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Does the price point of $2 for 30 minutes seem a little high to anyone? Ofo is 4x cheaper at $1/hour [1] in Seattle... even when taking into account the high CO

by yoavz 9y ago

Does the price point of $2 for 30 minutes seem a little high to anyone? Ofo is 4x cheaper at $1/hour [1] in Seattle... even when taking into account the high COL in SF and the extra benefit of electric bike, this seems excessive. A uber pool with the express option can be $3-4 for a short bikeable ride, I think I'd rather default to that in a majority of cases. [1] https://seattle.curbed.com/2017/8/15/16153622/ofo-bike-share-launch-seattle https://seattle.curbed.com/2017/8/15/16153622/ofo-bike-share...

josephpmay 9y ago
In many parts of SF, an electric bike will be quicker than an Uber
owenversteeg 9y ago
$1/hr seems pretty VC-subsidized. Assuming that the costs for one bike are $900/year (including broken motors, lost bikes, theft, docks, rent for docks, broken chargers, etc) that's 3 hours of trips needed per day... which might not sound like a lot, but with 10 hours of daylight a day that's a pretty large amount of usage IMO. I live in the Netherlands, where everyone owns their own bikes. The biggest bikeshare program is run by the national railways, with bikes available at any station for €3.85/24 hours. They're non-electric, so probably cost about $200 per bike in bulk. I wish there were smaller rental periods available though. [edit] googled bike costs out of curiosity, and apparently ofo builds their own non-electric bikes in China, which cost only $36 each (!).
kercker 9y ago
Ofo offered monthly pass of 1 yuan per month in Beijing for some time last year and even if you don't have a monthly pass, you can ride at a fee of 1 yuan per hour. Mobike offers seasonly pass of 5 yuan per 3 months in Beijing. Both of them are heavily subsided by investment. Sooner or later, people will get used to low price or no price, and I don't think they will finally generate profits after the fierce competition between them ends.

by yoavz 9y ago

josephpmay 9y ago

In many parts of SF, an electric bike will be quicker than an Uber

owenversteeg 9y ago

$1/hr seems pretty VC-subsidized. Assuming that the costs for one bike are $900/year (including broken motors, lost bikes, theft, docks, rent for docks, broken chargers, etc) that's 3 hours of trips needed per day... which might not sound like a lot, but with 10 hours of daylight a day that's a pretty large amount of usage IMO. I live in the Netherlands, where everyone owns their own bikes. The biggest bikeshare program is run by the national railways, with bikes available at any station for €3.85/24 hours. They're non-electric, so probably cost about $200 per bike in bulk. I wish there were smaller rental periods available though. [edit] googled bike costs out of curiosity, and apparently ofo builds their own non-electric bikes in China, which cost only $36 each (!).

kercker 9y ago

Ofo offered monthly pass of 1 yuan per month in Beijing for some time last year and even if you don't have a monthly pass, you can ride at a fee of 1 yuan per hour. Mobike offers seasonly pass of 5 yuan per 3 months in Beijing. Both of them are heavily subsided by investment. Sooner or later, people will get used to low price or no price, and I don't think they will finally generate profits after the fierce competition between them ends.