4 ms·

Which places? This is an honest question because most articles I've read about these kinds of bikes all over the world describe the same problem.

DenisM 9y ago
Seattle seems ok. There is some vandalism towards bikes, but not much, the bikes themselves aren’t a problem for bystanders. The only reason I’m not using them is the helmet problem.
- yellow_postit 9y ago
  I’m picking up at least one bike a day. In Wallingford area of Seattle they just get unceremoniously tossed onto the ground or knocked over by other means. I do hope a single app emerges which can manage across the 3 apps (lime, ofo, spin)
occamrazor 9y ago
Zurich, for example. Most dockless bikes are parked in or near bike stalls.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
shaki-dora 9y ago
They're popular in Berlin and the system works well. It's only one company, but I've never seen this sort of vandalism. I also don't understand why it would happen. They have GPS, and the company knows who rents them. Maybe it's inconsiderate riders leaving them in the middle of the sidewalk, plus inconvenienced pedestrians damaging them in revenge? Even in that somewhat possible scenario: I wonder why people don't similarly take matters into their own hands when inconvenienced by, for example, illegally parked cars. It's also worth mentioning that no bike, parked anywhere but the middle of a busy street, could create as much inconvenience and health risks as any car. People always assume a city full of cars as the "default", that has to be accepted. Yet in large cities, a quarter to half of all people (and far more in Manhattan) live good lives without owning a car. Imagine how quality of life would skyrocket if more people made the responsible choice: you'd win back 1/3 of public space that is currently used for parking. Possibly another 1/6th by converting most streets to one-ways, as would be possible if the remaining traffic is just public transport, deliveries & the elderly. With less traffic, most intersections could function without traffic lights. Biking, walking, and public transport would each become far more attractive than it is right now. Seriously: in dense areas, car usage has become a collective action problem.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- Guvante 9y ago
  How do you stop someone from moving something they can pick up? Vehicles are too heavy to move without being turned on.
  - shaki-dora 9y ago
    With Galileo coming online, you can get sub-centimetre position resolution, which would enable you to clearly identify riders misplacing bikes. In regards to bikes being picked up and moved, a simple alarm might help. But I really doubt that there would be much vandalism against parked bikes that don't get in the way. After all the streets are full of parked bikes, and vandalism is quite rare. (Yes, I have seen plenty of bikes with parts missing or bent wheels. But these usually remain in place for years, based on my observations, skewing superficial impressions. I've parked my bike on public streets for years, and the only thing that ever happened was my fancy saddle once being stolen.)
- dsfyu404ed 9y ago
  >People always assume a city full of cars as the "default", that has to be accepted. Yet in large cities, a quarter to half of all people (and far more in Manhattan) live good lives without owning a car. Imagine how quality of life would skyrocket if more people made the responsible choice: you'd win back 1/3 of public space that is currently used for parking. Possibly another 1/6th by converting most streets to one-ways, as would be possible if the remaining traffic is just public transport, deliveries & the elderly. With less traffic, most intersections could function without traffic lights. I don't understand this attitude. You can't solve transportation problems by reducing supply of A and increasing supply of B. You need to increase supply over-all. An over crowded subway, bike lane and highway all suck. Which you prefer to endure is only a matter of personal taste. If you make transportation via one method expensive (time, money or some other metric) people will do less of that and more of something else but the net result is harm because the cost of physical distance increases and that has a negative impact on quality of life because people are forced to use the wrong tool for the job. Examples include commuting via car or carrying groceries on a bike. The "food desert" issue is a good example of how a high cost of getting from A to B hurts people. People can't buy good food because they can't afford to go where they can afford to buy it. Sure you could ride your bike 10mi to get groceries but that's not a time/money/quality trade-off most people are ok with (they'd rather eat junk food). Another example, there's a bunch of clothes that I've been meaning to donate to charity but haven't because my schedule, my SO's schedule and the business hours of the thrift store need to sync up so one of us can circle the block or donating said clothes will cost $8 of parking. If so many people biked or public transit was so good that one of us could find free/cheap parking the thrift store would have the clothes by now.
justinhj 9y ago
I was recently in a city in SE China which is having great success with these bikes. A scan with Wechat unlocks them. they have team size of guys in Uniform going around clearing them up and cleaning them all the time, which is probably not as feasible in the West

