Dockless Bikeshare – The Dockpocalypse Nears

[skins_brew]

Mobike and jump let you reserve bikes (Mobike is 15min, unsure of jump).

I just tried an goo, and I think they byfar have the lowest seat. I am only 5’8″ and every other bike was OK, but I wanted a higher seat on the goo, but it was as high as it goes.

The ofo app also had a very hard time focusing my S7 edges camera enough to take a picture. They have a manual unlock too, but after fumbling with the camera for several minutes, it finally worked.

[LhasaCM]

@skins_brew 166586 wrote:

Mobike and jump let you reserve bikes (Mobike is 15min, unsure of jump).

I just tried an goo, and I think they byfar have the lowest seat. I am only 5’8″ and every other bike was OK, but I wanted a higher seat on the goo, but it was as high as it goes.

The ofo app also had a very hard time focusing my S7 edges camera enough to take a picture. They have a manual unlock too, but after fumbling with the camera for several minutes, it finally worked.

When I tried it, Jump’s reservation time was 1 minute before charges started (though you can reserve a bike up to 4 hours, I think, if you’re willing to pay during that time).

[Kitty]

@secstate 165937 wrote:

This whole experiment is wonderfully chaotic. Personally, If I were an aspiring dockless bikeshare magnate, I would have started in Japan.

I mean, there people are already used to being penalized for not parking their bikes in the right places, and have a societal allergy to troubling their neighbors, so it would be wonderful for the system, but bad for bug-testing user error.

@skins_brew 166500 wrote:

So, question for the masses here: Let’s say that DC give a green light to dockless bikes, do you think all of the companies will remain, or it will be whittled down to one vendor? I love the fact that there are so many options right now. Only thing I hate about the dockless bikes is the cost, which is quite a bit more than CaBi.

I thought this was Thunderdome and they have the battle it out to the death. Conversely, the trial period runs through April, so maybe they’re trying to so which will survive the winter…

SPEAKING OF WINTER! I’m just sitting back and waiting for the inevitable Freezing Saddles rules debates and pointless prizes that stem from this… :p

[cvcalhoun]

Already seeing bad behavior. I found these bikes (two Spins and a Mobike) blocking the whole sidewalk plus a door on K Street NW near the CCT at about 10 last night. I reported them to Mobike using its report function, and to Spin using its chat function. Spin assured me this would be taken care of when they rebalanced bikes this morning. I checked around noon today. All three bikes were still there, and had been joined by another Mobike.

[skins_brew]

Yes, some of these bike are going to die this winter. I forget which dockless company, but one of them uses regular old center pull brakes, while many other user internal brakes.

Anyway, anyone know where these mobikes at Union station are? Is that the parking garage/bus deck?[ATTACH=CONFIG]15595[/ATTACH]

[rcannon100]

Stupid question

CABI you can use without a smartphone. You used a credit card or a CABI key.

Can you use a dockless system wo a smartphone? (my assumption is no?)

Dockless bikes are all over SW and The Wharf (and area that had been underserved by CABI)

[skins_brew]

@rcannon100 166782 wrote:

Stupid question

CABI you can use without a smartphone. You used a credit card or a CABI key.

Can you use a dockless system wo a smartphone? (my assumption is no?)

Dockless bikes are all over SW and The Wharf (and area that had been underserved by CABI)

I don’t think there is a way yet. One of the dockless companies let’s you enter a pin on the bike, but I think u need a smartphone to get the pin. You might not need a smartphone for Jump, but that is the only dockless bike I have not tried .

[LhasaCM]

@rcannon100 166782 wrote:

Stupid question

CABI you can use without a smartphone. You used a credit card or a CABI key.

Can you use a dockless system wo a smartphone? (my assumption is no?)

Dockless bikes are all over SW and The Wharf (and area that had been underserved by CABI)

The only one I’m aware of that works without a smartphone now is Jump; you need a computer or phone to sign up for an account (not necessarily their app, just a browser). You get an account number and establish a pin that you can use to unlock the bike directly. The problem is – those bikes are not readily available/easy to find. Right now, their app shows 2 available.

[rcannon100]

Yeah that’s a good clarification. I should ask “without using the App.” I have a “smartphone”….. well….. it’s a blackberry. So I can access a browser but no one builds apps for BB any more.

[lordofthemark]

@rcannon100 166782 wrote:

Stupid question

CABI you can use without a smartphone. You used a credit card or a CABI key.

Can you use a dockless system wo a smartphone? (my assumption is no?)

