71–80 of 299 posts
There'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…
The irony !
I've never had occasion to try it, but I'm very skeptical. It seems like letting people leave the bike more-or-less wherever is optimizing the end-of-ride experience at the expense of pretty much every other part of the operation aside from actually riding the bike.
I don't think I'd want to start my morning commute by hunting around in an app for a nearby bike (and hoping there is one) and then wandering around my neighborhood trying to locate it. I'd much rather have the consistency of walking to a known location near my house and grabbing a bike that I know will be there.
I also don't know that, as someone who has to use the sidewalks when not riding, I'd want to have these things just scattered all over the place. Which I fear would be the case. When people are parking these things, it's not _their_ bike, so they won't be so worried about doing a good job of it.
Last, having the bikes scattered at random has got to really do a number on the logistics costs. Going to a relatively constrained list of known locations to retrieve bikes that are due for maintenance sounds a lot cheaper to me than having to drive all over the city, possibly including going to places where the van can't go like random spots in the middle of public parks.
[1] https://seattle.curbed.com/2017/8/15/16153622/ofo-bike-share...
Maybe I'm missing something obvious, but how does an electric bike that can be locked anywhere get charged? Do they have people going around replacing the batteries when they get low? How long does a battery last anyway? Edit: solar panel judging off pictures of the Jump bikes?
Keeping the conservation of energy in mind, any other method of charging isn’t feasible.
I love using the Boris Bikes in London for the first time a couple of weeks back - nice big sturdy things, but oh my word the system is shakey. The app crashed a lot, then the terminals at the bike parks were "disconnected" and couldn't process a hire. But is there much room for competition in bike hire? Surely these things need massive city subsidies?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ofo and Mobike bikes use locks that block the wheel's rotation and can thus be parked anywhere. Seems like forcing to use an existing bike rack would be a non-starter, since the whole point of dockless bike sharing is that you can just leave the bike in front of your destination regardless of what is there. The "eyesore" factor is a trivial downside compared to the massive convenience of just being able to park the b…
You may be right. And SF will be a natural experiment to see which model wins out. This seems a perfect example of concentrated benefits (riders being able to park wherever) vs. diffuse costs (eyesore to most of the population). An extremely ironic possible outcome is that given the example of uber, cities may legislate away dockless bikes as non-riders lobby their representatives to minimize eyesores.
I have two electric bikes, and I just don't use them. What works for myself is throwing my old mountain bike (cheap bike) into the back of my truck.
Look for free parking(which is getting harder, father every year)--and bike to work.
When my bike gets stolen, I don't care. I have another rusty bike ready to go.
That said, since I'm in construction, it doesn't matter if I'm sweating, or my hair looks like a tornado simulation. I couldn't imagine going into a business meeting after a hard bike ride. Then again--I hear times are changing in terms of attire, hair grooming?
Earlier 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?