Dockless Bikeshare – The Dockpocalypse Nears

[cvcalhoun]

@Judd 186087 wrote:

The cable lock is a welcome change. The current system is a bid awkward and was hard to use if there was a bike in the other side of the rack.

I’ve found a lot of them not actually locked to anything, just with the U stuck back into the bike. That’s undoubtedly against the rules, but it does stop the bike from moving. And I don’t know how they would enforce the rule, since the next rider is unlikely to put in a complaint.

[BTC_DC]

I have recently come across Lime e-bikes. I thought they had shifted exclusively to scooters, but I guess maybe were just swapping out the standard bicycles.

[ChristoB50]

@BTC_DC 186322 wrote:

I have recently come across Lime e-bikes. I thought they had shifted exclusively to scooters, but I guess maybe were just swapping out the standard bicycles.

hehe… I came across them too, today on my commute to work — 4 of them parked in parallel on their kickstands, but set perpendicular to the direction of travel on the sidewalk — so they ended up blocking all but about 18 inches of sidewalk for any other sidewalk traffic to use… worse — about 20 feet away, the sidewalk’s width greatly increased, as well having an adjoining broad empty asphalt area. But the bikes were instead parked on the narrower stretch. If I’d not overslept, I would have stopped to move all 4.

This is such a common problem, both on dockless bikes and on the scooters — I wish there was a way for the renting companies to “train” their renting customers on the proper places and ways to park their discarded vehicle, in a way that is considerate of those who will use the trail/walkway later… you’d think it would be common sense, but it clearly isn’t for many, many of the renters of these devices…

[BTC_DC]

@Christob50 186324 wrote:

4 of them parked in parallel on their kickstands, but set perpendicular to the direction of travel on the sidewalk

I think that is why I just now finally noticed their e-bikes. Maybe those same four on my way in Alexandria towards 4MR, seemingly strategically placed right next to a garbage can to block the most space!

[ChristoB50]

@BTC_DC 186325 wrote:

Maybe those same four on my way in Alexandria towards 4MR, seemingly strategically placed right next to a garbage can to block the most space!

Yes. Those were the same 4 I passed. I’ll move them if they’re still in that configuration on the ride home this evening.

[Emm]

@BTC_DC 186325 wrote:

I think that is why I just now finally noticed their e-bikes. Maybe those same four on my way in Alexandria towards 4MR, seemingly strategically placed right next to a garbage can to block the most space!

@Christob50 186326 wrote:

Yes. Those were the same 4 I passed. I’ll move them if they’re still in that configuration on the ride home this evening.

ohh, we all have the same commute! I saw them last night when I went through the area a little after 7. I considered moving them but I was running so late already I really wanted to get home. If neither of you get to them tonight I’ll try to.

[Judd]

@Emm 186329 wrote:

ohh, we all have the same commute! I saw them last night when I went through the area a little after 7. I considered moving them but I was running so late already I really wanted to get home. If neither of you get to them tonight I’ll try to.

Negative 2 QOT points but you can redeem yourself if Chris doesn’t beat you to it.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[LeprosyStudyGroup]

That’s it, I’m taking the afternoon off to go move those bikes

[ChristoB50]

@Emm 186329 wrote:

ohh, we all have the same commute!

That bit of sidewalk is not technically part of my commute — my direct commute would run just down 4MR exclusively, to connect with Potomac Yard Trail.
But door-to-door the commute is only 5 miles (my office relocated a bit closer.) So if it isn’t arctic cold in the mornings, I try to lengthen the bike commute even if only a little bit (and then hopefully lengthen it more substantially on the ride home.)
This is my first winter biking, so I’m still juggling “HTFU” with “damn, its too cold for this crazy BS!”
So—I’ve taken to adding a morning lap when I can — cross the stream on Rt. 1 to take the trail next to Taylor Toyota back up to Mt. Vernon Ave (where we encountered the neatly, but poorly parked Limes) then repeat that section of 4MR again…

[Judd]

@Christob50 186333 wrote:

That bit of sidewalk is not technically
So—I’ve taken to adding a morning lap when I can — cross the stream on Rt. 1 to take the trail next to Taylor Toyota back up to Mt. Vernon Ave (where we encountered the neatly, but poorly parked Limes) then repeat that section of 4MR again…

We like to call that trail the Wayne F Anderson Bikeway.

