Has anyone heard about when (or if) Mobike is launching?
At this point, only LimeBike and Ofo have submitted completed permits for city review. With two companies starting with 1500 bikes next Monday and hundreds (potentially thousands) more phased in over the summer, I'm expecting the market is called for.
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Ofo hasn't put out any bikes yet
Lime Bike had hundreds out quickly- i rode one from my building at 20th and Washington to the Arch and back. Very smooth ride using the Chestnut protected lane.
Both are $1 per ride but Lime Bike charges the 2nd dollar at 31st minute while Ofo after 1 hour
Here are locations of Lime Bike at 7:50 today. each wheel is a cluster of 5-7 bikes once you zoom in.
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Lime Bike had hundreds out quickly- i rode one from my building at 20th and Washington to the Arch and back. Very smooth ride using the Chestnut protected lane.
Both are $1 per ride but Lime Bike charges the 2nd dollar at 31st minute while Ofo after 1 hour
Here are locations of Lime Bike at 7:50 today. each wheel is a cluster of 5-7 bikes once you zoom in.
I downloaded the Limebike app this morning. Apparently if you register with a .edu email address you get 50% off per half hour. Haven't had a chance to take one out yet to confirm yet though.
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I hope Lime and oFo do well in St. Louis, but there is always going to be some bad apples ruining these app bike share programs by dumping and vandalizing the bikes. I just hope it doesn't get out of hand as in Dallas. I was in Dallas last month and these bikes were littered all over the place. I noticed some of the bikes were broken and dumped in creeks.
Here is a piece from NBC about Dallas' bike share woes.
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/innovation ... as-n866351
Even in Taipei, obike had some of their bicycles thrown into rivers too. Most however were collecting dust because either no one uses it or it was inoperable. Lots of brand new bicycles lined up and unused too.
Here is a piece from NBC about Dallas' bike share woes.
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/innovation ... as-n866351
Even in Taipei, obike had some of their bicycles thrown into rivers too. Most however were collecting dust because either no one uses it or it was inoperable. Lots of brand new bicycles lined up and unused too.
Is there a map somewhere with all of the bike locations? I mean something I can access without using the app?
Don't believe so, did a quick search and it appears the only live maps available are on the apps. Since the bikes are free to be moved and parked anywhere a dynamic map would be required.framer wrote: Is there a map somewhere with all of the bike locations? I mean something I can access without using the app?
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This was taken by a friend and sent to me. The bikes were in the Normandy area in North county.Are they allowed to travel that far?![]()
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^^ Probably not allowed up there, but LimeBike knows where their bikes are and will pick them up, if they're in the wrong location.
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Thanks! I was worried that we were already off to a bad start.
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LimeBike is reaching out to county cities to let them know this may happen and that they'll dispatch the night crew to get the bikes. eventually this wont be an issue as they are planning a regional system, they're in talks with the obvious cities about legally being able to operate there too (cities close to the Stl City boarder)
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ofo is launching this week.
Personally, I hope the city rejects any new bike companies coming in. We should wait and see for the first year how ofo and LimeBike perform.
In seriousness though, I'm really happy we got a dockless system. It's way more accessible than a docked system.
There's one in Arnold and another in Creve Coeur right now.BuckyO'Hare wrote: ↑Apr 24, 2018This was taken by a friend and sent to me. The bikes were in the Normandy area in North county.Are they allowed to travel that far?
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I'm not sure how many more bikes Limebike has yet to deploy, then there's Ofo. But I'd argue we still need way more bikes.Chalupas54 wrote: ↑Apr 29, 2018ofo is launching this week.
Personally, I hope the city rejects any new bike companies coming in. We should wait and see for the first year how ofo and LimeBike perform.
The dockless setup really only works if there are too many bikes. We'll say a four-block radius is the farthest I'd want to walk to pick up a bike. Say I'm biking with my wife. I'd want there to be at least four or five bikes within every four-block radius of urbanized city to account for broken bikes (already dealt with a couple), erroneous GPS data, and just other users grabbing a bike while I'm patronizing a business.
There are still huge areas of the central corridor without enough bikes to make me feel confident in there being two working bikes sitting around when I'd want to use them. There aren't even that many in most of downtown.
There seems to be a constant shortage next to the CWE Metrolink Station, which is one of the most important spots for me. There should be like 8-10 bikes there at all times.
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I agree, but as I think many of us fear, we don't want a Dallas type situation here. I was in Dallas last week and it's actually really bad. I just really hope that Lime and ofo don't "overpopulate".eee123 wrote: ↑Apr 29, 2018I'm not sure how many more bikes Limebike has yet to deploy, then there's Ofo. But I'd argue we still need way more bikes.Chalupas54 wrote: ↑Apr 29, 2018ofo is launching this week.
