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I loved riding these bikes in China when I lived there because they were so convenient and you could find a free one pretty much anywhere. I hope the concept sp

by osdiab 8y ago

I loved riding these bikes in China when I lived there because they were so convenient and you could find a free one pretty much anywhere. I hope the concept spreads, but with a reputation like this, convincing cities to allow for it will be tough. They took the "ask for forgiveness later" strategy in China leading to this mess, but even with a few bikes showing up in cities around the globe, until they're really ubiquitous it isn't a game changer. The minor presence we see in cities like SF and Seattle is not nearly enough to feel the positive impacts of ubiquitous dockless bikeshares.

erickhill 8y ago
There are three separate companies that have provided bikes for this kind of business model in Seattle: Lime Bike, OFO and mobike. I ride my own bike approximately 55 miles per week, and these are my anecdotal observation: -) A decent percentage of customers in some areas seem to be tourists. But a lot of locals use them, too. -) There is no rhyme or reason to where customers "dump" their bikes when they are finished using them. Sometimes these can literally litter sidewalks. -) when not in use, there are times when I ride through the city and see them all over the place to the point where they look like a spooky apocalyptic movie set. All of the people just left their bikes everywhere, but are gone. -) Someone who works for me lives in an area in Seattle called Capitol Hill, which has very steep hills. He needed a Lime Bike to get him to downtown quickly (almost entirely down hill, sometimes steep). It was just in the nick of time halfway down the first hill when he realized someone had snipped the brake lines. He was not injured but nearly flew into traffic. -) The tires are solid rubber: no inner tubes. Seems a brilliant idea that could spread to all bikes eventually. It's a cool concept, but there is some sort of magic number (that doesn't seem spreadsheet-driven) on how many bikes is too many. There is supposed to be a city review at some point, which was scheduled at the beginning of these contracts, to see if thousands more bikes could be added to the city’s streets. I feel pretty confidently that it will be rejected.
- stephengillie 8y ago
  Ask your friend how many times he's rode up Capitol Hill. It's slower to bike up those steep hills than it is to walk - I've walked past bicyclists struggling to get up the hill in the past. Locals don't really use these bikes often. They're a nice novelty. But if you need to get across the city, and your route doesn't cross the Streetcar, Trolley, or Light Rail, you're taking a bus or an Uber (or driving). And as a former mayor found out, bicycle commutes leave you in a post-exercise state, often needing a shower or change of clothes. Rarely can you ride a bicycle for transportation and still be presentable for a business meeting.
- fossuser 8y ago
  Tubeless tires are actually an old idea (they predate the pneumatic tires). The reason they're not widespread is the ride can be extremely rough and not as efficient. The other downside is that the additional shock gets delivered to the wheels themselves so while you don't have to replace your tubes or pump your tires up, you may have to fix your wheels more frequently. I learned this because I thought they were pretty cool and wanted to get a low maintenance belt drive bicycle with tubeless tires, but ended up with a belt drive bicycle with pneumatic tires (Priority Continuum)
  - bri3d 8y ago
    For those searching, this is not the conventional use of "tubeless" when it comes to tires - this term refers to pneumatic tires which do not use an inner tube. "Solid tire" or "solid tube" are the more common terms for airless tires and tire inserts. On off-road motorcycles they're called bib mousse, a Michelin trade term for an airless foam inner tube.
- jonknee 8y ago
  I’d like to see the city take away some street parking spaces and convert them to bike parking spaces. You can fit a lot of bikes in a parking space meant for a car.
  - URSpider94 8y ago
    Cities with dock bikeshare systems (like NYC’s Citibike) do exactly that. The counter argument is that people don’t want to walk half a block extra once they get to their destination just to get to a bike parking spot. Thus, the rising popularity of dockless bike shares. Seattle actually had a dock bikeshare for about 18 months, then scrapped it in favor of a number of dockless start-ups.
    - jonknee 8y ago
      I'm fully aware, just talking about optional spots in popular areas where it's easy to re-balance bikes to.
- gowld 8y ago
  There was a spate of brake-line attacks last month (I'd call them anti-bike terrorist attacks), but the magnitude was never reported and there was no follow-up after the first announcement. https://www.google.com/search?q=seattle+brake+line+cut https://www.google.com/search?q=seattle+brake+line+cut

