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Oh the humanity. Seriously though those scenes seem fine except for the one with the big pile of bikes. That is avoided by having a credit card on file and char
by drozycki 10y ago
Oh the humanity. Seriously though those scenes seem fine except for the one with the big pile of bikes. That is avoided by having a credit card on file and charging the user who couldn't be bothered to lock the bike when he was done.
The benefits include less vehicle and transit congestion and all the health that comes with exercise.
- rahimnathwani 10y ago"That is avoided by having a credit card on file and charging the user who couldn't be bothered to lock the bike when he was done." The bikes are locked only to themselves, not to a railing. So even a locked bike can easily be loaded onto a truck if the city decides it's cluttering up the place.
- imron 10y agoExactly. The whole point of these bikes is that they aren't docked to anything and can be left anywhere. You can happily leave the bike parked correctly and in good condition, but there's nothing to stop a random stranger/group of drunk students making piles of bikes for shits and giggles.
- lucaspiller 10y agoI wonder if a simple alarm system based on movement would help deter the nuisance behaviour. It has GPS, so you could set an allowed range so people could still move them a few meters if, for example, the bikes are blocking their entrance.
- rahimnathwani 10y agoNope. Some of them have movement alarms. No one cares.
- Luc 10y agoI don't quite get it, since regular bikes are parked like that where I live, legally. I haven't seen piles yet.
- imron 10y agoSee: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/17/chinese-discard-hundreds-of-cycles-for-hire-in-giant-pile https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/17/chinese-discar...
- rahimnathwani 10y agoWhen you park your own bike, even a cheap one, you are somewhat careful about where you park it, because if someone knocks it over or moves it, it affects you directly. The same is not true of a Mobike or Ofo, so people are more likely to park inconsiderately (e.g. blocking the blind person's path, or the whole width of a narrow pavement). I was pushing a stroller recently and had to move off the pavement onto the road, to avoid a line of dockless rental bikes that were blocking my intended path.
- Luc 10y agoThanks, that's a good example.
- imron 10y ago> e.g. blocking the blind person's path To be fair, the braille paths in China aren't exactly blind-friendly in the first place: http://www.scmp.com/news/china-insider/article/1299761/beijings-blind-criticise-poorly-planned-pathways http://www.scmp.com/news/china-insider/article/1299761/beiji...
- rando444 10y agoYou're correct about the benefits, but wrong about the downsides. The bikes lock to themselves, and they explain in the article that they are already using a behavior system to reward people for good behavior and punishing users who abuse the system. (although this doesn't prevent sanitation workers from creating bike piles to clear walkways and footpaths where the bikes are often discarded) The second biggest problem, as the article mentions, is the fact that with bikes scattered everywhere and no real organizational system, that all of the bikes fall into disrepair and the majority are not properly maintained.