Dockless bikes are all over SW and The Wharf (and area that had been underserved by CABI)

The system here in Albany, which is run by Social Bicycles, requires you to download an app to register, but after that you can take a bike out with just your membership number and pin. The system is semi dockless. They have stations, you can lock up a bike at a none station location, but then you must pay a 2 dollar surcharge.

[Judd]

@LhasaCM 166785 wrote:

The only one I’m aware of that works without a smartphone now is Jump; you need a computer or phone to sign up for an account (not necessarily their app, just a browser). You get an account number and establish a pin that you can use to unlock the bike directly. The problem is – those bikes are not readily available/easy to find. Right now, their app shows 2 available.

I saw a picture last night on Twitter indicating that Jump was about to put several more bikes out on the street. I talked to Rudi last Friday and I think he said that they started with 20.

@lordofthemark 166789 wrote:

The system here in Albany, which is run by Social Bicycles, requires you to download an app to register, but after that you can take a bike out with just your membership number and pin. The system is semi dockless. They have stations, you can lock up a bike at a none station location, but then you must pay a 2 dollar surcharge.

Social Bicycles also is the underlying platform for Jump bikes. I found using the membership number and pin on the keypad on the bike to be an easy process. For Jump Bikes, you can lock up the bike anywhere in the bounds of the District, but they have established “hubs” in certain areas, often times near Metro stations. If you lock up the bike in one of the hubs you receive a discount on your ride ($1 IIRC). Interesting that it’s a reward model in DC and a penalty model in Albany.

[lordofthemark]

@Judd 166794 wrote:

I saw a picture last night on Twitter indicating that Jump was about to put several more bikes out on the street. I talked to Rudi last Friday and I think he said that they started with 20.

Social Bicycles also is the underlying platform for Jump bikes. I found using the membership number and pin on the keypad on the bike to be an easy process. For Jump Bikes, you can lock up the bike anywhere in the bounds of the District, but they have established “hubs” in certain areas, often times near Metro stations. If you lock up the bike in one of the hubs you receive a discount on your ride ($1 IIRC). Interesting that it’s a reward model in DC and a penalty model in Albany.

Monopoly here? Done in conjunction with the local transit authority?

Also you can take it to parts of Albany outside the hub zone, for a 25 dollar charge.

[LhasaCM]

@Judd 166794 wrote:

Social Bicycles also is the underlying platform for Jump bikes. I found using the membership number and pin on the keypad on the bike to be an easy process. For Jump Bikes, you can lock up the bike anywhere in the bounds of the District, but they have established “hubs” in certain areas, often times near Metro stations. If you lock up the bike in one of the hubs you receive a discount on your ride ($1 IIRC). Interesting that it’s a reward model in DC and a penalty model in Albany.

That is interesting. It looks like Albany’s setup is a bit of a hybrid; from their video, they have station locations with kiosks for folks to sign up separate from the website or mobile apps, with regular bike racks for the bikes to lock to. They do have a reward model for bringing an out of hub bike back to a hub ($1), and the annual subscription provides 60 minutes a day for free (compared to CaBi’s unlimited number of 30 minute rides).

For Jump!: right now, it looks like there is one hub per ward, but all of them are relatively close together. From a maintenance/balancing standpoint, especially with the e-bikes, it makes sense to try to have semi-centralized areas where you hope more bikes end up; makes it easier for them to recharge/etc. so reduces costs. It’s sort of like car2go’s model of incentivizing filling the gas tank in exchange for a time credit.

[Drewdane]

A few of the responses on this thread make me scratch my head. For a group ostensibly dedicated to encouraging bicycle use, some of us sure do seem to get sniffy about alternative methods of getting people on bikes.

[dasgeh]

@Drewdane 166820 wrote:

A few of the responses on this thread make me scratch my head. For a group ostensibly dedicated to encouraging bicycle use, some of us sure do seem to get sniffy about alternative methods of getting people on bikes.

I think the issue is that we have a really good (though not perfect) docked bikeshare system already, and there’s a fear that dockless could come around for long enough to kill the docked system, but then go belly up because of (insert reason here), leaving us with no bikeshare.

We’re going to talk about this at the next BAC meeting – Monday, November 6, 7pm 2100 Clarendon Blvd – and (spoiler alert) I’m going to ask whether there’s any room to ask if CaBi can introduce some of the best parts of the dockless systems — e.g. a framelock that allows someone to park anywhere (possibly for an added fee); eassist.

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