I’m a bikeshare planner. Our city currently has a PBSC solar system, we had to do solar due to permitting issues with our local utility provider. I have since been able to get approval to connect the system to the grid. PBSC claims that you need an entirely new station for EBS, however I’ve heard some people say that you can retrofit by swapping the kiosk.

Has anyone had success retrofitting a solar PBSC station?

Hi, I have a 3-year-old child that I would like to take with me on the shared bike.
What seats could I use that won't be a pain to install and remove every time?

Would the Thule Yepp Maxi "quick installation" make senes? I saw it has 4 screws, but you have to use an Allen wrench to install, so not the most straightforward...

Who thinks Bikeshare is a marvelous resource with many (happy?) users but in need of improvement? If so please start an advocacy group to make Bikeshare Toronto all it can be.

If so the Toronto outfit will charge you $1000. Instead of going to homeless encampment and retrieving it. I have recovered three this month without harm to my person.

Background

Many cities have bike-share systems. These systems let you rent a bicycle or an e-bike, using an app and a credit card.

When you borrow a bike, there's often a time limit: maybe 30 or 60 minutes. Before the deadline, you must return the bike to any station and then borrow it again. Otherwise, you'll owe an overage fee.

You can use a watch to help remember the bike return deadline.

My thoughts

If you like digital watches, I guess a Casio watch with a yacht timer feature might work well.

• 1.) The yacht timer can warn you repeatedly as a deadline approaches.
• 2.) These watches can generally show both the time of day and the countdown timer, simultaneously.
• 3.) They're not expensive.

Casio digital watches with yacht timers include:

• The MWD100. Looks kind of like a G-Shock. (PDF manual.)
• The W737, the W93, and the W94.
• The W753. Includes a timer "reset time" feature that none of the above watches has. Also has moon and tide graph features. (PDF manual.)

Casio calls its yacht timer feature the "progress beeper". A post by sailor /u/Tenzaki claims that Casio does yacht timers better than anyone else. I don't have enough knowledge to confirm or deny this.

Casio also makes some ana-digi and G-Shock digital watches with yacht timers. If you want the extra features which might be included in a G-Shock, you can get one.

The Gill Stealth Timer and Stealth Racer may be alternative options. They include a vibrate feature. However, the battery might have to be changed once every nine months.

I'm not sure that the Optimum Time Series 16 lets you set a countdown timer for periods longer than 10 minutes.

If you want something more elegant, perhaps something analog, you have various options.

Conclusion

I prefer digital watches under US$100, especially in non-boring colors such as blue, green, or red. But other Redditors might prefer analog watches or smartwatches.

• A.) What watches would you recommend for bike-share users?
• B.) Why?

Please consider analog and digital watches, smartwatches, and others, made by all watch companies.

Edit

• C.) Do you dislike this post? If so, why?
• D.) Is there anything I can improve?

A lot of new Redditors post to /r/bikeshare, even though their posts have nothing to do with bike-share systems. Why do they do this?

Anyway. If you see an off-topic post, please downvote it, and report it using the report button. Thank you!

What percentage of E-bikes are unavailable due to a lack of charge. In Florence I saw a staff member riding an ebike with a load of charged cells to swap for dead ones. In Toronto the method is what? Pick them up in an F150 and take them in?

I repatriated two Bikeshare bikes from the homeless encampment on College near the Kensington Market. One signalled green upon return but the other would not connect (out too long).

I left it at the matra station before the Ronald Regan Washington airport（Terminal 2） for I was led on the highway by my phone and didn't want to get down it riding a bike. Now the company is talking about charging me for 1200. I feel so stupid. If anyone by any chance go pass by an unattended Cabi near Washington airport, Could you please help me put it to its station. I know this is a desperate long shot. I just need to do something.

I'm looking for places to visit in New Hampshire.

Key requirement: has a bike share (or some way of procuring bike usage for a week, thats not going to cost me hundreds of dollars...

I googled around, and pretty sure this doesn't exist. But, last ditch hope, trying asking here :)

Hey bike sharing fans,

I often run into this problem where a local bike sharing company will have very small coverage, or I sit between two coverage maps.

