For everyone else who's getting a 404: http://archive.is/HTfZh
I hope they don't handle bikes like their do their websites...
Uber Bike – A New Way to Commute or Explore
51–60 of 299 posts
Re: Uber Bike – A New Way to Commute or Explore
#52I love the idea of integrating the lock so that it needs to be attached to an existing bike rack. Lime bike and Ofo have infiltrated Dallas, and their bikes are somewhat of an eyesore, especially as they are strewn everywhere. It'll be interesting to see how they enforce the location requirement. i.e. will you be charged if it's stolen because you didnt lock it on a rack? Will they have a known database of every "sui…
Certainly not more of an eyesore than parked cars lining city streets.
Re: Uber Bike – A New Way to Commute or Explore
#53Isn't it a bit weird to have the waitlist form for such a large company be hosted by a third-party (Typeform)?
Since this entire "product" launch is a partnership + landing page, I'm guessing 0 engineers were involved. Building a form isn't hard, but recruiting an engineer, convincing them that building a form is a good use of their time, and then actually getting it "shipped" takes 100x longer at large companies than just giving Typeform your credit card.
Re: Uber Bike – A New Way to Commute or Explore
#54There's a lot of room for improvement over the new wave of bike startups. I had shockingly bad experiences with OBike - extremely inaccurate locations for their bikes, broken seat, zero response from support when I explained I couldn't lock the bike, and apparently no restrictions in the whole country, so bikes end up all over the country as well as in people's residences or workplaces (not to mention canals and rive…
> Mobike seems like they have their heads more switched on, but the seat on current models is so low that their bikes (in London at least) are barely usable to anyone at average adult height or above.
Are you not able to adjust the seat? Considering the varying heights of people this would seem like a standard expected feature.
Re: Uber Bike – A New Way to Commute or Explore
#55A lot of metropolitan cities already have bike-to-rent programs e.g. CitiBike in NYC, GoBike in SF. This looks like a quickly and sloppily put together plan to hush noisy investors and shareholders. But hey it is never a bad idea to have more bikes in SF. Especially innovative electric-assist ones.
Re: Uber Bike – A New Way to Commute or Explore
#56I would use this. I'm just concerned how they will deal with all the homeless people and thieves stealing the body parts. On that note, if this can succeed in SF it can succeed anywhere else. I once left my bike in Tenderloin overnight (Of course I had the common sense to use the U-lock) and the next morning I went back and found only the remains.
>thieves stealing the body parts
hopefully you meant bike parts?
Re: Uber Bike – A New Way to Commute or Explore
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
The rider must also wear a helmet.
Well, yeah. You should always wear a helmet, though!
That type of attitude may actually endanger cyclists more than helping them.
Re: Uber Bike – A New Way to Commute or Explore
#58Re: Uber Bike – A New Way to Commute or Explore
#59First of all, this is great. The thing that bike share programs lack IMO is the tech and logistics savvy of a company like uber. In Santa Monica and the west side of LA we have an electric scooter service called Bird, which was started by a ex-lyft/uber excec, and it has been successfull from an outsider's perspective. The most convenient aspect of this service is that you can drop off the scooter anywhere you want,…
I remember seeing those black Bird scooters just randomly laying in the middle of sidewalks in Santa Monica. I wonder if that has any impact on maintenance or scooters being stolen.
Re: Uber Bike – A New Way to Commute or Explore
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The "eyesore" factor is a trivial downside compared to the massive convenience of just being able to park the bike anywhere. You're saying the problems they cause other people matter less than the convenience they give to you?
Why are colorful bikes left on sidewalks an eyesore, but rows and rows of cars parked next to sidewalks not?
Order. Cars along a sidewalk are almost always in a straight line - and we recognize via acclimation that this is "normal."
10+ bikes lined up on a sidewalk in a parallel and organized fashion actually aren't much of an eyesore. But ten haphazard bikes, often blocking the sidewalk for pedestrians, is chaotic. Our minds - and interpretation of eyesores - respond accordingly.