By Liz Slocum Jensen April 10, 2018
2018 is seeing the rise and resistance of the dockless bike and scooter with companies like Ofo, Limebike, MoBike, JUMP, Spin, and Bird. If you haven’t been been to China recently, the growth of bike-sharing is explosive. China-based Ofo has about 200 million users globally and is operating in 250 cities in 21 countries. To date, they have raised $2.2 billion. I used to be able to nod in understanding as to how bike-sharing could take off in China and Europe. They already have a bike culture. As an American, I like to own my stuff and access to that stuff exactly when I want it. Those old “new mobility services” weren’t convenient enough for me. This free-floating, easy-access style with the electric assist is a game changer.
Growing Pains
Operationally, these companies have experienced some problems with cluttering city streets and working with municipalities. On one hand, municipalities and bikes companies are cooperating to make the services successful. Seattle DOT is experimenting with designated bike parking for these bikes. Austin are actively working with the bike companies before they launch in their city. On the other hand, some of the scrappy startups, like Bird, are asking for forgiveness and not permission. The irony is that, in late March, Bird’s CEO posted a Save Our Streets pledge on their website. Bird was asking their fellow bike/scooter share companies to operate responsibly. At the time of publication, no other CEO’s have yet to sign that pledge. Meanwhile, Austin is impounding the Bird scooters. San Francisco city officials are fielding daily complaints about sidewalks becoming “dumping grounds for commercial scooters.”.
To checked on Bird’s latest status on Austin, I Googled it and ended up on Reddit to find this response from mildlyrightguy:
YOLO! I gotta respect this guy for knowing how temporary these kinds of venture can be in his town.
Uber may be on to something
I haven’t signed onto my Uber account in years. Living in San Francisco, there were just too many reasons that made it just as easy to use Lyft. Their ride hailing services were identical and Lyft had better PR. This week, Uber moved into the final mile space with their acquisition of JUMP bikes. It’s making me reconsider how they can help me get around.
I’ve calculated my own needs as someone who lives in San Francisco, uses my bike on about 8 rides a week, has had my bike stolen, and is getting tired of climbing these hills. I figured that when my current bike gets stolen, I’d buy an electric assisted bike for about $4000. At $2 per ride, I could use one of these dockless services for almost 5 years before spending $4000. While I would have to worry about whether I could get a bike to get home, at least I don’t have to worry about maintenance and my bike getting stolen or vandalized while parked on the street.
Forget autonomous vehicles. We won’t see those for years. This mobility revolution is happening right now.