by osdiab 8y ago

erickhill 8y ago

There are three separate companies that have provided bikes for this kind of business model in Seattle: Lime Bike, OFO and mobike. I ride my own bike approximately 55 miles per week, and these are my anecdotal observation: -) A decent percentage of customers in some areas seem to be tourists. But a lot of locals use them, too. -) There is no rhyme or reason to where customers "dump" their bikes when they are finished using them. Sometimes these can literally litter sidewalks. -) when not in use, there are times when I ride through the city and see them all over the place to the point where they look like a spooky apocalyptic movie set. All of the people just left their bikes everywhere, but are gone. -) Someone who works for me lives in an area in Seattle called Capitol Hill, which has very steep hills. He needed a Lime Bike to get him to downtown quickly (almost entirely down hill, sometimes steep). It was just in the nick of time halfway down the first hill when he realized someone had snipped the brake lines. He was not injured but nearly flew into traffic. -) The tires are solid rubber: no inner tubes. Seems a brilliant idea that could spread to all bikes eventually. It's a cool concept, but there is some sort of magic number (that doesn't seem spreadsheet-driven) on how many bikes is too many. There is supposed to be a city review at some point, which was scheduled at the beginning of these contracts, to see if thousands more bikes could be added to the city’s streets. I feel pretty confidently that it will be rejected.

stephengillie 8y ago
Ask your friend how many times he's rode up Capitol Hill. It's slower to bike up those steep hills than it is to walk - I've walked past bicyclists struggling to get up the hill in the past. Locals don't really use these bikes often. They're a nice novelty. But if you need to get across the city, and your route doesn't cross the Streetcar, Trolley, or Light Rail, you're taking a bus or an Uber (or driving). And as a former mayor found out, bicycle commutes leave you in a post-exercise state, often needing a shower or change of clothes. Rarely can you ride a bicycle for transportation and still be presentable for a business meeting.
fossuser 8y ago
Tubeless tires are actually an old idea (they predate the pneumatic tires). The reason they're not widespread is the ride can be extremely rough and not as efficient. The other downside is that the additional shock gets delivered to the wheels themselves so while you don't have to replace your tubes or pump your tires up, you may have to fix your wheels more frequently. I learned this because I thought they were pretty cool and wanted to get a low maintenance belt drive bicycle with tubeless tires, but ended up with a belt drive bicycle with pneumatic tires (Priority Continuum)
- bri3d 8y ago
  For those searching, this is not the conventional use of "tubeless" when it comes to tires - this term refers to pneumatic tires which do not use an inner tube. "Solid tire" or "solid tube" are the more common terms for airless tires and tire inserts. On off-road motorcycles they're called bib mousse, a Michelin trade term for an airless foam inner tube.
jonknee 8y ago
I’d like to see the city take away some street parking spaces and convert them to bike parking spaces. You can fit a lot of bikes in a parking space meant for a car.
- URSpider94 8y ago
  Cities with dock bikeshare systems (like NYC’s Citibike) do exactly that. The counter argument is that people don’t want to walk half a block extra once they get to their destination just to get to a bike parking spot. Thus, the rising popularity of dockless bike shares. Seattle actually had a dock bikeshare for about 18 months, then scrapped it in favor of a number of dockless start-ups.
  - jonknee 8y ago
    I'm fully aware, just talking about optional spots in popular areas where it's easy to re-balance bikes to.
gowld 8y ago
There was a spate of brake-line attacks last month (I'd call them anti-bike terrorist attacks), but the magnitude was never reported and there was no follow-up after the first announcement. https://www.google.com/search?q=seattle+brake+line+cut https://www.google.com/search?q=seattle+brake+line+cut