Bike Share Program Proposed for Jacksonville

[I-10east]

Mapping the impact of dockless vehicles:

https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/news/mapping-the-impact-of-dockless-vehicles/539263/

This is how China does dockless bike sharing. Yikes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXX423ErY1U

[Adam White]

Mapping the impact of dockless vehicles:

https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/news/mapping-the-impact-of-dockless-vehicles/539263/

This is how China does dockless bike sharing. Yikes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXX423ErY1U

They do dockless bike sharing in a lot of places. I think what appears to be happening in China (or in these examples) is when you have a LOT of bikes.

[Kerry]

In Manhattan for a couple of days for work and can't help but notice the Citi Bike explosion (NYC's docked bikeshare). Asked a couple of people near a station what they thought of it, and interestingly, their common complaint wasn't that it was hard to find a bike at a dock, but rather, it was hard to return a bike to the dock. One guy mentioned that it wasn't uncommon to bike 15 minutes out of his way to find a dock that wasn't full. Apparently the thousands of "bike angels" are constantly moving bikes from more remote stations to more popular stations throughout the day for credits, resulting in constantly full docks. And if you don't return to a dock, you can get hit with a $1000 fee.

Not sure why NYC finds this a difficult problem to solve.  In OKC I had this problem 2 times.  The first time I just hung out for about a minute until someone checked out a bike and opened up a spot.  The second time I sent a text to the operator and they said just lock the bike up near the station using the built-in lock and key.  They checked the bike in for me and said they would send someone out to retrieve it.  I kept the key (I'm sure they have tons of extras) and returned the key a few days later.

[Steve]

In Manhattan for a couple of days for work and can't help but notice the Citi Bike explosion (NYC's docked bikeshare). Asked a couple of people near a station what they thought of it, and interestingly, their common complaint wasn't that it was hard to find a bike at a dock, but rather, it was hard to return a bike to the dock. One guy mentioned that it wasn't uncommon to bike 15 minutes out of his way to find a dock that wasn't full. Apparently the thousands of "bike angels" are constantly moving bikes from more remote stations to more popular stations throughout the day for credits, resulting in constantly full docks. And if you don't return to a dock, you can get hit with a $1000 fee.

Not sure why NYC finds this a difficult problem to solve.  In OKC I had this problem 2 times.  The first time I just hung out for about a minute until someone checked out a bike and opened up a spot.  The second time I sent a text to the operator and they said just lock the bike up near the station using the built-in lock and key.  They checked the bike in for me and said they would send someone out to retrieve it.  I kept the key (I'm sure they have tons of extras) and returned the key a few days later.

I'm thinking NYC has more residents and visitors than Oklahoma City. But that's just me.

[Adam White]

In Manhattan for a couple of days for work and can't help but notice the Citi Bike explosion (NYC's docked bikeshare). Asked a couple of people near a station what they thought of it, and interestingly, their common complaint wasn't that it was hard to find a bike at a dock, but rather, it was hard to return a bike to the dock. One guy mentioned that it wasn't uncommon to bike 15 minutes out of his way to find a dock that wasn't full. Apparently the thousands of "bike angels" are constantly moving bikes from more remote stations to more popular stations throughout the day for credits, resulting in constantly full docks. And if you don't return to a dock, you can get hit with a $1000 fee.

Not sure why NYC finds this a difficult problem to solve.  In OKC I had this problem 2 times.  The first time I just hung out for about a minute until someone checked out a bike and opened up a spot.  The second time I sent a text to the operator and they said just lock the bike up near the station using the built-in lock and key.  They checked the bike in for me and said they would send someone out to retrieve it.  I kept the key (I'm sure they have tons of extras) and returned the key a few days later.

I'm thinking NYC has more residents and visitors than Oklahoma City. But that's just me.

Not dissimilar to the issue on China - lots of people using the system creates unexpected problems. I can see why it would be an issue in NYC and not in OKC.

[Steve]

In Manhattan for a couple of days for work and can't help but notice the Citi Bike explosion (NYC's docked bikeshare). Asked a couple of people near a station what they thought of it, and interestingly, their common complaint wasn't that it was hard to find a bike at a dock, but rather, it was hard to return a bike to the dock. One guy mentioned that it wasn't uncommon to bike 15 minutes out of his way to find a dock that wasn't full. Apparently the thousands of "bike angels" are constantly moving bikes from more remote stations to more popular stations throughout the day for credits, resulting in constantly full docks. And if you don't return to a dock, you can get hit with a $1000 fee.