They offer to rent bikes long term, or for 12 hours - but for me the essence of what they offer is the ability to do one-way trips for the daily commute.

On the way to work, I'm often late, so I take Uber - on the way back, I'm OK taking longer, but I don't want to take too long.

That's where bike sharing works: only doing the way back, no matter how late I finish work.

So, to ride sharing companies: consider offering a "pixel rental plan", where you add one pixel to the coverage map for a monthly fee, and you can finally park where you have to, or they will bring a bike to that location because you regularly take it from there.

The farther the pixel is from the normal area, the more you pay - but that would really help to keep the service useful, when the company wants to cut costs, instead of unilaterally reduce coverage!

That's it, I just needed to write this suggestion out there.

They expanded the Bike Share system in my city and added a station near me. I have an interest in buying an annual membership, and using the bikes as my main method of transportation. I was wondering if there’s any good attachments I can use for the bikes. The bike share bikes look bigger than regular bikes and I wasn’t sure if anyone has tried using any attachments with them. I’m looking for one that carries groceries, but I don’t mind knowing if any other attachment works

We are huge cycling fans and as we live downtown we are avid users of our local bike sharing networks. This gave us an idea!

What if we would try crossing the alps using our local bikes from the bike sharing network ?

We filmed our whole experience! Check it out!

https://youtu.be/q9s2dZ0txEQ 🍿🍿

https://youtu.be/q9s2dZ0txEQ

https://youtu.be/q9s2dZ0txEQ

Should have Bikeshare. I asked why there aren't docks there but could not understand the answer. I also notice mayoralty candidate Ana Bailao wants this too. Anyone?

Hey everyone,

I'm looking for a collection of bike share data that includes:

1. Start location (lat/long)
2. End location (lat/long)
3. Start time
4. End time (or duration)
5. Membership status (member vs. visitor)

Something like this one from Lake Tahoe: https://data-trpa.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/TRPA::limebike-trips/explore

Any thoughts?

​

Here in Toronto, the system uses a mixture of PBSC Iconic mechanical bikes and PBSC E-Fit e-bikes.

PBSC sells four bike models: Iconic, Fit, Boost, and E-Fit. All four models are assembled in Canada by Cycles Devinci. I'm pretty sure the frames are made in Canada. (Source.) I presume most of the other parts are imported from elsewhere. The bikes are marketed by PBSC.

Lyft's bikes

Here's some information on two e-bike models which are common in the US:

• Lyft Watson e-bikes are assembled in Taiwan and imported by Lyft. The frame,

battery, and triangle are all made in China. (Source.)

• Lyft Cosmo e-bikes are also assembled in Taiwan and imported by Lyft. The frame is made in Taiwan. The battery is made in China. The triangle is made in Canada.

(Source.)

Redditors have made different guesses as to who designed the Lyft e-bikes. See this source and this source.

Questions for you

Dear all: What make and model of bikes does your city have? Do you know who designs, assembles, and/or imports them?

If you've ever worked as a bike-share rebalancer, in any city:

A.) What was the job like?

B.) What did you like and dislike about the job?

C.) What size of vehicle did you use? About how many bikes fit into the vehicle?

D.) (Optional:) How long ago did you work there? How long did you keep the job? If you left the job, why did you leave?

E.) (Optional:) Which city were you working in?

Notes

This post was inspired by a discussion I've been having with a Chicago bike-share mechanic, elsewhere on Reddit. Their system hires a lot of rebalancers, but lately they've been quitting at a high rate, and so the system has been struggling with balance problems.

Background information

Repair is often better for the environment than replacement, but not always. There can be various exceptions. (Source.) For example, here's one exception: If a 20-year-old fridge breaks down, and you properly recycle it instead of repairing it or landfilling it, you can save money and help the environment. Newer fridges can be significantly more energy-efficient.

There can be other exceptions, too. For example, if your city replaces some old heavy mechanical bike-share bikes with fast new e-bikes, I wonder if this might remove cars from the road and help the environment overall.

