
Mountain of Bikes Left at Dallas Recycling Center After Ofo Leaves City - pepsi
https://jalopnik.com/mountain-of-ride-share-bikes-left-at-dallas-recycling-c-1828156808
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celias
It's interesting to see the timeline in serpentza's youtube videos about bike
sharing in China Starts out well in January
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi9G1jLUeUk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi9G1jLUeUk)
Overcrowding starting to be a problem in April
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdsb2wwn-7g](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdsb2wwn-7g)
Bike graveyards in October
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IYu4wzy9Lw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IYu4wzy9Lw)

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TaylorAlexander
See also an article link for those not wanting YouTube:
[https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/nov/25/chinas-
bike-...](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/nov/25/chinas-bike-share-
graveyard-a-monument-to-industrys-arrogance)

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TaylorAlexander
All this waste makes me feel like we could just make free bikes for everyone.
This one company could afford to make all these bikes, and yet they throw them
away. We must be able to find a way to make free bikes for everyone who wants
them.

~~~
jonex
We could, you can get a cheap bike for around $100, so making one available
for everyone would be a small cost if we thought it'd be valuable.

However, that doesn't cover maintenance or getting a new one when the old is
stolen. And it would not be a good bike to start with either, so most people
would not want to use it, making it somewhat of an useless investment for
society.

As a tourist in Berlin, the Mobike system was great. For just 8 EUR a month I
could just grab a working bike, go where I want and just leave it outside.
Then I could use the tram to go somewhere else, and use a new bike from the
new place.

This without worrying about it getting stolen and being certain I'd find a
working bike nearby when I need it. Making it very competetive with regular
rental bikes.

I imagine that the low effort required makes it a good option to a free bike
for many.

Maybe a subsidised rental bike system would make sense, to cover maintenance
and administration but keeping the prices affordable? (I suspect the mobike
pricing was some kind of campaign as it was quite low)

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fjsolwmv
Mobike is the same model as ofo. The differences are market specific demand,
geography, population density, and taxes and regulation. Of is leaving Dallas,
but active in other cities. Of is also leaving Seattle while other companies
are staying, so it maybe ofo specifically is having trouble running their
business.

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Finnucane
Guess their business model didn't work unless the city provided free parking
for them.

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MithrilTuxedo
Like they do for cars?

