I’d be surprised if bikeshare ever truly replaces scooters. The pickup and set down nature of scooters is pretty useful. Now I would like to see the bikeshare be in good repair and be able to be used.
I took my parents for a bike ride when they visited and used the bikeshare for them. 3/4 bikes that my dad picked had bent wheels. The pedal assist would be jerky on most of them making it hard for my mom to get comfortable on a pedal assist bike. The app seemed like it had been written as a college project and let to grow stale. The kiosks had broken screens or turned off, so we had to use the stale app. We were using the stations around City Hall and the Walnut Creek Greenway.
When I moved downtown in 2021, I was excited to use the bikeshare. That ended after a little over a year later when I just kept running into issues where the bikes were incredibly unsafe to ride. Sometimes, I’d ride one, find out it was broken, take it back to get another one, and pull out another completely broken bike.
This happened multiple times to the point where I was no longer convinced the bikes were safe to ride. I’ve been in other cities with rideshare programs that did not have this issue, and I’ve seen plenty of maintenance vehicles pulling bikes out for repair. This makes me believe that the bikes themselves are the problem and it’s likely that the type of bike used is incredibly easy to fall into disrepair.
The thoughtlessness to which many (not all) people “set down” their scooters is one of the persistent problems of the program. I’m all for a program with docking stations like the bikes. That said, the bike share needs more urban density of stations to be truly effective because having that density will mitigate the convenience issue of being able to “pickup and set down” easily. If one has to walk more than couple of blocks to use the system, it won’t be used.
Yeah, we would need many, many more stations before it could be considered an adequate substitute. That said (and I’m spitballing here), I feel like getting 80% or more of the existing scooter zone within a 10-12min walk of a bikeshare station would be sufficient. It’s a big ask, and not something you can do in a year (or even five), but I think it’s a reasonable long-term goal.
Our system currently has some major issues, but I do quite like the docked bikeshare, and I think there are certainly some advantages over scooters.
My girlfriend and I have used Cardinal quite a bit to commute to work/school/etc. We have been pretty lucky in there being stations near all the places we need to go (and our apartment(s)), but I certainly see the need for new stations in more places.
The biggest issue IMO has simply been the state of repair of the bikes. I don’t think it’s an issue with the contractor tasked with maintenance; to my knowledge, the original manufacturer of the bike equipment went out of business a few years back, and so I imagine that new parts are difficult to get. I see some bikes getting refurbished with non-original-looking parts, but I have to think at some point we will need a major fleet refresh. Honestly it’s probably a small miracle that they can keep the app up and running.
Other than that, I’d say it’s been about 75% reliable in getting us across downtown for this or that. Not good enough to be reliable enough… but it is so much cheaper than scooters, and I like knowing there are (usually) some bikes available at a known location.
Managing a bike system is truly a laborious task! I too have encountered lots of broken bikes and flat tires over the years and I see the CityBike crew in Miami criss-crossing South Beach with their trailers moving bikes from full stations to empty stations all the time. If there’s going to be a system, it needs the operator to be “all in” on managing it!
As for known locations of stations, I completely agree that it’s key to me having confidence in a system, and as long as I can check on an app to see how many bikes are there, I’m all good.
Glad to see I’m not the only one who has experienced those kinds of issues.
The only thing that would bring me back is a fleet refresh. Since these bike shares don’t come with helmets, I need a lot of assurance that I’ll be able to be safe on them. When you pick up a bike that completely skids out after attempting to turn, then that’s followed up with a bike that has the world’s loudest brakes…not a whole lot of confidence there.
Are there stats of which stations are most often used? I’ve been curious of those who ride around the area and what routes they would use. I know I have my feelings about bike infrastructure downtown, but am curious what others typically use. I normally see people on the rental scooters when I ride.
I’m not sure if there’s a more detailed report floating around, but they do have some basic stats here, including the top three check-in and return stations:
Contracts for the micromobility programs (bike share & scooters) are coming up for renewal and city staff are working on RFPs to solicit proposals from interested vendors.
The city actually owns the bikeshare fleet, but a vendor handles system operations. I’ve shared with city staff that the bike fleet is in terrible shape.
Based on 1.9 million miles traveled through the scooter and bike share program (2019 - 2024) the city estimates these programs have replaced ~550k driving miles.
There is a new option coming to See Click Fix to report improperly parked scooters. We are also the first city in NC to have the scooter system operators engage with the parking enforcement plan. If I understand this correctly, a user can be shut out of the scooter system after 5 parking violations. It’s yet to be seen whether or not this system actually impacts behavior. Using the See Click Fix system to report improperly parked scooters will help tracking compliance with the requirements.
Dockless… oh boy. The scooters are annoying enough clogging sidewalks and rights-of-way… here’s hoping there’s SOME sort of organizational requirements when renting one out…
I mean the docked bikeshare hasn’t been in good condition for a while. When I took my parents for a ride on them, like a third had bent wheels and another 3rd had other problems. The app felt super sketchy, and I didn’t trust it but the payment screens didn’t work and in some cases was shattered. I don’t love dockless, but the current system doesn’t work.
Disclosure of a prior belief: Bikeshares are largely a way for cities to feel more bikeable without making any hard decisions. They don’t really do much for actual bike-ability in most situations.
Just over the past few weeks, a lot of parking spots have been removed in favor of bike/scooter parking (at least around South End). I heard a similar program has been rolled out in downtown Raleigh. Hopefully as more people become familiar with it, they will start parking bikes and scooters in designated areas.
