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I think you’re going to see cities acting much more quickly to clamp down on services like this. They have realized that Uber and Airbnb got the proverbial elep

I think you’re going to see cities acting much more quickly to clamp down on services like this. They have realized that Uber and Airbnb got the proverbial elephant’s nose under the tent, by the time they got around to trying to regulate them it was too late. FWIW, I think dockless bike/scooter share is a great idea, but having seen what a mess it has become in China, there do need to be some ground rules so that pedestrians aren’t having to step over piles of them to walk down the street.

mike_h 9y ago
Have you seen piles of them on the street yourself? I never have, in Beijing, Shanghai, or Xiamen. People are 99% considerate; the 1% who aren’t make for better photos. The frictionless utility of dockless has brought so much ease and joy to these cities that any marginal, occasional mess appears far outweighed to me, and anyone I’ve ever talked to.
- nrser 9y ago
  I live in Beijing, and the bike and scooter shares are everywhere, including blocking sidewalks and in huge piles and it’s absoultly great. They’ve been a terrific improvement. It’s great to use them, and it’s great to see so many other people using them. Yeah, they’re kind of a pain to deal with them sometimes, but it turns out you can just move the bikes, and walk or ride around the piles. I have yet to see anyone get stuck in a pile. And somehow even people that don’t use the bikes seem to be able to lend some value to the idea that other people do (this was very strange to me at first, having grown up in the Bay Area). Beijing is pretty much the perfect city for them though... completely flat and ridiculous spacious and open (except parts of the old city). I can see it being more painful in tighter cities. But they’ll figure the piles problem out; it’s already gotten better, and the net benefit has been pretty large.
- URSpider94 9y ago
  Yes, I have, in Shenzhen, as recently as last month. Not the crazy mountains that have made the news, but certainly dozens of them at every corner of the central business district. Fortunately, Shenzhen is a new city, more like San Jose than SF, with extremely wide sidewalks, so there’s enough room. That same density of parked bikes in SF would make the sidewalks unpassable for pedestrians, much less people in wheelchairs.
matheweis 9y ago
Here are just two recent examples of this not working out well in Seattle: Someone abandoned one on a ferry, prompting a $17,000 search: http://kuow.org/post/don-t-leave-bike-shares-ferries-coast-guard-will-think-you-ve-drowned http://kuow.org/post/don-t-leave-bike-shares-ferries-coast-g... ... and piles of them are being left in people’s yards, too: http://amp.kiro7.com/www.kiro7.com/news/local/dozens-of-limebikes-end-up-in-seattle-homeowners-yard-some-are-laughing-others-arent/699194630 http://amp.kiro7.com/www.kiro7.com/news/local/dozens-of-lime... There is a very significant aspect of externalities happening here, in my opinion.
- StudentStuff 9y ago
  That yard full of bikes was a prank for a 40th birthday party. I hope you don't think that is common, I'm in Magnolia (the neighborhood where that happened) often and have yet to see a single bike in someone's yard. Same for Ballard, Northgate, Queen Anne & Fremont, people generally put these bikes right at the edge of the sidewalk or in the median between the road and sidewalk, the same space a telephone pole, tree or trashcan would go.

mike_h 9y ago

Have you seen piles of them on the street yourself? I never have, in Beijing, Shanghai, or Xiamen. People are 99% considerate; the 1% who aren’t make for better photos. The frictionless utility of dockless has brought so much ease and joy to these cities that any marginal, occasional mess appears far outweighed to me, and anyone I’ve ever talked to.

nrser 9y ago
I live in Beijing, and the bike and scooter shares are everywhere, including blocking sidewalks and in huge piles and it’s absoultly great. They’ve been a terrific improvement. It’s great to use them, and it’s great to see so many other people using them. Yeah, they’re kind of a pain to deal with them sometimes, but it turns out you can just move the bikes, and walk or ride around the piles. I have yet to see anyone get stuck in a pile. And somehow even people that don’t use the bikes seem to be able to lend some value to the idea that other people do (this was very strange to me at first, having grown up in the Bay Area). Beijing is pretty much the perfect city for them though... completely flat and ridiculous spacious and open (except parts of the old city). I can see it being more painful in tighter cities. But they’ll figure the piles problem out; it’s already gotten better, and the net benefit has been pretty large.
URSpider94 9y ago
Yes, I have, in Shenzhen, as recently as last month. Not the crazy mountains that have made the news, but certainly dozens of them at every corner of the central business district. Fortunately, Shenzhen is a new city, more like San Jose than SF, with extremely wide sidewalks, so there’s enough room. That same density of parked bikes in SF would make the sidewalks unpassable for pedestrians, much less people in wheelchairs.

matheweis 9y ago

Here are just two recent examples of this not working out well in Seattle: Someone abandoned one on a ferry, prompting a $17,000 search: http://kuow.org/post/don-t-leave-bike-shares-ferries-coast-guard-will-think-you-ve-drowned http://kuow.org/post/don-t-leave-bike-shares-ferries-coast-g... ... and piles of them are being left in people’s yards, too: http://amp.kiro7.com/www.kiro7.com/news/local/dozens-of-limebikes-end-up-in-seattle-homeowners-yard-some-are-laughing-others-arent/699194630 http://amp.kiro7.com/www.kiro7.com/news/local/dozens-of-lime... There is a very significant aspect of externalities happening here, in my opinion.

StudentStuff 9y ago
That yard full of bikes was a prank for a 40th birthday party. I hope you don't think that is common, I'm in Magnolia (the neighborhood where that happened) often and have yet to see a single bike in someone's yard. Same for Ballard, Northgate, Queen Anne & Fremont, people generally put these bikes right at the edge of the sidewalk or in the median between the road and sidewalk, the same space a telephone pole, tree or trashcan would go.