Originally Posted by
CliffordK
The "Docks" in Portland are little more than designated bike racks that you can lock your bike share up to. I don't know what the procedure is for running out of places to lock the bike. I assume an office or store could ask for a new rack to be put in near their place of business if they think there is a need.
I don't see why an exchange couldn't be made away from an official bike share dock, but then it should be up to the previous rider to sign out and make sure the new rider signs back in.
I could imagine running errands or shopping with a bike share bike, and going into the store', and coming back out to find the bike GONE!!! Perhaps a pile of one's belongings where the bike had previously been parked.
Aren't many of the car-share plans dockless? Just park on the street somewhere that the next driver can pick it up. Then one can hunt for cars using GPS and a phone app. They do, however, limit the areas where one can "return" the car, so I wouldn't be able to return a car within 5 miles of my house
I think it would be nice to use wireless technology and apps to make a dockless docking system. Each bike could have a built in u-lock, which could be secured to an ordinary bike rack. The lock would be operated with the app. GPS would track the bike so users (and the bike share managers) could find the bike no matter where it was locked up. To encourage users to use the locks, they would be charged only for the time the bike was unlocked and in use. Sorta like this:
http://www.onbikeshare.com/how-it-works.html