Lime scooters: too much drama?
One man is tracking illegally parked Lime scooters around town, while a Journal writer scoffs at the drama around the arrival of the new.
One man is tracking illegally parked Lime scooters around town, while a Journal writer scoffs at the drama around the arrival of the new.
jeather 11:00 on 2019-09-03 Permalink
My uncle has been using the Jump bikes and he says he often sees them locked up in someone’s backyard, sometimes a locked backyard, since you can lock them wherever. I haven’t seen Lime scooters in the middle of the sidewalk yet though I have seen cars parked in the scooter parking zone. I’ve seen people using the Lime scooters, it looks like a lot of fun.
jeather 11:02 on 2019-09-03 Permalink
This is the link to the flickr account that the Gazette does not share.
CE 11:02 on 2019-09-03 Permalink
I’ve seen the JUMP bikes locked up in pretty isolated areas. Obviously someone who used it to get somewhere and plans to use it to leave. I always wonder what happens with those people if someone else decides to take the bike. I can imagine some conflict arising.
jeather 11:22 on 2019-09-03 Permalink
Yeah, seems clear that the idea is that they will always have a jump bike available because there it is, locked safely in their backyard. (I do not remember if he said he complained about it.)
Blork 15:08 on 2019-09-03 Permalink
It’s funny how I have only a passing interest in Lime and Jump bikes (mostly interested in the phenomenon more than actually riding them). Also, I’m a fan of the concept of Bixi, but I’ve never ridden one. I have a Car2Go membership but I’ve only used it once in the three or so years I’ve been a member. Uber? I’ve never hailed one, but I’ve been a passenger on someone else’s dime.
So it goes, until I sat down over the weekend to scope out a trip to the west coast that I’ll be doing soon. What? No ride hailing in BC at all? No Jump? No Lime? No Bixi-Like things, as far as I can tell. I found a few bike sharing systems but they are very limited in scope and therefore utterly useless to me.
I’m shocked as to how much this has put a damper on things. How am I going to get around? The idea of phoning for a taxi and then waiting around for 30 minutes for it to show up seems retrograde beyond belief. The idea that I won’t even be able to cycle around short of paying a $60 daily rental fee that I have to cross town even to access? WTF is that?
I will pop my Uber cherry in Seattle, and I’m looking forward to it. While I despise Uber as a company and don’t like it’s gig-oriented “disruption” bullshit, I’m all-in on its app-based way of hailing and paying for rides (which is why I was such a fan of Téo).
OK, so this is off-topic but I just had to say it.
Ant6n 19:27 on 2019-09-03 Permalink
@blork
If you refer to Vancouver, they do have okay transit, and transit app also shows two bike sharing systems: mobi and hopr, although I don’t think you can pay for them within the app.
John B 00:06 on 2019-09-04 Permalink
There’s also Car2Go in Vancouver. You might have to tweak your account a bit, but I think it’ll work. I’ll second Ant6n’s mention of bike share – I have family there that have mentioned it existing. The bus system is better than most too – and you can ride a trolleybus like you may remember from the movie Heart & Souls.
I saw a jump bike under the Victoria bridge out on the seaway today.
Meezly 09:52 on 2019-09-04 Permalink
I visit Vancouver every year and the bike sharing system is indeed quite limited (for now) compared to Bixi. However, the transit buses haven noticeably improved in recent years (ie. vehicle upgrades and reliability) within Vancouver proper. Even though we had a rental car, we found it easier at times to take the bus.
What’s cool is that you can simply tap your credit card at the fare box to pay as you go. Not exactly secure, but in terms of efficiency, makes it much easier to just hop on a bus! Not to mention that many of the buses are electric trolley buses (been like this for decades).
DeWolf 12:14 on 2019-09-04 Permalink
As others have said, transit is good in Vancouver and Car2Go is actually cheaper and more abundant than it is in Montreal. The bike share is useless for visitors are there are no short-term passes. But I would suggest renting a bike for a few days as it’s a really nice way to get around Vancouver. The bike infrastructure there is often much better than in Montreal, although there are many more hills to deal with.
(Sorry to turn this into Van City Weblog.)
Kate 12:39 on 2019-09-04 Permalink
No worries, DeWolf. I’m happy if people get good information about anything via a thread here.
Blork 12:55 on 2019-09-04 Permalink
Unfortunately I’ll be spending more time in Victoria than Vancouver (don’t ask).