Dockless bike sharing scheme to launch in Sheffield

[TimmyR]

This sounds like a neat idea but can I ask what happens if I borrow a bike and ride it home to Ranmoor from town on a Saturday afternoon, and ride it back on Sunday?

 

You would presumably just leave it outside your house where someone else could potentially pick it up, otherwise you'd continue paying for the use. If the bike is still there in the morning, you can rehire it. There'll be some kind of account and logging on process. But what if you just log off and hide it in your garden? No one would know it was there and you could essentially have sole use of the bike. There are many issues with this idea.

 

Another one is that , people will tend to leave the bikes at the bottom of hills and so they'll amass at certain points in the city. they will presumably have to employ people to either ride them back to better locations, collect them in vans or perhaps make certain journeys free to persuade people to ride them back up hills. Certainly I think this has been a problem in other cities, but will be particularly bad in sheffield. I'd have thought e-bikes would have been the better option as it would reduce this effect.

 

Another one, what if I hire a bike and ride it all the way to manchester? Is there a radius, outside which the bikes cannot go?

Edited November 16, 2017 by TimmyR

[Dales]

I had reason to drive to Manchester last week. It was a beautiful clear crisp late autumn day - not a cloud in the sky or a breath of wind. Lovely. Just as we joined the M67, we could just catch sight of Manchester. Over it was a dirty yellowy brown cloud of smog. It was like something out of the 1930s, it was quite striking.

 

I wouldn't cycle there!

 

Hi tinfoilhat, that doesn't sound good. Is it due to the aircraft that pass through? Genuine question as I don't know Manchester very well.

[ads36]

...what happens if I borrow a bike and ride it home to Ranmoor from town on a Saturday afternoon, and ride it back on Sunday?

 

what if I hire a bike and ride it all the way to manchester? Is there a radius, outside which the bikes cannot go?

 

i may be wrong, but it's my understanding that the bikes are 'geo-fenced'. You can take a bike outside the geofence, but the meter will be running till you return it and stop your hire session.

 

so yes, we probably could take an OFO bike home on a Saturday afternoon, and return it on Sunday morning. But you'll have paid for ~18hours hire. that'll be about £9.

Edited November 16, 2017 by ads36

[WalkleyIan]

You would presumably just leave it outside your house where someone else could potentially pick it up, otherwise you'd continue paying for the use. If the bike is still there in the morning, you can rehire it. There'll be some kind of account and logging on process. But what if you just log off and hide it in your garden? No one would know it was there and you could essentially have sole use of the bike. There are many issues with this idea.

 

Another one is that , people will tend to leave the bikes at the bottom of hills and so they'll amass at certain points in the city. they will presumably have to employ people to either ride them back to better locations, collect them in vans or perhaps make certain journeys free to persuade people to ride them back up hills. Certainly I think this has been a problem in other cities, but will be particularly bad in Sheffield. I'd have thought e-bikes would have been the better option as it would reduce this effect.

 

Another one, what if I hire a bike and ride it all the way to manchester? Is there a radius, outside which the bikes cannot go?

 

OFO use a points-based system. If you reach zero basically you get kicked off the scheme. You lose points for leaving the bike outside designated areas, putting a lock on them, etc.

 

http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/things-can-you-banned-ofo-13691433

 

Like most of these schemes, they have a redistribution system to make sure there are bikes where people want them.

 

I think people may not be aware of just how huge this Chinese firm is. I wasn't until I read up on them. Their CEO is now a multi-millionaire. They have 10 million bikes in 13 countries and they are aiming at 100 million by 2030

 

I'm told that an e-bike system coming one day. No other details but I know Oxford already has a very popular e-bike hire scheme

 

https://www.oxonbikes.co.uk/ebikes.html

[alchresearch]

I had reason to drive to Manchester last week. It was a beautiful clear crisp late autumn day - not a cloud in the sky or a breath of wind. Lovely. Just as we joined the M67, we could just catch sight of Manchester. Over it was a dirty yellowy brown cloud of smog. It was like something out of the 1930s, it was quite striking.

 

I wouldn't cycle there!

 

You can sometimes see something similar looking down the Don Valley from the M1 viaduct.

[Bargepole23]

Hi tinfoilhat, that doesn't sound good. Is it due to the aircraft that pass through? Genuine question as I don't know Manchester very well.

 

I imagine it's due to the huge volumes of road traffic.

 

---------- Post added 16-11-2017 at 11:31 ----------

 

You can sometimes see something similar looking down the Don Valley from the M1 viaduct.

 

You can see the same, on occasion, from Ecclesall, or Ringinglow, looking over the city.

[TimmyR]

OFO use a points-based system. If you reach zero basically you get kicked off the scheme. You lose points for leaving the bike outside designated areas, putting a lock on them, etc.

 

http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/things-can-you-banned-ofo-13691433

 

Like most of these schemes, they have a redistribution system to make sure there are bikes where people want them.

 

I think people may not be aware of just how huge this Chinese firm is. I wasn't until I read up on them. Their CEO is now a multi-millionaire. They have 10 million bikes in 13 countries and they are aiming at 100 million by 2030

 

I'm told that an e-bike system coming one day. No other details but I know Oxford already has a very popular e-bike hire scheme

 

https://www.oxonbikes.co.uk/ebikes.html

 

Sounds good...

[ENG601PM]

OFO use a points-based system. If you reach zero basically you get kicked off the scheme. You lose points for leaving the bike outside designated areas, putting a lock on them, etc.

 

http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/things-can-you-banned-ofo-13691433

 

Like most of these schemes, they have a redistribution system to make sure there are bikes where people want them.

 

I think people may not be aware of just how huge this Chinese firm is. I wasn't until I read up on them. Their CEO is now a multi-millionaire. They have 10 million bikes in 13 countries and they are aiming at 100 million by 2030

 

I'm told that an e-bike system coming one day. No other details but I know Oxford already has a very popular e-bike hire scheme

 

https://www.oxonbikes.co.uk/ebikes.html

 

Thanks for that. The Cambridge article says "If you remove the bike from the public area, shown on the app as blue and green zones then you have 12 hours to bring it back before the bike is locked" which look like we need to see where the zones are but the 12 hour return from outside the zone seems like a good starting point.

[WalkleyIan]

Thanks for that. The Cambridge article says "If you remove the bike from the public area, shown on the app as blue and green zones then you have 12 hours to bring it back before the bike is locked" which look like we need to see where the zones are but the 12 hour return from outside the zone seems like a good starting point.

 

from conversations with they seem very willing to listen to users for suggestions. Eg they were initially looking at a city centre area, but I think they have now added the various student villages past Broomhill into the scheme. They are relying on local knowledge of popular routes.

[WalkleyIan]

launch day today. If you get the app and unlock one it'll charge you 50p but as an introductory offer on launch day, it'll credit your account with 5 quid.

 

There were two outside Gerry's bakers so I just got my 5 quid credit.