Uber and electric bike sharing in San Francisco

[fiamme red]

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/31/technology/uber-bike-sharing-san-francisco.html

For the first time in Uber’s history, the company is offering rides on something other than cars. Starting next week, it will let certain users in San Francisco reserve pedal-assist electric bicycles through its app. The idea is that people will see the bicycles as a cheaper and faster alternative — not a huge stretch of the imagination for anyone who has been stuck in Friday evening gridlock traffic in San Francisco...

[cmg]

sounds like a great idea. hope it works.

[beeatnik]

San Francisco is so weird.

[jtakeda]

I’m all about people getting on bikes.

But I’m lookin in the crystal ball and seeing people on Uber electric bikes getting doored by people in Uber’s

[v531xc]

I’m all about people getting on bikes.

But I’m lookin in the crystal ball and seeing people on Uber electric bikes getting doored by people in Uber’s

Totally going to happen. In Philly, car-share loves to use the bike lanes as passenger loading/unloading.

One take could be that more people riding leads to more getting doored or hit can help further the discourse on bike-friendly infrastructure and rules/cultural perception. The other take is you shouldn't need to experience another's pain to be empathetic to their situation. Either way, Uber isn't incentivized to, nor are they necessarily thinking about, these problems in the ecosystem, because the ecosystem they care about and want to influence looks like all Uber vehicles to them from e-bikes up to autonomous fleets.

[zlin]

But I’m lookin in the crystal ball and seeing people on Uber electric bikes getting doored by people in Uber’s

🤦*♂️

[eltejano]

I've been experimenting with the Jump bikes for commuting here in SF for the past two weeks and love it so far. I got the note about being able to use the Uber app this morning as well and I hope it encourages more people to try it out.

[jtakeda]

Ok,

So it’s been about a month since this unveiling and I’ve got to say the Jump bikes in San Francisco are freakin horrible.

Talk about a private company deliberately taking over public infrastructure for their own profit. They just lock their bikes on the public bike racks—every one of them.

I tried to lock my bike on a section of market st and literally couldn’t find a spot for 2 blocks because there were 18 jump bikes taking up all the spots.

Not only that—people riding them are blasting through intersections, passing on the right and riding around with no regard for other people’s safety.

Are they paying the city to rent all their “parking spots??”

[FlashUNC]

The Jump bikes are the worst.

At least the Ford City Bikes are trying to replace car infrastructure with bike stuff. The Jump bikes are just clogging up bike infrastructure, much like Uber does nothing but add congestion.

And to be completely petty, they're ugly as sin. Like Doc Brown's blind cousin with a head injury decided to make a commuter ebike.

[bobswire]

Ok,

So it’s been about a month since this unveiling and I’ve got to say the Jump bikes in San Francisco are freakin horrible.

Talk about a private company deliberately taking over public infrastructure for their own profit. They just lock their bikes on the public bike racks—every one of them.

I tried to lock my bike on a section of market st and literally couldn’t find a spot for 2 blocks because there were 18 jump bikes taking up all the spots.

Not only that—people riding them are blasting through intersections, passing on the right and riding around with no regard for other people’s safety.

Are they paying the city to rent all their “parking spots??”

Here's what happens if it gets stolen or damaged in your possession.

If the Bicycle(s) is damaged, stolen, or lost during the Rental Period, You shall immediately return any such damaged Bicycle(s) and/or report any such stolen or lost Bicycle to Us. You shall compensate Us if the Bicycle(s) is damaged (excluding damage from normal wear and tear), stolen, or lost during the Rental Period. Amounts due for a damaged, stolen, or lost Bicycle(s) will be charged to the credit or debit card associated with Your account up to a maximum of $1,600 per Bicycle. If the Bicycle(s) is damaged, You will be charged the cost to repair damages, as determined by Us and our affiliates in Our sole discretion, when the damages are reported to or discovered by Us. If the Bicycle(s) is stolen or lost, You will be charged up to an amount of $1,600 when the theft or loss is reported to or discovered by Us. You hereby authorize Us to charge Your credit or debit card for all fees incurred by You as well as such amounts due in connection with any overdue, damaged, stolen, or lost Bicycle, and We may, at Our sole discretion, place an authorization hold on Your credit or debit card to cover any such amounts. If You dispute any charge on Your account, then You must contact Us within ten (10) days of Your receipt of Your statement containing the disputed charge.

[ultraman6970]

You guys are complaining exactly for what I thought could happen with the bike plan while this thing was ready to start. As somebody said, SF is so weird... they allowed these people start w/o having a single thing to support them.

In DC the rental bikes have their own parking lots, they had to built all of that around the city 1st, heck even in md you see those racks.

Somebody is making millions tho... time for really expensive pranks :D

[FlashUNC]

You guys are complaining exactly for what I thought could happen with the bike plan while this thing was ready to start. As somebody said, SF is so weird... they allowed these people start w/o having a single thing to support them.

In DC the rental bikes have their own parking lots, they had to built all of that around the city 1st, heck even in md you see those racks.

Somebody is making millions tho... time for really expensive pranks :D


SF has that with Ford City bikes. Jump is totally different and objectively worse in every way.

[charliedid]

Weird indeed.

How does the security work? I mean if it's relying on municipal infrastructure (bike racks) how do you lock them and do they only work for round trip? Return to the same spot?

I no understand.

[lexlion]

My understanding is that you have to leave the bike in a designated zone, locked to a public bike rack and when they need charging, they get picked up in a van and taken somewhere for charging. Every bike has a built in GPS and bike lock.


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