DenisM 9y ago

Seattle seems ok. There is some vandalism towards bikes, but not much, the bikes themselves aren’t a problem for bystanders. The only reason I’m not using them is the helmet problem.

yellow_postit 9y ago
I’m picking up at least one bike a day. In Wallingford area of Seattle they just get unceremoniously tossed onto the ground or knocked over by other means. I do hope a single app emerges which can manage across the 3 apps (lime, ofo, spin)

occamrazor 9y ago

Zurich, for example. Most dockless bikes are parked in or near bike stalls.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

shaki-dora 9y ago

They're popular in Berlin and the system works well. It's only one company, but I've never seen this sort of vandalism. I also don't understand why it would happen. They have GPS, and the company knows who rents them. Maybe it's inconsiderate riders leaving them in the middle of the sidewalk, plus inconvenienced pedestrians damaging them in revenge? Even in that somewhat possible scenario: I wonder why people don't similarly take matters into their own hands when inconvenienced by, for example, illegally parked cars. It's also worth mentioning that no bike, parked anywhere but the middle of a busy street, could create as much inconvenience and health risks as any car. People always assume a city full of cars as the "default", that has to be accepted. Yet in large cities, a quarter to half of all people (and far more in Manhattan) live good lives without owning a car. Imagine how quality of life would skyrocket if more people made the responsible choice: you'd win back 1/3 of public space that is currently used for parking. Possibly another 1/6th by converting most streets to one-ways, as would be possible if the remaining traffic is just public transport, deliveries & the elderly. With less traffic, most intersections could function without traffic lights. Biking, walking, and public transport would each become far more attractive than it is right now. Seriously: in dense areas, car usage has become a collective action problem.

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
Guvante 9y ago
How do you stop someone from moving something they can pick up? Vehicles are too heavy to move without being turned on.
- shaki-dora 9y ago
  With Galileo coming online, you can get sub-centimetre position resolution, which would enable you to clearly identify riders misplacing bikes. In regards to bikes being picked up and moved, a simple alarm might help. But I really doubt that there would be much vandalism against parked bikes that don't get in the way. After all the streets are full of parked bikes, and vandalism is quite rare. (Yes, I have seen plenty of bikes with parts missing or bent wheels. But these usually remain in place for years, based on my observations, skewing superficial impressions. I've parked my bike on public streets for years, and the only thing that ever happened was my fancy saddle once being stolen.)
dsfyu404ed 9y ago
>People always assume a city full of cars as the "default", that has to be accepted. Yet in large cities, a quarter to half of all people (and far more in Manhattan) live good lives without owning a car. Imagine how quality of life would skyrocket if more people made the responsible choice: you'd win back 1/3 of public space that is currently used for parking. Possibly another 1/6th by converting most streets to one-ways, as would be possible if the remaining traffic is just public transport, deliveries & the elderly. With less traffic, most intersections could function without traffic lights. I don't understand this attitude. You can't solve transportation problems by reducing supply of A and increasing supply of B. You need to increase supply over-all. An over crowded subway, bike lane and highway all suck. Which you prefer to endure is only a matter of personal taste. If you make transportation via one method expensive (time, money or some other metric) people will do less of that and more of something else but the net result is harm because the cost of physical distance increases and that has a negative impact on quality of life because people are forced to use the wrong tool for the job. Examples include commuting via car or carrying groceries on a bike. The "food desert" issue is a good example of how a high cost of getting from A to B hurts people. People can't buy good food because they can't afford to go where they can afford to buy it. Sure you could ride your bike 10mi to get groceries but that's not a time/money/quality trade-off most people are ok with (they'd rather eat junk food). Another example, there's a bunch of clothes that I've been meaning to donate to charity but haven't because my schedule, my SO's schedule and the business hours of the thrift store need to sync up so one of us can circle the block or donating said clothes will cost $8 of parking. If so many people biked or public transit was so good that one of us could find free/cheap parking the thrift store would have the clothes by now.

justinhj 9y ago

I was recently in a city in SE China which is having great success with these bikes. A scan with Wechat unlocks them. they have team size of guys in Uniform going around clearing them up and cleaning them all the time, which is probably not as feasible in the West