Echoing this. I’ve also mentioned this in every outreach Raleigh has had on the subject. Took some friends out a month ago and a couple of them decided to try the Cardinal Bikes out. I warned them that they’re in heavy heavy disrepair.
Both of them had to go through 2+ bikes to find a bike they finally liked (didn’t have issues). One of them had issues going up hills that came up on their third bike and tried to switch it out and the app said (on their day-pass) that they had rented the maximum amount of bikes out for the day-pass.
I’d rather pay more than deal with the Cardinal Bikes ever again. They haven’t been maintained well at all and whatever bikes replace them should be significantly better.
The fact that these are Lime and Spin bikes should help the situation. Yeah, the current bike share tech is poor and the cardinal bikes are also in poor condition. I’m hoping we can solve the “parking them on the sidewalk” issue which honestly means we need to convert more on-street parking into bike parking, for example with bike corrals, and that will massively help.
From the city:
Dockless Bikeshare Pilot Launch in Motion
We’re gearing up for the launch of Raleigh’s dockless bikeshare pilot in August. This month, we finalized plans with Spin and Lime, who will provide up to 215 electric-assist bikes across the city. Educational videos and “Learn to Ride” events are coming soon. You’ll find details on upcoming events posted on our website and social media channels.
Gonna be an issue when they’re blocking sidewalks. Surprised an ADA lawsuit against Lime and others hasn’t happened yet. No joke I have seen people leave the scooters in the middle of sidewalk ramps.
I’ve also seen multiple scooters and bikes parked right over curb ramps. The much needed parking locations should’ve been created first before the roll-out of the program.
Though, I’d argue that many (most?) of the Cardinal bikes were unusable by now due to disrepair. Really sucks that the company that made them went out of business.
So, I’m happy that people get to choose amongst working bikes that will be better maintained, and they aren’t expensive as I thought they’d be. However, my personal favorite thing about the Cardinal bikes was that I could take them out along a Greenway (for example, to the Art Museum). But it seems like the Spin & Lime bikes are geo-fenced around the beltline. That’s a huge loss, IMO.
