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Uber enters dockless bike wars with Jump acquisition

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Re: Uber enters dockless bike wars with Jump acquisition

#81

Post by paulie_a »

jseliger wrote: post #18
dawhizkid wrote: post #13

Awesome! Having used Jump this weekend, I wouldn't say dockless is the main value prop to me as a customer - it's the power assist that makes it feel more like a scooter than a bike. Going medium distances (1-2 miles) and up and down steep hills in SF was a breeze. If you're commuting, it's "sweat free." IMO Uber Pool/Lyft Line has gotten so slow (I'm sure Pool/Line's share of total rides vs regular X/Lyft is more th…

it's the power assist that makes it feel more like a scooter than a bike There are many comments online about how awesome electric bikes are and many skeptical responses. I think the basic divide comes down to one thing: Has the person tried an electric bike? Almost everyone who has immediately sees them as awesome. Many who haven't don't get the point. There are finally some reputable electric bikes available for ar…

My first experience with an electric bike was pretty fun. I was at a stop light in front of a car and looked back to see a very angry look that I was on a bike...I cleared the intersection before they even entered it. It was a custom bike capable of 60mph

Re: Uber enters dockless bike wars with Jump acquisition

#82

Post by alangibson »

I'm currently sitting in the Dutch city of Eindhoven. One of the first things you notice when you get here is that there are not bike lanes, not bike paths but very seriously bike roads on either side of the street. These are filled pretty much all the time by people of all ages on their personal bikes. There are no rental bikes anywhere. The moral of this story is that if you want people to bike, build bikeable cities, don't fill sprawled out and hazard filled cities with functionally useless rental bikes.

Re: Uber enters dockless bike wars with Jump acquisition

#83

Post by charlesdm »

wpietri wrote: post #7

This is a puzzle to me. Uber faces some critical issues ahead. If they can solve them, the bikes will be a rounding error. If they can't, the bike business won't be enough to save them. Why add the complexity when they could buy or build something later? I especially can't figure out why the Jump CEO would do it. The odds of their work surviving to the 10 year mark seems so small. It reminds me of something like Dodg…

Why wouldn't he sell? He gets rich.

Re: Uber enters dockless bike wars with Jump acquisition

#84

Post by prolikewhoa »

s5fs wrote: post #65
electricEmu wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seattle? Portland? Minneapolis/St. Paul? You might consider bicycling while you travel more. In Seattle alone, OFO, LimeBike, and Spin are all competing. American bicycle infrastructure is behind, but it exists. I don't own a car. I get around those cities on bike without issue. It's as fast or faster than a car in many cases and I'm peddling the old fashioned way (with legs).

Regarding Seattle and Portland, while it's true there are bike share programs, I don't see them used very often. The few who are using the bikes are either tourists (minority) or the homeless on stolen bikes. Additionally, just about half the limebikes that I see are abandoned under bridges or broken and unusable. Portland itself is a very bikeable city and a lot of time/energy is spent to improve and grow this infra…

I rode up Capitol Hill at 4:30PM every day last spring/summer, took me 10-15 minutes to get home from 2nd & Seneca and never had any safety issues. Drivers in Seattle are fairly aware of their surroundings with everyone walking randomly at all times and the city is adding new bike lanes often.

Going up the hill on a Lime, Spin, or Ofo...no way -- you see those at the bottom of every hill.

Re: Uber enters dockless bike wars with Jump acquisition

#86

Post by patorjk »

fataliss wrote: post #46
maherbeg wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you may underestimate the impact e-bikes are going to have on major (non-car centric) cities. They'll likely reshape cities significantly as infrastructure gets improved for biking. You can get significant traffic density improvements by pushing bikes instead of cars, and e-bikes make this more accessible.

That would take a lot of political will to do something like that though and it would take YEARS! I don't think the US is a great market (right now) for city-bikes. Outside of maybe Manhattan & SF I can't think of any major city where a bike would take you places faster/better than another way of transportation would. When you consider all the hassles that biking as a transportation comes with, I doubt this has any l…

I'll throw Baltimore's name out there. They even have a Bike Share program (https://www.bmorebikeshare.com/), which is, interestingly enough, sponsored by Lyft.

