Dockless Bikeshare – The Dockpocalypse Nears

[Dewey]

CityLab article speculating on whether DoBi appeals more to African American young people.

[Steve O]

Yesterday I was in and out of DC. On my ride out I traveled across M St downtown and then through Georgetown to the Key Bridge. I saw about 12-15 dockless bikes along the way. I am pleased to report that every single one was parked in what I would consider to be an appropriate and courteous spot.
Perhaps the riders are learning and the novelty to the non-riders is wearing off.

[VA2DC]

@Steve O 171356 wrote:

I am pleased to report that every single one was parked in what I would consider to be an appropriate and courteous spot.
Perhaps the riders are learning and the novelty to the non-riders is wearing off.

As someone who hasn’t installed any of the dockless bikeshare apps, I have a question about the bikes that are parked outside of the zoned area. Don’t the companies know the identity of the user who last used a bike and parked it outside of the designated zone? And if so, can’t they ding that person with a bike recovery fee? Or do folks who leave bikes like I see in Arlington just count on the bike being ridden back into DC before the company sends someone out to pick it up?

[Henry]

The companies are focused on capturing market share and do not want to alienate customers, so they are loathe to penalize them for bad behavior.

[Judd]

@VA2DC 171369 wrote:

As someone who hasn’t installed any of the dockless bikeshare apps, I have a question about the bikes that are parked outside of the zoned area. Don’t the companies know the identity of the user who last used a bike and parked it outside of the designated zone? And if so, can’t they ding that person with a bike recovery fee? Or do folks who leave bikes like I see in Arlington just count on the bike being ridden back into DC before the company sends someone out to pick it up?

@Henry 171374 wrote:

The companies are focused on capturing market share and do not want to alienate customers, so they are loathe to penalize them for bad behavior.

The basic business plan is this:
1. Raise as much venture capital as possible
2. Put as many bikes on the street as possible, like as ridiculous of an amount as possible
3. Flout any of the rules that are part of any agreement to operate and hope that the inefficiency or ineffectiveness of the bureaucracy means that there’s no financial consequence for it. (in D.C. pilot that means bikes are not supposed to be parked on Federal lands or outside of DC)
4. Perform as little maintenance or rebalancing as possible as it’s cheaper to throw these bikes away
5. Hope all of the other dockless bicycle companies run out of venture capital before your dockless bicycle company runs out of money.
6. Maybe one day turn a meager profit if you’ve captured the entire market share

There’s really not a lot of money in bikes. A company like Uber which every tech firm aspires to be hasn’t turned a profit. I can’t see one of the dockless companies turning a profit any time soon.

[mstone]

@Judd 171393 wrote:

There’s really not a lot of money in bikes. A company like Uber which every tech firm aspires to be hasn’t turned a profit. I can’t see one of the dockless companies turning a profit any time soon.

But if you make a personal penny on every dollar you lose, it’s quite the money maker!

[cvcalhoun]

@VA2DC 171369 wrote:

As someone who hasn’t installed any of the dockless bikeshare apps, I have a question about the bikes that are parked outside of the zoned area. Don’t the companies know the identity of the user who last used a bike and parked it outside of the designated zone? And if so, can’t they ding that person with a bike recovery fee? Or do folks who leave bikes like I see in Arlington just count on the bike being ridden back into DC before the company sends someone out to pick it up?

Jump Bikes has been quite proactive in keeping people within the designated zone, imposing a $50 penalty for bikes parked outside of the zone. Then again, they’ve got a financial incentive to do so, because they have to recharge the bikes every few days, and don’t want to have to go way out into the suburbs to find them.

I think the other companies are just figuring that they are off the hook if they tell riders not to leave the designated area, but never enforce the rule. After all, a bike parked in Bethesda, say, is as likely to be rented as one in DC. So if renters disobey the rules, the net result is that Bethesda residents get introduced to that company’s bikes. The companies really don’t have an incentive to keep that from happening.

[Drewdane]

I keep dropping back in to marvel at the NIMBYism and “All Bikes are great except the ones I don’t like” attitudes in this thread. SMH.

I think dockless bikeshare is great! I think it’s an awesome idea. I think the bikes are attractive and, for the most part, well-designed. I think CaBi needs the competition. I haven’t seen any mounds and mounds and mounds of abandoned bikes anywhere, and if the only other objection people can come up with is “ZOMG BIKES LEFT OUTSIDE THE LIMITS WON’T SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDRENZ,” then I think not only are the pilots working but frankly, some people may just have a tad too much time on their hands.

So there.

[cvcalhoun]

@Drewdane 171664 wrote:

I keep dropping back in to marvel at the NIMBYism and “All Bikes are great except the ones I don’t like” attitudes in this thread. SMH.

I think dockless bikeshare is great! I think it’s an awesome idea. I think the bikes are attractive and, for the most part, well-designed. I think CaBi needs the competition. I haven’t seen any mounds and mounds and mounds of abandoned bikes anywhere, and if the only other objection people can come up with is “ZOMG BIKES LEFT OUTSIDE THE LIMITS WON’T SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDRENZ,” then I think not only are the pilots working but frankly, some people may just have a tad too much time on their hands.

So there.

I don’t care about bikes left outside the limits. I do care about bikes left so they block wheelchair users from using the sidewalk. But I object to that anywhere, not just in my back yard.

