
Dockless bikes: Are they bad for station-based bike-sharing systems? - prostoalex
https://www.curbed.com/2018/5/30/17390264/bike-sharing-dockless-bicycles-cities
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Fnoord
For some context on how bicycle sharing system was started/invented, it is
from '70s Amsterdam. That incarnation was dockless and publicly owned. See
Wikipedia "wittefietsenplan" (white bicycle plan, use translator) [1] or e.g.
this UK song about it [2] by the band Tomorrow. This English Wikipedia article
also contains some history about bicycle sharing system [3]

Recently it has finally been more broadly adopted (though also with a variant,
the station-based bikes). One major advantage of station-based bikes is
availability. You know beforehand where you can grab one (possibly using a
mobile phone to see if they're available on the spot), and can plan
accordingly. Dockless can compete with that availability via sheer volume
though.

[1]
[https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wittefietsenplan](https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wittefietsenplan)

[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_White_Bicycle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_White_Bicycle)

[3] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle-
sharing_system](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle-sharing_system)

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jillesvangurp
Dockless bikes can be found as well via an app. I use mobike in Berlin. They
have a map in their app that you can use in the unlikely case there aren't
multiple bikes in visual range.

Berlin has a ridiculous amount of competing bike share companies. Multiple
companies put many thousands of them on the street. Docking is not an option
at that scale.

The article seems to imply some inherent advantage of the docked variety that
I just don't see. Also despite success and excellent safety numbers the
article is calling for regulations. Why?

From my point of view, dockless is clearly winning in Berlin. Getting people
moving is a good thing. Ensuring every steet corner has plenty of bikes means
grabbing one is a no brainer.

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F_r_k
In Geneva, we have dockless bikes, but they are not everywhere. Why ?

The bikes need to connect to an antenna (bike point). The range is only few
meters, so you can only dock them in designated spots. Quite clever I think.

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GhostVII
Wouldn't those be essentially the same as docked bikes then? You have to bring
it to one of the designated locations to drop it off, just like with docks.

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F_r_k
Yes, but number of bikes is limited by space and not by dock places.

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tbronchain
Why would anyone use a station-based bike if a dockless is available?

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idunno246
The article says that dockless isnt cannibalizing docked during commute hours.
This matches my experiences, downtown theres plenty of docks and dockless
bikes, but around my house theres very few dockless bikes/scooters, but a very
close dock. Not having to think about where I'm going to go hunting for a bike
is nice, and time planning a little easier especially for work.

I imagine its also cheaper to run, which currently the annual ford bike pass
in sf ends up being much cheaper than any of the alternatives - $12/month
compared to a couple dollars per ride.

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sametmax
In frankfurt you can put back dockless bikes only to specific small areas,
unless exceptionally you wanna pay premium. The bikes have a GPS after all, so
why allow customers to scatter them ?

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lazyasciiart
Because a huge part of the benefit is that the customers can use them for the
last mile of their trip, wherever that goes.

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sametmax
You can with this system. You just pay extra so that someone can bring it
back.

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baybal2
>Dockless bikes: Are they bad for station-based bike-sharing systems?
(curbed.com)

Yes. In Astana Ofo ran for just a year. After that, the company running
station based rentals hired a battalion of tough guys to "deal with them"

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vorg
In China, people regularly put chewing gum over the barcodes of dockless
bikes, presumably the easiest way to prevent them being used.

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ggg9990
Who cares? If dockless kills docked that’s fine. What matters if whether they
are good or bad for people.

