Not sure how it works in California, I’ve seen implementations where you have to return them to a specific area which seems pointless, but in most cities in China, there’s designated parking along 90% of streets.
This integrates into public transit really well as it allows you to get on or off any bus or subway and hop on any random yellow or green bike. If bought a scooter and only used that, I would have to always return the same route, and there wouldn’t be another bike waiting at my destination.
They also cost literal pennies, like 2 dollars per month of unlimited rides. Or 1 dollar, then 30 cents per ride for 1 week.
It’s a bit different if you’re in a place with kinda bad to non-existent public transit where you’re just renting your only mode of transportation.
It could be done well as you describe it. The ones in the town I was at were not done well, but yes it could be a crucial piece of non car transportation, filling the void between busses and subways and trolleys and personally owned bikes and scooters, that you also have to worry about getting stolen (and the police where I’ve been at put zero effort in catching the thieves of working peoples’ bikes/ property. If not less than zero they will go out of their way to destroy your property themselves if they get a chance society has a passionate hate for the working poor thanks to fox et al.)
But if cheap, and not covered in spyware that gets sold to databrokers with no protections, ie cameras and microphones and gps and sensing other phones and computers and wifi networks nearby and all of that, it could be beneficial. It’s often not though, because we have all the wrong people in charge of every organization in this country with few exceptions, and silicon valley parasites are never one of those exceptions.
Not sure how it works in California, I’ve seen implementations where you have to return them to a specific area which seems pointless, but in most cities in China, there’s designated parking along 90% of streets.
This integrates into public transit really well as it allows you to get on or off any bus or subway and hop on any random yellow or green bike. If bought a scooter and only used that, I would have to always return the same route, and there wouldn’t be another bike waiting at my destination.
They also cost literal pennies, like 2 dollars per month of unlimited rides. Or 1 dollar, then 30 cents per ride for 1 week.
It’s a bit different if you’re in a place with kinda bad to non-existent public transit where you’re just renting your only mode of transportation.
It could be done well as you describe it. The ones in the town I was at were not done well, but yes it could be a crucial piece of non car transportation, filling the void between busses and subways and trolleys and personally owned bikes and scooters, that you also have to worry about getting stolen (and the police where I’ve been at put zero effort in catching the thieves of working peoples’ bikes/ property. If not less than zero they will go out of their way to destroy your property themselves if they get a chance society has a passionate hate for the working poor thanks to fox et al.)
But if cheap, and not covered in spyware that gets sold to databrokers with no protections, ie cameras and microphones and gps and sensing other phones and computers and wifi networks nearby and all of that, it could be beneficial. It’s often not though, because we have all the wrong people in charge of every organization in this country with few exceptions, and silicon valley parasites are never one of those exceptions.