On 2017-12-01 15:02, jbeattie wrote:
On Friday, December 1, 2017 at 1:32:09 PM UTC-8, Joerg wrote:
On 2017-11-30 16:07, sms wrote:


[...]


... So the system is not heavily used. $2.75 gets you 90 minutes
of Muni rides (but for now it's about four hours of Muni rides).

They have designed the pricing to prevent tourists from using
the bicycle share system instead of renting bicycles from bicycle
tourist rental places.


They didn't think that through because it excludes many people who
combine errands or who have no problem cycling 1-2h to get to a
meeting and then the same time back. I also like to be able to stop
somewhere and enjoy the scenery which I even do on routes I have
cycled over 100 times. Without having to watch the time.

People who ride 1-2 hours to get to a meeting are not using
ride-share bikes, unless they're going to a meeting of smelly, broke
people.


That sounds like the typical prejudices mauny people have about cycling,
"It's only for short errand rides or recreation, you can't do any
serious stuff with them".

Well, I am different. I have ridden to meetings far away. Can't ride
fast when doing that because I don't want to arrive drenched in sweat
but it sure is a nice relaxing way of travel provided most of it is not
on busy county roads. Try it some time. In your case maybe when an
elderly client needing legal advice can't come to your office and you
can make a deal that not showing up in suit and tie is ok.

Sometimes when the meeting is near singletrack I leave early and take a
nice long detour. Yes, it'll usually include petting some horses, too.


Ride share bikes are for short commutes, typically around a compact
city.


San Francisco isn't exactly compact. Neither is the rest of the Bay Area:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G52mQpoheL8


... People who want to do gnarly rides for 4-5 hours get rental
bikes from bike shops unless, as SMS points out, the particular
ride-share system is geared to tourists or long-term users, e.g.
https://www.biketownpdx.com/. Nobody in his or her right mind would
want to take a Biketown bike on a 4 hour ride. Might as well drag a
boat anchor.


If you have to go to several locations it would be the best vehicle if
the pricing structure wouldn't be so messed up. Picking up a rental bike
takes minutes, just like a rental car. Most bike shops aren't geared for
renting plus the ones that do rent are usually far away. For example,
from my place then next LBS with rental options is about 15mi. So you'd
backtrack all that and then return? To boot there is about 1200ft
altitude difference to there with lots of ups and downs. Makes no sense
to me.



This is one of the reasons why I kept my old MTB. It doesn't have
much value so theft risk is secondary. However, it means I'll have
to drive to the Bay Area as usual and carry it along.


The problem with dockless bicycle sharing is that people lock
the bicycle to end the rental period but they can have it in
their garage or behind their fence, or dump it in a stream.

On Caltrain, people solve the last mile problem by bringing
their bicycle onto the train. Each train can hold 72 or 80
bicycles, and even that is not sufficient on some of the trains.
I use a folding bicycle to avoid getting bumped.


Here we only have buses. I can't use those because my panniers are
quite permanently mounted and they don't allow that because bikes
are transported on a front rack. Plus it's only two rack slots so
the risk of getting bumped off the last bus in the evening is high.
Therefore, despite fair prices from Folsom (last town that is at
low altitude) back home of $1.50 per ride, $0.75 for seniors, I
always ride home. OTOH that is also a good muscle and endurance
exercise.

I always ride home, too. Otherwise I'd have to sleep at work.


How many miles is that and how much higher in altitude do you live?

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/