[Drewdane]

@cvcalhoun 171681 wrote:

I don’t care about bikes left outside the limits. I do care about bikes left so they block wheelchair users from using the sidewalk. But I object to that anywhere, not just in my back yard.

Sure, but reading this thread, one would think that every curb cut in the city was blocked by dbs bikes, and that is the only place users leave them (except when they leave them outside the service area, then it’s more like 50-50).

[Judd]

@Drewdane 171664 wrote:

I keep dropping back in to marvel at the NIMBYism and “All Bikes are great except the ones I don’t like” attitudes in this thread. SMH.

I’m making the assumption that this is partly directed at me. If it wasn’t, then just ignore the rest of this. If it was, it’s a misinterpretation. (In fact, I rode a Jump Bike just five hours ago – https://www.strava.com/activities/1352316422) I haven’t read anyone’s comments as NIMBYISM. Although folks have been critical of certain aspects or maybe had a critical tone when commenting, I can’t recall anyone advocating for banning dockless bike shares. Carol’s made some critical statements about DoBi’s, but she’s also ridden them several times according to her Strava rides. I didn’t re-read the entire thread, but if you can find a more than one quote of someone in the last month advocating banning all DoBis on this thread I will buy you a six pack of your choosing.

@Drewdane 171664 wrote:

I think dockless bikeshare is great! I think it’s an awesome idea. I think the bikes are attractive and, for the most part, well-designed. I think CaBi needs the competition. I haven’t seen any mounds and mounds and mounds of abandoned bikes anywhere,

I agree with all of this except for the well designed part. Except for the Jump Bikes which are pretty much built like CaBis, the other bikes have a lot of breakable parts. I don’t think anyone is ever going to make money off of a dockless bikeshare system. I haven’t ridden any of the dockless bikes other than Jump because I’m 6’3″ and after giving the straddle test to all of them, the cost of downloading the app to confirm that my knees will be bumping into my chest with every pedal isn’t worth it. You should see my on a Lime Bike. It’s ridiculous.

@Drewdane 171664 wrote:

and if the only other objection people can come up with is “ZOMG BIKES LEFT OUTSIDE THE LIMITS WON’T SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDRENZ,” then I think not only are the pilots working but frankly, some people may just have a tad too much time on their hands.

I think it’s reasonable to expect corporations to follow legal agreements, particularly when their business has an impact on a public good (public space in this case). I don’t think we need to imply someone is deficient just because we disagree them, especially not over something like dockless bikes.

I’d actually like to see all the companies dump 10,000 bikes a piece on DC (IIRC, this is what a DoBi bike rep (maybe Lime Bike) told the Arlington BAC they’d like to do) so that I can use it as a means to advocate for a parking space on every corner to be removed and replaced bike racks.

So there.

As always, I encourage everyone who has an opinion on the DC Dockless Bikeshare pilot to provide feedback to dockless.bikeshare@dc.gov The pilot is scheduled to conclude in April. I have yet to submit my feedback on the pilot to allow the system to mature and normalize as much as possible. I’m fairly certain that my feedback will include most of the bikes not fitting tall people.

[lordofthemark]

To add to what Judd says. There are, I am told, a million dockless bikes in Shanghai Now they have a population of 24 million, but I am somewhat skeptical that one dockless bike per 24 residents (including babies) is really sustainable. Maybe the firms that survive can clean up, or maybe there is no way for any of them to ever make money. Meanwhile the Shanghai municipality is building bike parking on a large scale, and is moving forward with infra, as bike trips have more than doubled. That is great and cities should pocket that advance, even if the business model is not really sustainable, but its pretty reasonable to question the business model.

As for policy, I know Alexandria wants to wait for DC to tote up the costs and benefits before we make any deals.

(and btw, I have ridden OFO and Limebikes, and I received a free ride on Jump at the Hains Point 100)

[Judd]

@lordofthemark 171695 wrote:

(and btw, I have ridden OFO and Limebikes, and I received a free ride on Jump at the Hains Point 100)

There’s usually a Jump Bike promo code floating around. I have something like $20 bucks on my account that I got for free from the initial sign up offer and the promo code.

Also, OFO bikes are all free in the month of January.

[jctonett]

For a long time, I’ve been a CaBi member (I get it for free from my employer) but I’ve never used it. We moved buildings recently and had left my Kryptonite lock on the rack at the old building. Just for grits and shins, I grabbed a LimeBike for the trip (about a mile or so) and some cheap BAFS sleaze points to get my team captain off my back (just kidding, Cynthia!)

Wow. I almost felt like I’d NEVER ridden a bike before. I’m not used to not clipping in. I’m sitting straight up! And even with the seat post fully extended, the seat isn’t high enough! The bike is heavy, not terribly agile or comfortable (although I was able to jump a curb… sorta), and of course, my mind could not wrap itself around that I couldn’t simply pull the crank up to start with the foot that was still on the pedal.

I felt like I was in “Pee Wee’s Big Adventure”.

I just hope no one I knew saw me.

[Judd]

Article from Dallas about Zagster introducing a dockless with lock service and also dockless bikelash:

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/transportation/2018/01/22/zagster-thinks-fix-dallas-bike-share-problem

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