Rollfast

Funny, this is what happens to the shopping carts here.

UniChris

As an interesting local contrast, Yonkers which is just north of the Bronx (no Citibike in the Bronx) and several other Westchester cities have dockless Lime, and in one case, Ofo bikes.

I often ride the rail trail that runs from the Bronx north through the entire height of Westchester and into Putnam County beyond, and recently have been seeing the lower part of it increasingly colonized by these. Parked quite neatly to the side, too. At one one spot where you can take some stairs down the the road there appears to be developing a de-fact dock. From that limited perspective it looks like it's doing exactly what it should be.

But on my last ride it suddenly hit me: these are all parked in the grass. And judging by its several inch height, that does have to get mowed, and fairly soon. Sort of wondering if the county guys will just pick up the mower bar and bypass the bike patch, or be told they have to stop and get out and manually move them.

Perhaps what they really should be doing is using the de facto parking locations to plan official ones, and then putting in a rack and some sort of gravel over weed-blocking-mesh or something that would be lower maintenance and not prime tick habitat.

It also seems the companies are being so unsophisticated about this - they have an app, they could do so much with software. For example, one price for a ride that ends at an official location, a slightly higher one for parking a bike at a random spot.

Instead of docked or dockless, how about both?

FrenchFit 

LImebikes litter our community, they're everywhere. It seems there are many riders who enjoy leaving them in rather bizarre places, undocked art perhaps.

If the reporting is accurate, LimeBike has huge money in back of it, a big bet that the undocked experiment is going take off in the US like China. Well, good luck guys..

.I can't see how undocked bikes make any profit unless the business is permanently subsided by real estate developers, corps., govts., etc.

Rollfast

Get your own bike and you will love it, especially because it's exactly what you wanted.

And dockless bikes are as easily stolen and later dumped. It's a bad example for those that should be impressed.

UniChris

But then you have to store it, and for bimodal trips either hope for the best leaving it locked or bring it on the train or bus or whatever.

There's a reason bike share targets short trips, not long rides.

Also lots of reports from people who own their own, but still use the share bikes because they make more sense for the purposes they target.

LanghamP

They were recently introduced about three months ago to my city (st Louis). Limebike and Offo.

I like them a lot and I see them getting used extensively. I use them myself, but only if they are on the top of a hill. You wouldn't want to pedal up a hill with these monsters.

A problem is that people often park them on the sidewalk thereby squeezing pedestrians. Don't do this.

Simply park your Limebike in the nearest empty and free parking space. It will soon have friends; a single car parking spot can hold something like 5-8 Limebikes.

Dockless cars demanding and taking up free space seems so normal to our society that it's disconcerting when dockless bikes do the same on a much much smaller scale.

MMACH 5

Interesting side note, here in Dallas: Private bike theft has all but stopped. The people who would steal the bike parked from a patio, find it easier to just break the GPS on a dockless share bike.

I am car-free and ride most everywhere. I've used the share bikes a few times, when I've been without my bike. I'd like to see them more spread out in more areas of the city and suburbs.
I am absolutely sick and tired of hearing folks complain out them being an eye-sore. Really? I don't here the same complaints about trashcans, they are everywhere and get knocked over, roll into the alley and block sidewalks. For some reason, trashcans, shopping carts and cars get a pass on cluttering public and private areas. Folks seem to be able to understand that the issues are with the users, not the manufacturers or distributors. However, with the share bikes, a lot of people want to blame the companies and run them out of town.

JoeyBike

First, I like the idea of big companies fighting to see how many new cyclists they can create in the world. Big difference from the old days when GM killed public transport in Los Angeles so everybody had to drive a car.

We have a bike share evolving in New Orleans. I like it. I have a membership. Mostly docked bikes but just changed the rules so you can leave them anywhere (within their large working area) for no extra charge. If you grab a loose bike and return to any dock, you get $1 credited to your account. I pay $15+tax/month.

I like very much that you can leave them anywhere. Now it seems there is a bike laying around near me anytime I want one. I use them for movies, jury duty, and 1/2 commute. Sometimes I like to skate to work on a new greenway but don't want to be committed to skating home in the dark, rain, tired feet, whatever. So I can just hop on a bike share, toss skates in the basket and ride home. Awesome. It's kinda changed my life really.

I also like the numbers of regular-looking people i see riding the things. As many have claimed, the more bike presence out there, the more motorists get acclimated to our presence. I like this part a lot -> cyclists PERCEIVED as HUMANS by non-cyclists.

All in all, I like the whole idea of an accessible bike near me at all times.

Cheers.

Milton Keynes

That complaining is probably being instigated by car dealerships and taxi/Uber drivers.

JoeyBike

Uber owns our bike share service. "Blue Bikes" is the name of the share service sponsored heavily by Blue Cross/Blue Shield but Uber just bought the biz. So at least in my community, Uber drivers better complain to Uber and not me.

UniChris

Probably because they use shopping carts and trash cans themselves.

I could see share bikes becoming problematic litter - the pictures from China are real. So far the ones I've seen in person have been neatly parked with reasonable consideration, though I do wonder what will happen when they need to mow along the MUP.

Anyway, the real question seems to be, will they make convenience biking a majority thing, faster than they make picking one's way around discarded bikes a widespread annoyance. Could depend a lot on implementation detail.

thebellmont

I think dockless systems are great, as it gets bikes exactly where they need to be and can be used instead of having some corporate bureaucrat isolate docks in only a few and/or poorly chosen locations.

As for the ugly factor, bright colors allow people to be seen on them and allows me to easily locate a bike share bike from a distance. Also, congestion in cities is pretty ugly too.

Rollfast

That's great too, unless you would rather choose from three Rollfasts. two classic Schwinns or a Shelby, and Nancy Reagan told me just say no to shifting (and loud looking bikes).

Stand By Your Bike.