Toronto Bike Share

[LNahid2000]

SoBi isn't what I'd consider dockless bike share. It's kind of a hybrid of dockless and docked bike share, since there are still hubs where you can leave your bike.

Dropbike is more like true dockless bike share since there are no hubs where you can leave your bike. I'm not really a fan of Dropbike since I often see bikes in terrible shape locked to city bike posts with people's personal locks.

 

[Admiral Beez]

In Shenzhen, China today. Two bikeshare firms, both dockless. The blue one appears to be losing out.

Some of the yellow ones had rubber belts instead of chains.

 

[steveintoronto]

In Shenzhen, China today. Two bikeshare firms, both dockless. The blue one appears to be losing out.

Some of the yellow ones had rubber belts instead of chains.

Great pics. Weather looks incredible too...The rubber belts are a great idea, in warmer weather. They get stiff in cooler weather, but like for motorbikes, the loss of power is worth the greater comfort on those kinds of machines. Ofo is winning the race...

[...]
Where city planners have failed, however, rampaging Chinese capitalists might have succeeded. Two huge Chinese companies, Mobike and Ofo, have started to transform Beijing, Shanghai, and most other major Chinese cities; they’ve already made inroads in much of the rest of the world too. So far they’re still tiny in America, but they’re very well funded, and the Chinese precedent is proof that growth can be truly explosive if the local government is willing to let it happen.

The transformation mechanism is dockless bike share, a fundamentally simple idea that was simply not possible before the age of the ubiquitous smartphone. Start with millions of bikes, equip them all with GPS trackers and digital locks, and drop them on the city of your choice. Then, leave everything to the citizenry. Anybody can download the app, use it to unlock a bike near them, ride it wherever they want, and then leave it at their destination. Each ride, in China at least, costs the rider no more than about 15 cents.
[...]
https://www.wired.com/story/chinese-dockless-bikes-revolution/

 

[Admiral Beez]

Here's a third brand of bikeshare in Shenzhen. These orange ones cost more to rent but are higher quality and faster.

Weather is good. Here's a pic I took at the Dutch Flower Park, it's about +15'C I think. The overcrowded cages in the outdoor pet market were a little much for me.

 

[Admiral Beez]

One thing you notice is these dockless bikes are littered all over the city, often tossed in a bush, laying on the side of the road, even saw several on highway off ramps, presumably someone rode to the highway and got in a taxi? Upside of docks is you avoid this.

The yellow bike company offered zero rental fees for a few months and most competition went bust. No antitrust rules here.

 

[steveintoronto]

One thing you notice is these dockless bikes are littered all over the city, often tossed in a bush, laying on the side of the road, even saw several on highway off ramps, presumably someone rode to the highway and got in a taxi? Upside of docks is you avoid this.

The yellow bike company offered zero rental fees for a few months and most competition went bust. No antitrust rules here.

Ofo bike share review: ‘It will be to cycling what Uber is to taxis’
Move over Boris, with the arrival of the Ofo, city cycling just got a lot easier

Ofo bike hirePrice Download the free app, then 50p per 30 minutes, with a daily maximum cap of £5
Where In 250 cities across the world, and counting
Details Ofo.com

The guy who chains his bike up next to mine at work takes no chances. He has a D-lock for both front and back wheels, plus a cable lock that he twists around the frame. Then, in case someone is still tempted, he removes the saddle and puts it in his rucksack. The laugh is, of course, that his bike is probably worth less than the price of the two locks. But he has a point. Up to 400,000 bikes are stolen in the UK every year, and we cyclists are used to living in a state of lockdown. So it comes as a shock to see a bicycle left unguarded and vulnerable, chained to nothing. It’s like seeing a wallet on a table. It’s a mistake. Surely no one would leave it there on purpose.

But they have. In fact, they plan to leave these bikes all over cities around the world. The bike is the Ofo (or oFo – it looks like a person riding a bike) and it’s the first and largest “station-free” cycle-sharing company. Ofo is essentially a “free-range” Boris. You can ride and park it anywhere. You don’t have to hunt for a docking station. The bikes are activated through a free app on your phone. You walk up to the distinctive yellow frame and scan the little solar-powered panel on the rear mudguard. This releases the back wheel and off you go. You’ll be charged 50p per half hour, which is taken straight from your account. When you’ve finished, leave the bike wherever you like, scan it again, and wander off with impunity. If it’s then stolen it’s not your problem.
[...]

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeand...w-it-will-be-to-cycling-what-uber-is-to-taxis

This is really what's meant by "The Yellow Menace"...

 

[Admiral Beez]

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeand...w-it-will-be-to-cycling-what-uber-is-to-taxis

This is really what's meant by "The Yellow Menace"...

I like the move away from bikeshare relying on taxpayers and taking up space with their docks. https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2017/09/19/toronto-urged-to-explore-dockless-bike-sharing.html

Also, with dockless I can presumably ride anywhere I want. Right now, if I want to ride to a destination on Queen St. east of Jones I'm SOL.

But do we want a city littered with bikes in snowbanks, anywhere on sidewalks, alleyways, etc?

 

[steveintoronto]

But do we want a city littered with bikes in snowbanks, anywhere on sidewalks, alleyways, etc?