Questions for you

A.) In your city, on average, how many years does a mechanical bike-share bike tend to last before it wears out? I know that e-bikes are popular and likely get more use; how many years does an e-bike last?

B.) (Optional:) Do you know what make and model of bikes you're using? For example: PBSC Boost? Arcade Moka Central Cardan? Something else?

C.) What's the most common way in which the bikes wear out? For example, do cracks start to appear in the aluminum frame? Do the wheel rims get worn through? Do multiple issues tend to coincide at once — and, if so, what are the most common issues?

D.) Bike-share bikes may have lots of oddly-shaped parts, for anti-theft reasons. Because of this, I assume that members of the public are very unlikely to want to acquire a worn-out bike-share bike. (One exception is the Bike Share Museum, which is open to donations.) So, I guess that worn-out bike-share bikes are usually sold to a scrapyard. Does your city tend to salvage any still-working parts right before scrapping a bike?

E.) Does your city always replace an old bike (e.g. 3-speed PBSC Iconic) with a brand-new identical bike? Or do you sometimes choose something better, such as a 7-speed Iconic, or a lighter PBSC Fit?

Conclusion

Thank you!

Background information

I'm a member of Bike Share Toronto. They buy their bikes and docks from PBSC.

Right now, I'm at Glendon College. There's an "E-Fit" e-bike right on campus, but the battery is empty. Therefore, the system won't let me unlock it.

The nearest mechanical bike is maybe about 20 minutes' walk away.

I would very much prefer to take a nearby e-bike with a dead battery, instead of walking 20 minutes to a more-distant station.

Questions for you

A.) What city are you in?

B.) Does your city's system allow users to undock an e-bike with a dead battery?

C.) (Optional:) Why or why not?

Has anyone attempted to add a pannier bag to the bar highlighted below? It's obviously a non-traditional rack, built for the purpose of securing the battery on the other side. Normally the a rack sits above the rear wheel so with this bar being a bit lower I'm guessing road clearance could be an issue with a taller bag.

My goal for grocery shopping would be to mount 1 pannier on the non-battery side of the rear rack, have one re-usable grocery bag in the front basket, and a backpack on my back. I don't have much experience with rear racks, but I'd guess that this bar is on the thicker side compared to some others. This could be a potential issue in getting a bag with mounting hooks large enough. I was thinking about either the Banjo Brothers: Grocery Pannier or the Banjo Brothers: Market Pannier. The description says, "Hooks fit racks up to 16mm". I guess I'll have to go measure this bar sometime to see if it is 16mm or less.

Let me know if you've had success with attaching a pannier bag to a bike share and if so which bag you went with. Thanks!

​

https://preview.redd.it/ra7zlfeyyk791.png?width=842&format=png&auto=webp&s=61a995d6be38480e855a12b4b993f66b2caefda9

I want hole punch my Toronto Bike Share card so that I can attach it to my keyring. Will the card still work if I do that?

Obviously the hole won't be on the side that slides into the card reader.

Background information

I'm a member of Bike Share Toronto. All members are allowed to use both the mechanical bikes and e-bikes, even for commercial use. There's no provision in the user agreement which forbids commercial use.

Membership costs about C$100 per year. It includes unlimited use of both the mechanical bikes and the e-bikes, as long as the member re-docks and undocks the bike regularly.

In Toronto, some food-delivery couriers hold on to an e-bike for an entire day, which annoys quite a few of the other members. E-bikes are somewhat scarce in the system.

Questions for you

A.) Does your local system allow commercial use of the bikes by food-delivery couriers?

B.) Does your local system encourage commercial use of the bikes by food-delivery couriers?

C.) In your city, imagine that a courier holds onto an e-bike all day, renewing it once every half hour. Do the applicable hourly e-bike fees allow your system to break even, or perhaps (in fact) profit, when the courier does this?

Edit

The UrbanToronto forum has a long-running thread about Bike Share Toronto. I've started some discussion there about couriers and e-bike fees, starting with this forum post.