Personally, I hope the city rejects any new bike companies coming in. We should wait and see for the first year how ofo and LimeBike perform.
The dockless setup really only works if there are too many bikes. We'll say a four-block radius is the farthest I'd want to walk to pick up a bike. Say I'm biking with my wife. I'd want there to be at least four or five bikes within every four-block radius of urbanized city to account for broken bikes (already dealt with a couple), erroneous GPS data, and just other users grabbing a bike while I'm patronizing a business.
There are still huge areas of the central corridor without enough bikes to make me feel confident in there being two working bikes sitting around when I'd want to use them. There aren't even that many in most of downtown.
There seems to be a constant shortage next to the CWE Metrolink Station, which is one of the most important spots for me. There should be like 8-10 bikes there at all times.
I walked by one in downtown Clayton today. Hopefully more communities agree to let them come in and stay there. I would be open to riding them from the metrolink to my house and back if they come to my area.bprop wrote: ↑Apr 29, 2018There's one in Arnold and another in Creve Coeur right now.BuckyO'Hare wrote: ↑Apr 24, 2018This was taken by a friend and sent to me. The bikes were in the Normandy area in North county.Are they allowed to travel that far?
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Saw a Limebike being put on the front bike rack of a Metro bus by DePaul hospital.
There's about a two block radius around the CWE metrolink station marked on the limebike app as "unserviced area" that you shouldn't leave a bike in. What's that about?
Also, I've ridden docked bike shares in half a dozen cities and the single speed limebikes are freaking awful. Top speed is like 7mph. They're slow enough to make me scared of riding in any traffic here.
Also, I've ridden docked bike shares in half a dozen cities and the single speed limebikes are freaking awful. Top speed is like 7mph. They're slow enough to make me scared of riding in any traffic here.
Maybe it's WU medical and/or Barnes not wanting their hospital clogged up with this bright green garbage. They might be slow in traffic but downtown where the jackwagons are tooling around on the sidewalks they're plenty fast. And these jokers look at you like they expect you to get out of their way. No. You get off the sidewalk and ride your LAMEBAKE in the street like you agreed to when you rented it. Geez what a horrible thing this is.eee123 wrote: ↑May 01, 2018There's about a two block radius around the CWE metrolink station marked on the limebike app as "unserviced area" that you shouldn't leave a bike in. What's that about?
Also, I've ridden docked bike shares in half a dozen cities and the single speed limebikes are freaking awful. Top speed is like 7mph. They're slow enough to make me scared of riding in any traffic here.
Thanks for coming out from under your bridge. Enjoy the sunlight.danke0 wrote: ↑May 02, 2018Maybe it's WU medical and/or Barnes not wanting their hospital clogged up with this bright green garbage. They might be slow in traffic but downtown where the jackwagons are tooling around on the sidewalks they're plenty fast. And these jokers look at you like they expect you to get out of their way. No. You get off the sidewalk and ride your LAMEBAKE in the street like you agreed to when you rented it. Geez what a horrible thing this is.eee123 wrote: ↑May 01, 2018There's about a two block radius around the CWE metrolink station marked on the limebike app as "unserviced area" that you shouldn't leave a bike in. What's that about?
Also, I've ridden docked bike shares in half a dozen cities and the single speed limebikes are freaking awful. Top speed is like 7mph. They're slow enough to make me scared of riding in any traffic here.
There are bike racks all over that area. Not sure how Limebikes are any worse than all of those. The ban doesn't seem to be stopping anything, so my question was more of a curious query than anything else.
I too have been annoyed by sidewalk cyclists, but 6-7mph is way, way, way too slow for most city streets, except for quiet neighborhood streets. Speed differential kills.
And as a cyclist,riding in a city where laws aren't enforced, my personal preference for not dying trumps any and all laws. I always bike on the street on my personal bike, but that has a top speed of three times those limebikes.
But 7mph is not safe on any city thoroughfare. Expecting people to bike on the street when drivers are going 40mph and/or using bike lanes as right-hand passing lanes (Chouteau) is a death sentence.
Tonight was my first night downtown since they went in and I saw a fair amount of people on them. There were 3 or 4, what had to be tourists (they were stopped and trying to figure out their route via GPS on their phones), riding them around about 10 pm.
I will say I didn't see many bikes parked around though. I thought I would see a bunch around Kiener Plaza and I saw none there. Maybe they were on the other side of it or something.
I will say I didn't see many bikes parked around though. I thought I would see a bunch around Kiener Plaza and I saw none there. Maybe they were on the other side of it or something.
Sorry if this was discussed earlier but what is the relationship between these dockless programs and a traditional docked bike-share program? Is one supposed to lead to the other, or is this dockless system being used in place of one with bike docks? I just wonder, if the end goal is a permanent bike share infrastructure, does allowing dockless bikes help that or hinder it?