Uber Bikes for Manchester

[MossCommuter]

I can see them being handy to get into the city centre from where I am in a few minutes rather than 20 min walk.

I just went from Piccadilly Gardens (the Mobike was outside Dawsons) to The Pilcrow so not far at all, but much better than walking, and then from Pilcrow back to Thomas Street.

After a number of hours in the Pilcrow and then 57 Thomas Street I thought it wise to walk back to the bus

 

[jefmcg]

You get charged another 50p. I think if your account is out of credit it slows the bike to a stop then locks the wheel.

Is there any need to do that? Surely they could take the money (a few pounds at most if cycle around for hours) out of your deposit, and not let you ride again until you'd topped up your account/added a new credit card/whatever else.

Edit: that's exactly what they do http://mobike.com/global/faq
"If you are in the midst of a ride, it will not affect your current ride. However, you will not be able to begin a new ride and will not have your deposit refunded until you have topped up your wallet to pay the negative balance."

Geofence is more interesting: I still doubt they would enforce it by locking the bike, otherwise how could you get back into the area if you left by accident. I'd guess they'd invoke the same penalties as for stolen and lost bikes.

 

[fossyant]

I assume the bikes don't have a gps and rely upon the GPS data from the phone app when you park the bike.

 

[jefmcg]

I assume the bikes don't have a gps and rely upon the GPS data from the phone app when you park the bike.

The bikes have a sim, I bet they have a GPS.

"When you successfully reserve a bike, it will be the only one to appear on the map, along with directions to get to it. When you get close to it, you can ring it to find it more easily"

 

[MossCommuter]

I assume the bikes don't have a gps and rely upon the GPS data from the phone app when you park the bike.

I think they must have GPS because the app is able to say where the bicycles are.

The phone of the most recent rider could not be relied on (it might be turned off before the bicycle is locked again).

 

[jefmcg]

BTW, interesting idea and thanks for sharing @MossCommuter.

I know it's what the Guardian article says, but it's more like ZipCars for bikes than Uber.

It seems brilliant for doing a bit of shopping or touristing or whatever, but not for commuting to and from the stations. Despite trucking bikes to the transport hubs in the mornings and away from them in the evenings it's nearly impossible to find a Boris Bike in the city of London after about 7 o'clock at night.

 

[classic33]

This begs for some nasty unintended consequences.

That was my thought as well.

 

[Bazzer]

BTW, interesting idea and thanks for sharing @MossCommuter.

I know it's what the Guardian article says, but it's more like ZipCars for bikes than Uber.

It seems brilliant for doing a bit of shopping or touristing or whatever, but not for commuting to and from the stations. Despite trucking bikes to the transport hubs in the mornings and away from them in the evenings it's nearly impossible to find a Boris Bike in the city of London after about 7 o'clock at night.

Interestingly (or maybe not), I was surprised at their location on Deansgate, which seemed in an odd place. May be OK for shopping, but beyond that, unless someone had come in from the suburbs and worked in either that part of the city or just over the river in Salford, I am not sure what purpose they served in that location.Closest rail station would have been Deansgate, but that was 8 mins or so walk at my pace, (which is not slow).
I did have a look at Deansgate station to see if there was a similar bike park there, but there was not, or perhaps more accurately, there were none of the bikes visible.
Hopefully, if not already in place, there are plans to put bike stations at the major rail stations of Piccadilly and Victoria (and there are decent number of bikes to hire). That might get more cyclists in the city centre and some of the infrastructure I have seen in London.

 

[MossCommuter]

Interestingly (or maybe not), I was surprised at their location on Deansgate, which seemed in an odd place. May be OK for shopping, but beyond that, unless someone had come in from the suburbs and worked in either that part of the city or just over the river in Salford, I am not sure what purpose they served in that location.Closest rail station would have been Deansgate, but that was 8 mins or so walk at my pace, (which is not slow).
I did have a look at Deansgate station to see if there was a similar bike park there, but there was not, or perhaps more accurately, there were none of the bikes visible.
Hopefully, if not already in place, there are plans to put bike stations at the major rail stations of Piccadilly and Victoria (and there are decent number of bikes to hire). That might get more cyclists in the city centre and some of the infrastructure I have seen in London.

That's the point. There are no stations. They get left where people have finished with them.

It will be interesting to see how it goes in terms of where they're most likely to be

 

[KnackeredBike]

Hope they come here, we have had one for a while, Oxonbike, but they helpfully don't have any docking stations in the city centre, just a five minute walk around it. So I have never signed up, because that is bloody stupid.

You feel the technology is just right for it to flourish.

 

[classic33]

That's the point. There are no stations. They get left where people have finished with them.

It will be interesting to see how it goes in terms of where they're most likely to be

Maybe that's the idea behind having permanent sites yet. See where they get left the most, then establish a series of permanent sites, along with the use them and leave them.

 

[confusedcyclist]

Chuck in a couple of bonus points for returning the bicycle to a prime location and you can have the makings of a free and dockless system, but with benefit of a few bikes located in places most needed, this might reduce the need to have to seek bikes out on foot.

 

[BRounsley]

I used one this morning on my commute in (out tonight so getting the tram home).

I live in Chorlton and had about 10 all very close to choose from. Love the concept. Finding and unlocking the bike was super simple.

The issue is the bike. Even at max height the seat was way way too low for me (34 inside leg), it was uncomfortable .The gear ratio is really conservative, just spinning it the whole way in. It was like riding a kid's BMX.

The app said it took 19 minutes to do 5km/3 miles, so still faster than walking but hard work and slow compared to a 'normal' bike.

I don’t think the bikes are designed for Europeans, let’s hope they don’t take them to Scandinavia.

 

[MossCommuter]

The issue is the bike. Even at max height the seat was way way too low for me (34 inside leg), it was uncomfortable .The gear ratio is really conservative, just spinning it the whole way in. It was like riding a kid's BMX.

100% agree and I am nowhere near as tall as you @BRounsley

 

[biking_fox]

I used one this morning on my commute in (out tonight so getting the tram home).

I live in Chorlton and had about 10 all very close to choose from. Love the concept. Finding and unlocking the bike was super simple.

The issue is the bike. Even at max height the seat was way way too low for me (34 inside leg), it was uncomfortable .The gear ratio is really conservative, just spinning it the whole way in. It was like riding a kid's BMX.

The app said it took 19 minutes to do 5km/3 miles, so still faster than walking but hard work and slow compared to a 'normal' bike.

I don’t think the bikes are designed for Europeans, let’s hope they don’t take them to Scandinavia.

Useful to know - especially as I'm another chorltonite. But being also of long leg I might not bother. Are they electric? How do they get charged if so?