Dockless Bikeshare – The Dockpocalypse Nears

[Judd]

The Kojo show had a segment on DoBis today: https://thekojonnamdishow.org/shows/2018-07-30/bikeshare-exodus

[musclys]

@Judd 179884 wrote:

I signed the petition for 20k dockless bikes and scooters in DC. I imagine that it’s going to be messy and people are going to complain even more than in the pilot but that’s a good thing. Once bikes are permitted it will be hard to undo and we’ll be more likely to get infrastructure.

More bike infrastructure for people to block with their dockless scooters.

[Steve O]

musclys;179896 wrote:

more bike infrastructure for people to block with their dockless autos.

ftfy

[PeteD]

Threats and Indignation: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/aug/22/bike-sharing-scheme-mobike-threatens-to-pull-out-of-manchester

[Judd]

DC is extending the dockless bike pilot through the end of the year and is adding the requirement that bikes have a locking mechanism. The new requirement for locking does not apply to scooters.

Mobike and Ofo have left DC (although they didn’t take their bikes with them). Lime and Spin have both pivoted to scooters.

It looks like Jump is going to be the lone survivor operating bikes.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2018/08/30/dc-extend-scooter-bike-program-will-require-locks-bikes-starting-saturday/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.d947c12932bf

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[drevil]

@Judd 180573 wrote:

…
Mobike and Ofo have left DC (although they didn’t take their bikes with them)…

I occasionally see onesies and twosies of these here and there. You think anyone will care if they are taken home, fixed, and ridden?

[lordofthemark]

@Judd 180573 wrote:

DC is extending the dockless bike pilot through the end of the year and is adding the requirement that bikes have a locking mechanism. The new requirement for locking does not apply to scooters.

Mobike and Ofo have left DC (although they didn’t take their bikes with them). Lime and Spin have both pivoted to scooters.

It looks like Jump is going to be the lone survivor operating bikes.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2018/08/30/dc-extend-scooter-bike-program-will-require-locks-bikes-starting-saturday/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.d947c12932bf

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Article says DC is reassesing the caps. If the cap is increased, it might be possible that Lime and Spin will find room for bikes as well as scooters?

[Steve O]

@drevil 180574 wrote:

I occasionally see onesies and twosies of these here and there. You think anyone will care if they are taken home, fixed, and ridden?

Choose one:
A) Ask permission
Beg forgiveness

(hint: pick B, but only if necessary, which seems unlikely)

[bentbike33]

@drevil 180574 wrote:

I occasionally see onesies and twosies of these here and there. You think anyone will care if they are taken home, fixed, and ridden?

I’m guessing any Mobikes or Ofos left around here are “in the public domain” as it were. It was never clear to me how the companies were supposed to know where these bikes were. It would have to be based either on the last reported position of a paying customer (or employee), or they got some kind of deep discount cell data connections for the fleet which would only work so long as the power supply held out. Either way, not a particularly precise location, which explains the “phantom bikes” phenomenon users have reported.

[Emm]

@bentbike33 180582 wrote:

I’m guessing any Mobikes or Ofos left around here are “in the public domain” as it were. It was never clear to me how the companies were supposed to know where these bikes were. It would have to be based either on the last reported position of a paying customer (or employee), or they got some kind of deep discount cell data connections for the fleet which would only work so long as the power supply held out. Either way, not a particularly precise location, which explains the “phantom bikes” phenomenon users have reported.

For Ofos, they donated a ton of them to local bike charities, who sold them for ~$100. Velocity got some and had a sale last weekend, the Reston Bike Club did, and some others.

[ginacico]

@Judd 180573 wrote:

It looks like Jump is going to be the lone survivor operating bikes.

Yup, but don’t leave out CaBi. As members found out by email this week, Capital Bikeshare will be adding ebikes to their fleet and rental agreement starting September 5th.

With dockless bikes imposing a lock-to policy (which Jump already had) and docked systems adding ebikes, the lines just get blurrier.

And then there’s this, and I’m totally not sure what to make of it.

[Judd]

@ginacico 180597 wrote:

And then there’s this, and I’m totally not sure what to make of it.

Yeeeeahhhh. I saw that on Twitter. It’s the kind of innovation in bike racks that no one has been clamoring for.

[bentbike33]

@Judd 180605 wrote:

It’s the kind of innovation in bike racks that no one has been clamoring for.

Except perhaps city governments looking for a revenue stream from all this bike infrastructure they’ve been installing. This could be the key to replacing on-street car parking with on-street bike parking: put in 8 metered bike racks charging 1/4 of the car rate for each single car meter and KA-CHING! potentially double the revenue (not to mention parking tickets)!

[Steve O]

@Emm 180583 wrote:

For Ofos, they donated a ton of them to local bike charities, ….

So that would be, like, 45 or something?

[Judd]

It appears that Ofo May be entering a death spiral. It is being sued for $10 million dollars by the manufacturer of its bikes.

https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/2/17811590/ofo-shanghai-phoenix-bicycles-lawsuit-bike-sharing

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Author]

Posts