a city (and a lot faster in suburbs and country roads); that speed is dangerous for pedestria…

Detroit is using this type of bike lane on all newly renovated roads. Most notably East Jefferson which was just finished.

I just moved from Detroit but I’m still super excited about the city planning that’s taking place there, in particular the Jefferson calming! Cass has also had protected bike lanes for a little while now and they’re really nice. Detroit is kind of unique in that they have super wide streets that don’t really need to be nearly as wide as they are for the amount of traffic they carry.

Re: Uber Will Rent Scooters Through Its App in Partnership with Lime

#177

Post by jpwgarrison »

randomfool wrote: post #89
jpwgarrison wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I kinda disagree, they are left in the middle or take up a third of shared paths like the Burke-Gilman all of the time. Maybe we just gave up complaining?

I'm sorry, but that's a MASSIVE overstatement. I kindly ask you to grab one of those bikes and do a few miles on the Burke. It's beautiful out, really hope you enjoy it. I commute regularly on the Burke, it's wonderful. Cars are so much more of an issue on my commute. More bikes please!

I bike commute 6 miles each way 4-5 days a week, about 1/2 on the Burke and other paths. That is where my comment comes from. (A day late to amend, I suppose)

Especially around UW, there are ALWAYS rental bikes in the way. Not always dangerously so, but adding to congestion.

I am trying hard not to be too old-man-crotchety about this, but the part where the business model of these companies depends on storing assets on the public right of way ... grinds my gears.

Re: Uber Will Rent Scooters Through Its App in Partnership with Lime

#178

Post by walshemj »

tomjakubowski wrote: post #133
chii wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could just buy a bike for 80 bucks (albeit a poor quality one).

And then you have to keep it somewhere whenever you ride it some place.

As its only £80 just park it on the street with a couple of decent locks.

Re: Uber Will Rent Scooters Through Its App in Partnership with Lime

#179

Post by xanderjanz »

wpietri wrote: post #129
xanderjanz wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's common for gig companies to limit payouts, because it lowers the cost of fraud, which is common. A smart charger charges for multiple companies, and could easily hit higher payouts that way.

Huh. Wouldn't charging for multiple companies increase my ability to commit fraud? I steal smaller amounts from each company, and each company having less data makes it harder for them to detect fraud.

Yea it does. But if you fraud multiple companies you're increasing the odds one will detect you.

This is why companies don't rely only on their own data, they do credit checks, and buy data from third parties.

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