Not sure why NYC finds this a difficult problem to solve.  In OKC I had this problem 2 times.  The first time I just hung out for about a minute until someone checked out a bike and opened up a spot.  The second time I sent a text to the operator and they said just lock the bike up near the station using the built-in lock and key.  They checked the bike in for me and said they would send someone out to retrieve it.  I kept the key (I'm sure they have tons of extras) and returned the key a few days later.

I'm thinking NYC has more residents and visitors than Oklahoma City. But that's just me.

Not dissimilar to the issue on China - lots of people using the system creates unexpected problems. I can see why it would be an issue in NYC and not in OKC.

Exactly - while I did have a little sarcasm in my answer, it was honest. That's like saying "This small company with limited resources offers great customer service; why can't this big company?" Many things are very hard to scale.

[Adam White]

In Manhattan for a couple of days for work and can't help but notice the Citi Bike explosion (NYC's docked bikeshare). Asked a couple of people near a station what they thought of it, and interestingly, their common complaint wasn't that it was hard to find a bike at a dock, but rather, it was hard to return a bike to the dock. One guy mentioned that it wasn't uncommon to bike 15 minutes out of his way to find a dock that wasn't full. Apparently the thousands of "bike angels" are constantly moving bikes from more remote stations to more popular stations throughout the day for credits, resulting in constantly full docks. And if you don't return to a dock, you can get hit with a $1000 fee.

Not sure why NYC finds this a difficult problem to solve.  In OKC I had this problem 2 times.  The first time I just hung out for about a minute until someone checked out a bike and opened up a spot.  The second time I sent a text to the operator and they said just lock the bike up near the station using the built-in lock and key.  They checked the bike in for me and said they would send someone out to retrieve it.  I kept the key (I'm sure they have tons of extras) and returned the key a few days later.

I'm thinking NYC has more residents and visitors than Oklahoma City. But that's just me.

Not dissimilar to the issue on China - lots of people using the system creates unexpected problems. I can see why it would be an issue in NYC and not in OKC.

Exactly - while I did have a little sarcasm in my answer, it was honest. That's like saying "This small company with limited resources offers great customer service; why can't this big company?" Many things are very hard to scale.

Seems obvious!

[Kerry]

I think all of you missed my point.

[Steve]

I think all of you missed my point.

If your point was that New York City should be capable of being able to accommodate a person bringing their bike back to a full dock, then yes in a box I agree with you. Sometimes are harder than they should be (right or wrong). But, the staffing issue of maintaining this grows exponentially, not linearly.

If you had a different point, then yes I missed it.

[Kerry]

No, that was my point.  If someone is riding 15 minutes out of their way just to dock a bike they are probably totally unaware there is already a solution in place.

[Steve]

No, that was my point.  If someone is riding 15 minutes out of their way just to dock a bike they are probably totally unaware there is already a solution in place.

But is there a solution in place in NY? There may not be:

- Perhaps the person didn't know they could text someone for that issue
- Perhaps they did text and the didn't get a response
- Perhaps they were new to the bike share world and got a little, "wrapped around the axle mentally" if you will.
- Perhaps some law in NY prevents them from suggesting something like OKCs solution.

[Kerry]

Here is what NYC says to do if there is no dock.  Basically you select "No dock" from the kiosk and they give you an extra 15 minutes to find a dock.

https://help.citibikenyc.com/hc/en-us/articles/360002754911-I-can-t-find-a-dock

[Steve]

Here is what NYC says to do if there is no dock.  Basically you select "No dock" from the kiosk and they give you an extra 15 minutes to find a dock.

https://help.citibikenyc.com/hc/en-us/articles/360002754911-I-can-t-find-a-dock

Well, that's not really amazing. Generally, it isn't the money for the extra 15 minutes; it's the fact that I have to spend an extra 15 minutes of my time looking for it.

(to be clear, I recognize you didn't set the policy).

[Kerry]

Yea - I prefer the "just lock it near-by" approach.  Of course, the app tells you not only if a bike is available, but also if a doc is available.

[thelakelander]

^This is one of the benefits of dockless!