5 ms·

We have three vendors for $1 bikes in Seattle. Choose green, yellow or orange. Nearly zero difference. Now they are being abused (hung from poles, dumped in the

by edoceo 9y ago

We have three vendors for $1 bikes in Seattle. Choose green, yellow or orange. Nearly zero difference. Now they are being abused (hung from poles, dumped in the lake, etc) What's going to become of these 1000s of bikes toward our long winter, all the casual sunny-day riders are gone.

kelukelugames 9y ago
I saw an adult riding one in the suburbs yesterday. Really weird to see an adult riding a bike without the full spandex gear.
- dilemma 9y ago
  Why?
SOLAR_FIELDS 9y ago
There was an article fairly recently on HN about how bike sharing is failing in San Francisco because it's so hilly. All the bikes would start at the top of hills and end up at the bottom and there was no system in place to relocate them back to the top.
- neves 9y ago
  In the somewhat hilly Madrid, the system is of electric bikes. In Paris, if you leave the bike in Montmartre (high hill) they give more time in your hide.
  - w-m 9y ago
    > In Paris, if you leave the bike in Montmartre (high hill) they give more time in your hide. This incentive seems to have little to no effect. Bike stations on top of the Paris hills (Montmartre, Belleville, Pantheon, ..) are almost always completely empty. It's not a huge issue in Paris as the city is mostly flat and you can walk down the hills within 5 minutes usually, finding a bike. The same system would fail miserably in a in a predominantly hilly city such as SF.
- Pxtl 9y ago
  Seems like a pricing issue. Tag the stations by elevation and make a price hike for trips that start at a high station and end at a low one, and vice versa. Does SF not have an organization manually rebalancing teh stations? Here in Hamilton you see pickups with trailers full of rental-bikes being redistributed.
  - tonyedgecombe 9y ago
    They could even offer negative pricing for bikes that are out of place.
    - dredmorbius 9y ago
      Haul-back bonuses have been used in other domains for decades. Moving vans. Railway cars
      - cylinder 9y ago
        Airport luggage carts
  - xvedejas 9y ago
    They do have people manually re-balancing the stations (I've seen them loading up a trailer with dozens of bikes around 2nd and Brannan). How often they do the re-balancing right now, however, that I don't know.
Pxtl 9y ago
We have a system here in Hamilton Ontario where the bikes require a credit card to access and they include a cellphone/GPS system built into the bike so every bike knows its current location. That seems to reduce the abuse.
- forapurpose 9y ago
  > bikes require a credit card to access Many people don't have credit cards (though my information on that is years old; perhaps it's changed?). Doesn't that policy limit access for the people who might need the bikes most?
  - csydas 9y ago
    There's a bit more flexibility on this front with prepaid cards and loadable cards from banks. You can get Visa gift cards in the checkout aisle at most stores which work for most credit card requirements. It's not super convenient but it does allow for people without bank accounts or good credit to participate.
    - forapurpose 9y ago
      Debit cards and gift cards carry the same branding as and look similar to credit cards, but don't provide many of the same functions. For example, it can be hard to rent a car using a debit card. A credit card means that the issuer vouches for and will (effectively) underwrite your credit. A debit card means that Visa will process payment if there is sufficient money in your account. An important question is whether debit cards can be used to rent the bikes, or if the vendors want assurance for liability in addition to immediate payment.
      - uiri 9y ago
        Canadian debit cards run on the Interac system. Generally, they have neither Visa nor Mastercard logos and different numbers. Some don't even have expiration dates because of chip & PIN. This is changing with some banks offering debit cards that can be used online through the credit card networks. Canadian debit cards would generally not be accepted if they're asking for Visa/Mastercard/Amex.

by edoceo 9y ago

kelukelugames 9y ago

I saw an adult riding one in the suburbs yesterday. Really weird to see an adult riding a bike without the full spandex gear.

dilemma 9y ago
Why?

SOLAR_FIELDS 9y ago

There was an article fairly recently on HN about how bike sharing is failing in San Francisco because it's so hilly. All the bikes would start at the top of hills and end up at the bottom and there was no system in place to relocate them back to the top.

neves 9y ago
In the somewhat hilly Madrid, the system is of electric bikes. In Paris, if you leave the bike in Montmartre (high hill) they give more time in your hide.
- w-m 9y ago
  > In Paris, if you leave the bike in Montmartre (high hill) they give more time in your hide. This incentive seems to have little to no effect. Bike stations on top of the Paris hills (Montmartre, Belleville, Pantheon, ..) are almost always completely empty. It's not a huge issue in Paris as the city is mostly flat and you can walk down the hills within 5 minutes usually, finding a bike. The same system would fail miserably in a in a predominantly hilly city such as SF.
Pxtl 9y ago
Seems like a pricing issue. Tag the stations by elevation and make a price hike for trips that start at a high station and end at a low one, and vice versa. Does SF not have an organization manually rebalancing teh stations? Here in Hamilton you see pickups with trailers full of rental-bikes being redistributed.
- tonyedgecombe 9y ago
  They could even offer negative pricing for bikes that are out of place.
  - dredmorbius 9y ago
    Haul-back bonuses have been used in other domains for decades. Moving vans. Railway cars
    - cylinder 9y ago
      Airport luggage carts
- xvedejas 9y ago
  They do have people manually re-balancing the stations (I've seen them loading up a trailer with dozens of bikes around 2nd and Brannan). How often they do the re-balancing right now, however, that I don't know.

Pxtl 9y ago

We have a system here in Hamilton Ontario where the bikes require a credit card to access and they include a cellphone/GPS system built into the bike so every bike knows its current location. That seems to reduce the abuse.

forapurpose 9y ago
> bikes require a credit card to access Many people don't have credit cards (though my information on that is years old; perhaps it's changed?). Doesn't that policy limit access for the people who might need the bikes most?
- csydas 9y ago
  There's a bit more flexibility on this front with prepaid cards and loadable cards from banks. You can get Visa gift cards in the checkout aisle at most stores which work for most credit card requirements. It's not super convenient but it does allow for people without bank accounts or good credit to participate.
  - forapurpose 9y ago
    Debit cards and gift cards carry the same branding as and look similar to credit cards, but don't provide many of the same functions. For example, it can be hard to rent a car using a debit card. A credit card means that the issuer vouches for and will (effectively) underwrite your credit. A debit card means that Visa will process payment if there is sufficient money in your account. An important question is whether debit cards can be used to rent the bikes, or if the vendors want assurance for liability in addition to immediate payment.
    - uiri 9y ago
      Canadian debit cards run on the Interac system. Generally, they have neither Visa nor Mastercard logos and different numbers. Some don't even have expiration dates because of chip & PIN. This is changing with some banks offering debit cards that can be used online through the credit card networks. Canadian debit cards would generally not be accepted if they're asking for Visa/Mastercard/Amex.