I always find it annoying to monitor the dock availability on the station(s) I'm going to using the in-app maps, and it is MADDENING to arrive at a station and find it full, then have to backtrack.So, one night I got to my home station, found it full, had to dock a ways away and walk back, then got home and built a simple little site that let's me select my common destinations (or a single one) and easily refresh on my phone (or set it up as a home screen icon), called it Free Dock.

https://freedock.app/

It isn't a product or business or anything, just a small utility that I hope people find useful.

While I'm in Chicago (Lyft Bikes/Divvy), I found a feed of bikeshare programs around the world, so there is support for nearly 300 bikeshare programs around the world.

Bookmarkable list of my favorite stations

Just saw this article about them, I'd like to see some real world pictures from when they really launch, these all look like heavily edited marketing materials.

https://techcrunch.com/2021/06/02/taking-lyfts-new-e-bike-for-a-spin/

I've been asked to manage our fleet of about 12 bikes. They are "typical" heavy steel rides - free for all of our 800 employees, but they have seen very little use over the past 5-6 years. any ideas on motivating staff to ride them? or other ideas? (we can not have anyone outside of the org ride them due to insurance restrictions) If I can't get some use out of them this season, we will have to part with them ;(. Anything to get more people onto bikes! Thanks for any ideas.

Hey all, we recently launched our newest blog series, and we're letting it live on Substack. Subscribe for all things bikeshare (with a hint of MoGo + Detroit in each) at https://mogodetroit.substack.com/. For all MoGo info, and the rest of our blog content, visit mogodetroit.org/ride/blog!

Hi all!

Background

Last week, due to poor judgment in wet weather, I fell off a bike and broke my non-dominant wrist. (The radiologist wrote: "Oblique undisplaced intra-articular fracture of the distal radius ... about 2.5 cm long. The distal ulna and carpal bones are intact.") For now, I'm in a plaster splint.

I'm a member of Bike Share Toronto. I can probably ride a bike using just my right hand. Still, I'd rather start out by using an adult tricycle instead.

I phoned PBSC customer service to ask about availability of trikes. Toronto has no trikes. And, as far as they know, no other PBSC-managed system has trikes either.

PBSC buys bikes from Cycles Devinci, in Quebec. From the Devinci website, it's unclear whether or not they manufacture trikes.

Cities with trikes

Various non-PBSC cities do have one or more trikes, including: Hamilton (SoBi), Madison (B-Cycle), Munich (Nextbike), and possibly others. These might be cargo trikes, e-trikes, or just regular trikes.

Questions for you

A.) Would it likely be feasible to attach a PBSC docking triangle to a non-PBSC trike? If so, how might this be done?

B.) How wide is an average-sized adult tricycle?

C.) Imagine that a trike was docked in a middle dock. Would the trike be so wide as to make the adjacent docks completely unusable? Or would the adjacent docks merely become more difficult to use?

Dear system staff:

My idea

When someone buys a yearly membership, you could throw in some codes for free day passes. The member could then give these codes away to friends or family. This could help to spread the word about bike-share.

You could give the member just one or two codes, or better yet, even more.

You could threaten: "Codes may expire after six months." This way, the member might be less likely to hold onto them, and might be more likely to give them away.

It'd be best to give codes away to everyone who buys a membership. But your managers might refuse to be so generous. If so, you could give the codes away only to members who join during a promotional period (e.g. Black Friday).

Perhaps your managers might refuse to give away day passes. Even so, maybe they might give yearly members some single-trip codes instead.

Implement overage notifications first

Many systems charge overage fees. If yours does, ask your vendor to offer in-app instant overage notifications before you start giving away free day passes. These notifications will help prevent the day-pass users from getting gouged. And, if they don't get gouged, they'll be more likely to use the system again in the future.

Conclusion

As far as I know, only one system has ever done something like this. Bike Share Toronto used to give away five half-hour single trips to new annual members. (Source.) Only select new Bike Share members were eligible to get the free trips. To be eligible, they needed to have a Canadian bike roadside assistance membership already.

Edit

I've cross-posted this to two places: in /r/bikeshare, and in /r/Citibike.

Questions for you

A.) Any thoughts?

B.) Is there any other bike-share system in the world which has ever offered anything like this?

C.) Do you know?: Was the offer successful in attracting additional new members?