Dockless Bikeshare – The Dockpocalypse Nears

[skins_brew]

@secstate 167057 wrote:

So. It’s been a few weeks now. Have people who have been using or following the dockless systems developed any loyalties, attachments, or aversions to particular systems yet? This could be due to the quality or comfort of the bikes, or due to good or bad corporate behavior.

It’d be nice to have a backup to CaBi, which I enjoy riding but often has no bikes available in Foggy Bottom by the time I want to get out of here in the evenings. Also, I’m 5’10”, with legs perhaps on the long side for that height, and I hear that fit is an issue.

Apart from Jump, they still all seem interchangeable to me. I know Judd thinks the Limebike people are unresponsive. Assuming I’m not going to sign up and install apps for, like, four separate systems, which should I pick and why?

Mobike has been my favorite lately, as they seem to possibly have the most number of available bikes. That stationary basket on the mobikes still trips me out.

[skins_brew]

Saw a dude pushing a ofo bike up Randolph Rd. In Colesvulle. Something tells me he was out of the service area 😆

[musclys]

Dear Lord, here come the dockless ebikes: Jump is upping their inventory

[chris_s]

A rep from LimeBikes was at Arlington’s BAC last night. He thinks the region could support 30 to 35,000 bikeshare bikes. As a point of comparison, Capital Bikeshare currently has 4,500. He wants you to not have to use the app to find a bike because you’ll walk out your door, look to the left, look to the right and see at least two bikes in plain sight. **boggle**

[mstone]

@chris_s 167640 wrote:

A rep from LimeBikes was at Arlington’s BAC last night. He thinks the region could support 30 to 35,000 bikeshare bikes. As a point of comparison, Capital Bikeshare currently has 4,500. He wants you to not have to use the app to find a bike because you’ll walk out your door, look to the left, look to the right and see at least two bikes in plain sight. **boggle**

A sales rep making things up–there’s something you don’t see every day!

[skins_brew]

I still want to know where this stash of mobikes at Union station is!

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[cvcalhoun]

So, does anyone have any thoughts about using dockless bikes outside of DC? I know you are not supposed to take them out of the city, although some companies don’t discuss the issue at all and others don’t say what the penalties are. But what happens if you find one already out of the city? Do you get penalized if you take one from one spot outside of the city to another?

The question is not academic. My bike just broke. There are two dockless bikes not far from the Bethesda Metro. I’m contemplating taking one home tonight. If it’s still there in the morning, I’d take it back to the CCT, whence it would be more likely to find its way back to DC. But I don’t know whether I’d get penalized for leaving it overnight in Bethesda, assuming I picked it up in Bethesda in the first place.

Edit: The available bikes were a LimeBike and a Mobike. Mobike has a specific policy against parking a bike outside of their area. LimeBike doesn’t. So I took the LimeBike, and figured that at worst, they’d send me a nasty e-mail. We’ll see what happens.

[cvcalhoun]

So far, no Nastygram from LimeBike.

[secstate]

Jump Bike is suddenly more than just a curiosity— huge increase in the number of bikes for last night’s launch party.

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[cvcalhoun]

@secstate 167871 wrote:

Jump Bike is suddenly more than just a curiosity— huge increase in the number of bikes for last night’s launch party.

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I’m finally seeing more than three of them in the city, and ones closer than two miles from me.

[PeteD]

Someone figured out how to remove the seat from this poor one.

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[skins_brew]

@PeteD 168108 wrote:

Someone figured out how to remove the seat from this poor one.

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Interesting. There was a lime at Union station this morning that was missing a seat too.

[jctonett]

As much as I’m all about encouraging cycling, the dockless bikeshares are about to make my wife go nuts.

They are left pretty much *everywhere*. They are becoming almost like litter! My wife says if she sees one parked in front of our house, she’s moving to the middle of the street. (She wouldn’t, but you get my point.)

I walked about 4 blocks yesterday down Eye St., and (what looked like) a homeless guy was kicking over every one he walked by. Must have knocked over 8… I picked the first two up, but then figured it wasn’t really my problem. 🤗

[bentbike33]

@jctonett 168546 wrote:

They are left pretty much *everywhere*. They are becoming almost like litter!

The other day I saw 3 parked together, a yellow one, an orange one, and a green one. It made me think of rainbow sherbet. So I have a suggestion for the forum dictionary:

sherbet (n.) two or more dockless bikeshare bikes parked in close proximity to one another, usually forming an obstacle.

“Last night on my way home there was a big sherbet blocking what’s left of the Maine Ave. sidewalk in front of the Fish Market, at least 8 bikes.”

[cvcalhoun]

I took my first ride on a Jump recently, and loved it. They have to be locked to something, which avoids the issue of leaving them in the middle of the sidewalk. The e-assist was much appreciated as I sailed straight up Massachusetts Avenue to the Cathedral. Apropos of the e-bikes discussion, I was passed by a road bike at one point, and was far from a QOM on any of the segments, but it was definitely easier than previous slogs up that hill on my heavy hybrid.

[Author]

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