Dockless Bikeshare – The Dockpocalypse Nears

[Dewey]

Thanks for the link to the Kojo show recording that was interesting, the Lime Bike guy’s request for 20,000 dockless bikes sounds too many, Greg Billing’s offhand mention of 10,000 still sounds too many. Looking forward to reading DC DDoT’s evaluation at the end of the trial period, their spokesperson sounded supportive in principle, but the show highlighted a lot of groundwork is still needed.

[Judd]

I thought Greg did a great job responding to some of the more outlandish critiques of dockless, particularly the caller who didn’t like that they were colorful.

It’s really hard to say what the right number of bikes would be given the current availability of bike parking. There’s some parts of the city that are really hard to find bike parking in now and lots of areas with narrow sidewalks.

My current thinking is that deploying 20,000 would be okay but I would want them to be dock with lock and combined with a massive expansion of bike racks placed on street at intersections to provide daylighting for cyclists and pedestrians.

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[Steve O]

@Judd 173533 wrote:

My current thinking is that deploying 20,000 would be okay but I would want them to be dock with lock and combined with a massive expansion of bike racks placed on street at intersections to provide daylighting for cyclists and pedestrians.

Or re-purposing 1-2 on-street parking spots per block. Seems a way better use of space.

[Judd]

@Steve O 173552 wrote:

Or re-purposing 1-2 on-street parking spots per block. Seems a way better use of space.

This is what I intended to mean by “on street”.

[Judd]

@Judd 173533 wrote:

I thought Greg did a great job responding to some of the more outlandish critiques of dockless, particularly the caller who didn’t like that they were colorful.

The color of the bikes is actually my favorite part and I found this to be a really strange argument. To me, it’s sort of like saying, “I really hate all of these colorful murals in Del Ray that everyone likes. All buildings should be gun metal grey.”

[Judd]

Adam Tuss had a piece on dockless with lock that the Jump folks are understandably pushing heavily:

https://twitter.com/adamtuss/status/958015248639909888

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[Judd]

@Judd 173597 wrote:

Adam Tuss had a piece on dockless with lock that the Jump folks are understandably pushing heavily:

https://twitter.com/adamtuss/status/958015248639909888

Here’s a link directly to the segment on the NBC site: https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/How-Is-This-Not-Littering-Dockless-Bike-Complaints-Grow-471656624.html

[Oldtowner]

Now Uber is getting into the game, partnering with Jump.

https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/31/uber-is-piloting-a-bike-sharing-service-with-jump/

[Judd]

The Coalition for Smarter Growth and Jump Bikes are having a happy hour on February 20th at Bar Roubaix. They’ll have test rides at the event. I’m most likely going if anyone wants to come out and have a beer with me.

Full details here: http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/2041/p/salsa/event/common/public/?event_KEY=96565

[Judd]

@Judd 174192 wrote:

The Coalition for Smarter Growth and Jump Bikes are having a happy hour on February 20th at Bar Roubaix. They’ll have test rides at the event. I’m most likely going if anyone wants to come out and have a beer with me.

Full details here: http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/2041/p/salsa/event/common/public/?event_KEY=96565

After consulting some peeps on Twitter, I signed up for this. I’ll create a duplicate thread under the events section.

[Judd]

Article from Dallas about bikeshare there, mostly critical:
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/vby5j4/bike-sharing-doomed-to-fail-dallas-limebike-ofo-transportation-cycling

The most interesting piece was some info on the cost of a LimeBike:
“LimeBike’s Contee said that although the company gets its bikes at cost, they retail for $2,500 each—meaning they’re still paying a pretty penny for the 34,000 bikes it currently owns across 45 locations.”

[PeteD]

Funny where people park these things.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]16801[/ATTACH]

[Judd]

@PeteD 174333 wrote:

Funny where people park these things.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]16801[/ATTACH]

I’ve seen a few pictures of this on the Twitters. I’d love to talk to someone who has brought one of these down to a platform to find out why, since it takes a bit of effort.

[cvcalhoun]

@Judd 174341 wrote:

I’ve seen a few pictures of this on the Twitters. I’d love to talk to someone who has brought one of these down to a platform to find out why, since it takes a bit of effort.

I can see taking one down if you want to take the bike with you. That way, you’d be sure there would be one at the other end. But I don’t know why you’d leave one there.

[Judd]

@cvcalhoun 174344 wrote:

I can see taking one down if you want to take the bike with you. That way, you’d be sure there would be one at the other end. But I don’t know why you’d leave one there.

That was my thought too. Maybe, it’s someone bringing it down intending to taking it on the train and then forgetting or changing their mind.

[Author]

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