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+--- Thread: Bike Share in Waterloo Region (/showthread.php?tid=711)
RE: Bike Share in Waterloo Region - highlander - 09-17-2018
Heard a rumour that lime bike is coming to Waterloo. No idea on timing, but there are job postings for drivers and mechanics on indeed.
RE: Bike Share in Waterloo Region - danbrotherston - 09-17-2018
(09-17-2018, 07:26 PM)highlander Wrote: Heard a rumour that lime bike is coming to Waterloo. No idea on timing, but there are job postings for drivers and mechanics on indeed.
That is big news, given that drop bike is the current only authorized operator.
I suppose it's possible the city has switched operators behind the scenes, but I suspect an unauthorized launch is more likely...probably not going to be well received in that case.
RE: Bike Share in Waterloo Region - Canard - 09-18-2018
Why not?
RE: Bike Share in Waterloo Region - danbrotherston - 09-18-2018
(09-18-2018, 01:03 PM)Canard Wrote: Why not?
I mean it wouldn't go over well with city staff, council, and drop bike. If drop bike is pursuing a good faith agreement with council, and another company comes in without getting an agreement, I would expect that to not go over well.
As for the people, I imagine, as with Uber, nobody will care, either you object to bikes or you don't, city agreements won't factor in.
One reason the city is pursuing an agreement with drop bike, is to avoid issues like bikes being left abandoned or parked obstructing places. I suspect these fears originate from the complaints in other areas, which I suspect are probably somewhat overstated by those who simply wish to discredit bike sharing in general...same as the safety complaints about the scooter rentals I hear about continuously.
Regardless, having an operator come in and cause these issues either, in reality, or in perception, may give bike sharing a bad name here as well. So there is reason to be concerned.
Disclaimer: I have no idea of lime bike in particular.
RE: Bike Share in Waterloo Region - Canard - 09-18-2018
Sorry but... eat or get eaten.
If the city/Region/Dropbike screwed up and weren’t able to deliver this year, then... they deserve whatever perceived “badness” comes their way.
For the community, this is excellent, because it means we get more choices.
RE: Bike Share in Waterloo Region - danbrotherston - 09-18-2018
(09-18-2018, 01:58 PM)Canard Wrote: Sorry but... eat or get eaten.
If the city/Region/Dropbike screwed up and weren’t able to deliver this year, then... they deserve whatever perceived “badness” comes their way.
For the community, this is excellent, because it means we get more choices.
The "badness" comes in the form of public opposition because of an operator acting badly...i.e., people will oppose *any* bike share becomes *some* bike share operators were bad actors.
The city/region/dropbike's inability to reach an agreement this year, does not justify another operator, operating illegally, whether limebike would be operating legally, I don't know.
More choice is often a good thing, but when it comes to public infrastructure like this...it is entirely possible for too much choice to instead choke the market. I would love more choice in transit to Toronto, but if there were a dozen bus operators offering routes, and none of them could profitably offer good service, you might end up with lesser service, than if the market was regulated--the same may occur with bike share, a dozen bike share operators might want to litter the university with bikes, and have nothing in Cambridge or Kitchener. A balance must be struck (not to say that we have a good balance now, with either bike share or transit to Toronto).
So I think the region/city is right to be cautious, and I personally don't feel they're being overly so, when it comes to drop bike they seem to have been quite open an accommodating, and additionally, apparently able to leverage the offer into a more comprehensive system than dropbike initially wanted to commit too.
RE: Bike Share in Waterloo Region - Canard - 09-18-2018
How is it illegal?
RE: Bike Share in Waterloo Region - danbrotherston - 09-18-2018
(09-18-2018, 02:23 PM)Canard Wrote: How is it illegal?
I never said it was.
See: "whether limebike would be operating legally, I don't know."
But I wouldn't just assume that it is. The public right of way isn't exactly open for the storage of private corporate property. This is at best a grey area, and I'm not a lawyer, so I don't know.
Or whether limebike would be able to or choose to find other arrangements to store their bikes outside of the public right of way, I also don't know.
RE: Bike Share in Waterloo Region - Canard - 09-18-2018
Sorry; by having the word “legal” in there it implied you thought it might be illegal, and I wondered how that might be.
RE: Bike Share in Waterloo Region - danbrotherston - 09-18-2018
(09-18-2018, 04:48 PM)Canard Wrote: Sorry; by having the word “legal” in there it implied you thought it might be illegal, and I wondered how that might be.
No worries. It wasn't the best worded sentence.
But it will be interesting to see...I do hope they get co-operative, well behaving bike share companies, in whatever form, launched first, to get the jump on public opinion.
RE: Bike Share in Waterloo Region - Canard - 09-18-2018
Are there not-well-behaving bike share companies in North America?
RE: Bike Share in Waterloo Region - danbrotherston - 09-18-2018
(09-18-2018, 08:06 PM)Canard Wrote: Are there not-well-behaving bike share companies in North America?
I don't know for sure, there definitely have been issues in China, and i've read plenty of complaints about it on the west coast. But it is hard to know if it is legitimate widespread issues, or if it is the usual fear of change looking for a legitimate sounding outlet, so making problems where there are none.
Or more likely, somewhere in between.
I am making the assumption that how the bikeshare company manages their bikes can make a difference in how it's perceived, there is no guarantee that's true, but I like to think so.
RE: Bike Share in Waterloo Region - Canard - 09-18-2018
Yeah, the only ones I've heard of as being bad are in China, that's why I was curious if there were any NA cities who had issues. I don't think Waterloo's going to be a first, there.
I used Donkeybike in both Copenhagen and Göteborg last year and it was great - dockless and no issues. A system like that would be great here (although of all the systems I've used in our travels, SoBi is still my favourite).
RE: Bike Share in Waterloo Region - clasher - 09-18-2018
Dallas was a bit of a crapshow earlier this year... they had over 20,000 bikes on the streets and it was a huge mess, apparently. Ofo was there but scrapped the bikes and left town when the city instituted some fees and regulation.
When I was in Seattle I saw more than a few bikes thrown in the water and otherwise vandalized. Some where along the railway outside of town so I doubt it's easy for the mechanics to drive out and get them. Dallas had some problems with vandals too, there is a pic floating around of a bike sawed in half, mounted to a telephone pole.
RE: Bike Share in Waterloo Region - KevinL - 02-08-2019
The Region is asking for suggestions for Dropbike share locations: https://www.engagewr.ca/bike-share-station-locations