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Lyft Takes over Ford GoBike

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Re: Lyft Takes over Ford GoBike

#41

Post by idunno246 »

throwaway287391 wrote: post #38
sparky_z wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Go-bikes" were never run by Ford. It was a start-up called Motivate[0] that licensed the Ford brand for their bikeshare service. Lyft bought Motivate last year, and is just now getting around to the rebrand. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motivate_(company)

Thanks for pointing that out -- I had no idea and it's really surprising to me. Why did they license the Ford brand? Is the Ford name really that attractive to the Bay Area bikesharing market? Would've expected it would hurt more than help, if anything. Is it just: all brand recognition is good brand recognition?

its more that ford sponsored it. ford bought in around the same time they bought chariot i think. it seemed like they were just testing out a bunch of things related to transportation

Re: Lyft Takes over Ford GoBike

#43

Post by alpb »

I was in SF this week and had a chance to try this out. They have 0 (zero) e-bikes despite their app has a column to list the count.

They also force you to pick up the bike from designated racks and drop-off at designated racks which is a pain in the ass.

On the other hand JUMP has a fully e-bike fleet, but bikes were impossible to come by. I parked a JUMP bike that had full battery. An hour later I came back and the app didn’t let me unlock it (reason unknown to me). It seemed like things are really glitchy.

I found the entire bikeshare situation in SF to be miserable, in brief. Scooters are no different.

It’s funny to see that Seattle were like this 4 years ago. Now LIME and JUMP dominate Seattle with fleets entirely consisting of E-bikes. They are super ubiquitous, and there’s no shortage of them, no “glitches”, and no need to park them at a designated rack.

Re: Lyft Takes over Ford GoBike

#44

Post by jMyles »

pensketch wrote: post #24
diebeforei485 wrote: post #2

After Lyft/GoBike removed all their electric bikes, SFMTA decided to expand dockless bikeshare so people can continue to commute by bikeshare. But Lyft decided to sue instead: https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/7/18657312/lyft-bike-share-l...

You're painting Lyft to be the bad guys because they're suing. It seems like SFMTA is trying to weasel out of a contract. Lyft isn't trying to prevent people from continuing to commute by bikeshare; they're trying to secure their ROI on their Motivate acquisition through the exclusivity contract with SF. Have you read the contract terms in the article you're linking to? SFMTA is saying the contract was for 'docked bi…

I'm not sure I agree that the city has the moral authority to grant a monopoly on such a concept.

I like Lyft just fine and I especially applaud their efforts to expand into ebike-to-transit. But I also have a little trouble feeling sorry for a company that feels it has suffered a loss because its out-and-out regulatory capture scheme didn't pan out as successfully as it hoped.

Re: Lyft Takes over Ford GoBike

#45

Post by throwaway287391 »

stingrae wrote: post #40
throwaway287391 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for pointing that out -- I had no idea and it's really surprising to me. Why did they license the Ford brand? Is the Ford name really that attractive to the Bay Area bikesharing market? Would've expected it would hurt more than help, if anything. Is it just: all brand recognition is good brand recognition?

I think Ford paid to have it put there (as advertising). In NYC it is Citi Bike share as advertising for CitiBank.

Oops, that makes a lot more sense. Thank you.

Re: Lyft Takes over Ford GoBike

#46

Post by jessaustin »

praneshp wrote: post #29
Larrikin wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if I don't care whether Lyft gets their ROI and just want the best bike share possible?

That's the same as "What if I don't care about killing other people and just want the most space for myself". A contract is a contract.

Unconscionable contracts, especially when one of the parties is a taxing jurisdiction, have no ethical force. I'm not certain that this was an unconscionable contract, but you have to at least make the argument. What consideration did the people of this municipality receive in exchange for this encumbrance placed on their liberty?

Re: Lyft Takes over Ford GoBike

#47

Post by holy_city »

alpb wrote: post #43

I was in SF this week and had a chance to try this out. They have 0 (zero) e-bikes despite their app has a column to list the count. They also force you to pick up the bike from designated racks and drop-off at designated racks which is a pain in the ass. On the other hand JUMP has a fully e-bike fleet, but bikes were impossible to come by. I parked a JUMP bike that had full battery. An hour later I came back and the…

>They also force you to pick up the bike from designated racks and drop-off at designated racks which is a pain in the ass.

I mean it's pain in the ass when I have to move the crap from the front steps of my building or out of the driveway because people aren't courteous their dockless transport widgets. I'm alright walking a little ways to dock a bike/scooter as a user, but I'm firmly against any company or city that lets users dump crap on the streets without penalties. It's littering.

Re: Lyft Takes over Ford GoBike

#48

Post by maxerickson »

jessaustin wrote: post #46
praneshp wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the same as "What if I don't care about killing other people and just want the most space for myself". A contract is a contract.

Unconscionable contracts, especially when one of the parties is a taxing jurisdiction, have no ethical force. I'm not certain that this was an unconscionable contract, but you have to at least make the argument. What consideration did the people of this municipality receive in exchange for this encumbrance placed on their liberty?

I read the contract as being about the use of publicly owned space for the docks. That seems more like a municipal corporation making a stupid agreement than it does an encumbrance on anyone's liberty. Rent private space for your bike racks...

Re: Lyft Takes over Ford GoBike

#49

Post by cgati »

alpb wrote: post #43

I was in SF this week and had a chance to try this out. They have 0 (zero) e-bikes despite their app has a column to list the count. They also force you to pick up the bike from designated racks and drop-off at designated racks which is a pain in the ass. On the other hand JUMP has a fully e-bike fleet, but bikes were impossible to come by. I parked a JUMP bike that had full battery. An hour later I came back and the…

The Ford e-bike fleet got pulled due to some bikes experiencing too strong a braking force on the front wheel. They've been working on a redesigned e-bike and that will be coming soon.

Re: Lyft Takes over Ford GoBike

#50

Post by deathanatos »

technotony wrote: post #35
jameslevy wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would guess from my own experience as a frequent ride hailing passenger that Lyft/Uber drivers are less of a threat to cyclist safety on average than regular drivers.

The increased risk is passenger's opening the door right as you bike past or jumping out at a stop light or something. with cabs you know the risk so raise your awareness but with ridesharing could be anycar as you normally can't tell from the rear whose ridesharing.

A good heuristic is that they're parked illegally in the bike lane.
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