Re: Uber enters dockless bike wars with Jump acquisition

#87

Post by Baeocystin »

maxerickson wrote: post #36
toufka wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect it's really good signal for setting up or optimizing routes. Those bikes show very clear underserved endpoints that might otherwise be hard to discover. Might just be a cheap and interesting peek down-market on their geographic data-layer.

The quality of the signal seems to depend heavily on the quality of the bike service. If they aren't moving bikes to where there is demand, they aren't generating any information about where people want to go (because people aren't using the bikes). It can also miss the forest for the trees if they have a few bikes that they usually put in an okay spot (but not enough bikes to meet the real demand).

One of my favorite purchases over the past few years has been a RadRover from Rad Power Bikes. ( https://www.radpowerbikes.com/products/radrover-electric-fat... for the curious.) It's still going strong a year and a half after I got it, and the motor covers all the sins of heavy tires and rolling resistance that a fatbike would otherwise bring to the table. My initial worries about range and getting stuck having to pedal a long way back home have fallen to the wayside- as long as I start with a fresh battery, it will outlast me. And as someone in their mid-40's, it is so nice to be able to feel free on a bike again, without having to worry about struggling up that one hill that blocks an otherwise lovely ride.

I don't mean to sound like an advertisement. I just want to note how transformative owning an ebike has been. A good 50% of my car trips have been replaced, and I enjoy the ride while doing so. And I like my car, too. But ebikes are just that much fun.

Re: Uber enters dockless bike wars with Jump acquisition

#88

Post by alangibson »

clairity wrote: post #61
fataliss wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would take a lot of political will to do something like that though and it would take YEARS! I don't think the US is a great market (right now) for city-bikes. Outside of maybe Manhattan & SF I can't think of any major city where a bike would take you places faster/better than another way of transportation would. When you consider all the hassles that biking as a transportation comes with, I doubt this has any l…

los angeles is perfect for bike transport. it's sunny and doesn't get too hot or too cold most of the year (in the LA basin proper, the san fernando and inland valleys are a different story). the city government is pro bike path and installing more bike lanes every day. biking is faster during the 6 hours of rush hour a day. most amenities are within 2-3 miles (~15 minutes) of where you live. you can take your bike o…

I think this is the first time I've ever heard someone make an argument for LA as a bikable city. Very interesting indeed.

Re: Uber enters dockless bike wars with Jump acquisition

#89

Post by sagichmal »

jwilliams wrote: post #70
sagichmal wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a result of NIMBYism in those neighborhoods, not any Jump bike policy.

Do you have any evidence of that? Just looks like they've excluded areas with more tourists. Irrespective, would still be easy (and overall nicer) if they made that transparent.

Sorry, nothing I can link to, just personal conversations with employees.

Re: Uber enters dockless bike wars with Jump acquisition

#90

Post by xur17 »

UncleEntity wrote: post #52
jseliger wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it's the power assist that makes it feel more like a scooter than a bike There are many comments online about how awesome electric bikes are and many skeptical responses. I think the basic divide comes down to one thing: Has the person tried an electric bike? Almost everyone who has immediately sees them as awesome. Many who haven't don't get the point. There are finally some reputable electric bikes available for ar…

> Has the person tried an electric bike? Almost everyone who has immediately sees them as awesome. Many who haven't don't get the point. Probably depends on your goals as well. I got one of those 2-stroke engines to put on my bike a while ago and when it arrived I was looking at it and thinking "if I put this thing on my bike I'll never get any exercise". Instead I went to the pawn shop and got another bike and put i…

I had a similar response. I bike to work, and one of my coworkers got an electric bike that he let me try. I was very tempted to get one, as it would make longer distance much more viable, but I was also afraid I'd always use the electric bike and not get any exercise.

I'd love something like Jump in Austin for trips when it's hot out, or longer distances.

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