[Steve O]

@Christob50 186324 wrote:

hehe… I came across them too, today on my commute to work — 4 of them parked in parallel on their kickstands, but set perpendicular to the direction of travel on the sidewalk — so they ended up blocking all but about 18 inches of sidewalk for any other sidewalk traffic to use… worse — about 20 feet away, the sidewalk’s width greatly increased, as well having an adjoining broad empty asphalt area. But the bikes were instead parked on the narrower stretch. If I’d not overslept, I would have stopped to move all 4.

This is such a common problem, both on dockless bikes and on the scooters — I wish there was a way for the renting companies to “train” their renting customers on the proper places and ways to park their discarded vehicle, in a way that is considerate of those who will use the trail/walkway later… you’d think it would be common sense, but it clearly isn’t for many, many of the renters of these devices…

If 4 are parked together in parallel like that, then it’s even worse than you thought. They were likely put there by the LimeBike workers themselves. If they are going to do training, that might be a good place to start.

[Judd]

@Steve O 186342 wrote:

If 4 are parked together in parallel like that, then it’s even worse than you thought. They were likely put there by the LimeBike workers themselves. If they are going to do training, that might be a good place to start.

Arlington’s dockless pilot program requires operators to move inappropriately parked vehicles within 2 hours of receiving a report. Lime can be contacted online here: https://limebike.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/requests/new or by calling 1-888-546-3345. It is worth sending a picture so that Lime can take corrective action with the Juicer that placed these bikes in a way that obstructed safe passage on a sidewalk.

Arlington’s program also requires that the company’s contact info be displayed on the device so if you see other issues that you don’t want to Lumberjack yourself, you should be able to look on the device and contact the company.

Full information on Arlington’s pilot can be located here: https://transportation.arlingtonva.us/scooters-and-dockless-bikeshare/

[ChristoB50]

@Steve O 186342 wrote:

If 4 are parked together in parallel like that, then it’s even worse than you thought. They were likely put there by the LimeBike workers themselves.

Yay! I got to move them this evening… a bit of fun, since the wheels are locked completely so you have to carry the bike instead of just roll it.
Pulled them all just off the sidewalk onto a grassy area maybe 12 feet away from where they were.
But I thought the same thing — they were SO neatly positioned on the sidewalk, and so PRISTINELY clean, I started thinking they were likely placed by Lime to entice, not dropped by 4 bikers ending their ride at that point…

[ATTACH=CONFIG]19086[/ATTACH]

{EDIT: Picture forwarded to Limebike’s link provided by Judd, with a plea seeking more common-sense applied to parking bike clusters, to not block pathways for other users }

[cvcalhoun]

@Steve O 186342 wrote:

If 4 are parked together in parallel like that, then it’s even worse than you thought. They were likely put there by the LimeBike workers themselves. If they are going to do training, that might be a good place to start.

One problem is that they don’t actually have LimeBike workers. What they have is “Juicers,” who are independent contractors (i.e., anyone who signs up online) who get a per-bike fee for grabbing bikes off the street, recharging them, and putting them back. A Juicer can decide to take one bike, once, or lots of bikes, all the time, which means that ongoing monitoring of the Juicers is an issue. When putting bikes back, the Juicers are supposed to put a bunch of them in a line. But there is minimal training. I took the training myself, just to see what was involved, and it was about 10 minutes of online training and parroting back what they just said. And if you try to contact LimeBike to ask further questions, you get a canned response that doesn’t actually answer the question. (Yes, I tried that, too.)

[CaseyKane50]

@Christob50 186353 wrote:

Yay! I got to move them this evening… a bit of fun, since the wheels are locked completely so you have to carry the bike instead of just roll it.
Pulled them all just off the sidewalk onto a grassy area maybe 12 feet away from where they were.
But I thought the same thing — they were SO neatly positioned on the sidewalk, and so PRISTINELY clean, I started thinking they were likely placed by Lime to entice, not dropped by 4 bikers ending their ride at that point…

[ATTACH=CONFIG]19086[/ATTACH]

{EDIT: Picture forwarded to Limebike’s link provided by Judd, with a plea seeking more common-sense applied to parking bike clusters, to not block pathways for other users }

Well done. The location of the bikes you moved is actually in Alexandria. Lime is the first company approved to work in Alexandria. Like Arlington, Alexandria expects the bikes to not block the sidewalk.

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