Discussed, ironically, here:
The End Of Podium Girls In Cycling? | The GCN Show Ep. 265 (YouTube)
@8:00 mins in.

I didn't link the episode as it automatically shows in some browsers with the featured pic. A form of spam.

Type in the YouTube link and add: watch?v=RmyKDDjTYY0

 

[Admiral Beez]

Dockless bikeshare works.

Come to Hamilton and see our 825-bike dockless bike share system in action!

-- You do automatically get chared a dollar for ending your rental offdock, but you can park anywhere you can legally publicly lock a bike. Including parking meter poles and such. Next user sees its location in an app. All bikes have trackers.
-- You get a 75 cent reward for returning offdock bikes to "official racks" (hubs wthat are just plain advertiser-wrapped ordinary bike racks).
-- Pay Per Use costs only 9 cents a minute. Good for last mile trips.
-- Free to sign up. No signup fees anymore!

No chaos in Hamilton!
For those unaware our system is dockless -- www.sobihamilton.ca

I commute with SoBi in the winter about half the time now, as my GO train connection on my Hamilton-side of my commute to Toronto.

In summer, sometimes I am SoBi-GO-BikeShareToronto -- using both city bikeshares for my first and last miles! From Hamilton Gage Paek area to Toronto Bloor Street. In winter, I am SoBi-GO-TTC now that they got $1.50 TTC integration and Bloor uphill is tough in winter without a Yonge St. protected cycle track (or similar alignment)

It's not really "dockless" if I must pick-up and return the bike to a designated bike rack or otherwise pay a per use fine of $1. Even my infrequent use of about 10 2-way rides a month would cost me $240 a year in fees/fines.

If we call the TorontoBikeShare dock a fancy bike rack, there's no real difference.

 

[mdrejhon]

I like the move away from bikeshare relying on taxpayers and taking up space with their docks. https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2017/09/19/toronto-urged-to-explore-dockless-bike-sharing.html

Also, with dockless I can presumably ride anywhere I want. Right now, if I want to ride to a destination on Queen St. east of Jones I'm SOL.

But do we want a city littered with bikes in snowbanks, anywhere on sidewalks, alleyways, etc?

A good compromise is SoBi like what I ride in Hamilton.

It is essentially a dockless system with dumb bike racks being used as "official docks".

Yes, it is a hybrid as there are "docks" but the "docks" are just branded pieces of metal with no electronics. No different from a regular bike rack.

There's no electronics in SoBi docks, they're simple branded bike racks.

Basically you're incentivized to return the bike to the dock -- but returning to the dock is optional. You can pretty much lock a SoBi anywhere, with its electronic U-bar. Lamp post, parking sign, fence, etc.

-- $1 extra fee if I leave it anywhere. It just costs me a little extra ($1.00) to essentially "abandon" a SoBi anywhere.
-- $0.75 reward if I return a lone bike to a "dock". Meaning, I get rewarded 75 cents if I start my rental on a lone SoBi and end my rental at a SoBi bike rack.

So only $0.25 if I do a multistop journey that involves one off-dock stop: Official SoBi rack -> Lock mid-journey for a few hours (-$1) -> Ride it back to SoBi dock (+75c). Or I can also "hold" the bike (reserve for myself only, nobody else can rent it) but hold time counts against my daily free allotment of 90 minutes per day.

You've incentivized against China-style bikeshare litter.
-- Crowdfunded bike rebalancing.
-- If you have time or feel like it, you can return a bike to a rack
-- If you're in a rush to catch a bus or train, just "abandon" your SoBi at any legal location (like at a parking pole)
-- Other people can "earn" a profit (free bikeshare memberships) returning bikes for you. (At least two locals returned so many bikes that they've paid for their annual bikeshare memberships for the next few years!)
-- All bikes have LTE-connected GPS trackers. They successfully recovered stolen bikes already.
-- "Docks" never "too full". The bike racks are double-up capable. A rack for 10 SoBis actually holds 20 SoBis in an overflow duress situation, there's nothing preventing you from attaching extra SoBis to the opposite side of a rack. More than twice the bikes per square meter than a Bixi-type system. And you can lock a few meters away (to another pole, fence) for free since it's within the GPS geofence of the dock.

As a result, SoBi has lower operating costs per bike rental than Bixi-type system. And there's no "bike litter" problem.

 

[stanko]

I've had the pleasure of using SoBi in Hamilton and I agree that it's an excellent system. I highly recommend it to all municipalities

 

[Avenue]

I like the move away from bikeshare relying on taxpayers and taking up space with their docks. https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2017/09/19/toronto-urged-to-explore-dockless-bike-sharing.html

That's not unlike criticizing libraries for relying on taxpayers and taking up space with their buildings.

 

[DonValleyRainbow]

That's not unlike criticizing libraries for relying on taxpayers and taking up space with their buildings.

What space are they taking up anyway? Roadway rights-of-way, or TPA lots, or TTC station properties that are already owned by the city? Is that not just better utilizing public property?

That is a bunk argument.

 

[DSC]

Some details on the upcoming expansion: http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2018.PA8.2

 

[Amare]

This is quite the significant expansion, looking forward to seeing these new stations come online in the near future.