The bikes have their own GPS, so that wouldn't work. The phone unlock geofencing seems to be mainly to avoid unlocking a bike when you're not there to pick it up, but does seem to create some friction which maybe isn't totally necessary.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Infrastructure
Edinburgh Cycle Hire Scheme
(1576 posts)-
Posted 5 years ago #
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We'll this has ruined my day :-(
https://twitter.com/cyclehire_edi/status/1047474491885068289?s=19
Posted 5 years ago # -
I was allocated Craig (as photographed by HankChief) on launch day.
Posted 5 years ago # -
@HankChief masking tape and a magic marker: rename at will!
Posted 5 years ago # -
No ninja renaming please! If you pick up a bike from a geo-dock then you need to go along the row and spot the bike by name, it doesn't flash for you...
Posted 5 years ago # -
The number of bikes in the system is creeping up fast with new facilities
For the first week there was a stable 145 bikes, it was up to 155 yesterday and now there is 167
A new dock just came online at Riego Street / East Fountainbridge with 20 spots
Posted 5 years ago # -
Posted 5 years ago # -
Is there a complete list of names published? Although I don't expect my name to appear any time soon despite its undeniable Scottishness.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Finally - today is the day I have a journey that could just about justify using the hire bikes. I just need to download the android app...which is nowhere to be seen. Quick message to the cycle hire team, who say:
"Unfortunately the Google Play app for "Just Eat Cycles" is temporarily unavailable due to a technical issue. We are working to get this resolved, but currently it is not possible for new users to access the app. I must apologise for the inconvenience this has caused, however we should be up and running again soon."
Shanks pony it is then.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Caleb and Baird outside the office today. Are these names random?
Posted 5 years ago # -
I'm confused. A day pass allows 24 hours of rides of up to one hour. Can you stop for five minutes and then start another one hour ride? Or do you have to return to a docking station within the hour? If you take off into the countryside how do they surcharge you?
Posted 5 years ago # -
@Cyclingmollie this also confused me early on. I believe it costs £1 extra per half hour after the first hour if you don't redock the bike.
Posted 5 years ago # -
You have to return the bike to a docking station within the hour. There's then a short period (5 or 15 minutes, I've forgotten which) before you can another one out.
Additional fees apply for taking a bike out for more than an hour - £1 every 30 mins (might escalate as well, not sure).
Posted 5 years ago # -
As I understand it, you have to re-dock, i.e. end your hire before your hour is up.
You can then almost immediately rehire, although you'll almost certainly be allocated a different bike.
Surcharges are automatically deducted from your debit/credit card I think.
Posted 5 years ago # -
" If you take off into the countryside..."
It does seem slightly weird that the annual subscription still requires extra pounds for longer journeys, but then I suppose it's only an annual subscription to the hire-a-bike-for-up-to-one-hour scheme, so the surcharge affects all. What you'd need to do if heading out to the countryside (if wanting to use a hire bike further out than a half-hour radius from the countrysidest station) is have a team of staff (all with their own subscription) continually driving out freshly-rented bikes to you and taking the almost-depleted ones back after a few minutes' ride. Unfortunately, whilst avoiding the surcharge (if your team can get the bikes back in time), you'd fall foul of the requirement to not let anyone else use a bike hired on your account.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Also, if there is ever to be a scheme to reward people shifting bikes from full docks to empty docks or from the bottoms of hills to the tops, there'd need to be a safeguard to prevent people with subscriptions from being the people to overstuff or empty docks in the first place, or at least from not rewarding them for then restoring balance.
Posted 5 years ago # -
the requirement to not let anyone else use a bike hired on your account
Shall I then never ride one of these fine bicycles?
Have asked Councillor McInnes how restricting use to those with expensive, fragile, complex and intrusive computing equipment fits with council policies on exclusion and discrimination.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Thanks, it's becoming clearer. Could be useful for nipping round the charity shops in Nicholson Street and Morningside and the Bike Station: walk to Porty, collect a bike, drop it off at the Commie Pool, grab charity bargains, coffee at Cult, pick up a bike in George Square and back to Porty. Nice.
Posted 5 years ago # -
@iwrats It doesn't explicitly say that anywhere in the terms of use, but there are variations on "on your head be it" which effectively amounts to the same thing.
We don't know if they're comparing the location of re-docked bikes with the location of the phone/tablet which unlocked them (which we've found needs to be very close to the source station in order for the unlocking option to appear) but shall presumably find out if/when someone loses their phone whilst cycling, providing they can someone retrieve the text message which would be sent to their lost/stolen phone telling them that they appear to have given the bike to someone else as their phone was in a different place when it was docked.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Spotted two cycles powered by young man and young woman (who looked more like tourists than locals) heading West along Princes Street.
Posted 5 years ago # -
I saw two wee loons sat on docked bikes the other day, having great fun pedalling backwards.
Posted 5 years ago # -
"If you take off into the countryside..."
I'm afraid I really can't see much of that happening!
With only 3 gears (and the top gear topping out at a relatively low speed, and the bottom gear not ideal for anything other than fairly gentle and short hills, especially if you've been allocated a bike with a slightly too loose seat clamp, with the saddle slowing descending under you), they are really not for even brief jaunts into the nearby countryside, unfortunately.
It would be probably be nice to have docking stations at regularish intervals all the way along the (yet to be fully completed) seafront promenade from Cramond to Portobello (and maybe even Musselburgh), but I think that would very much be the real limit of their practicality!
(I'm curious as to whether Heriot-Watt (and QMU) will be included in the network at some point, and whether the current fleet of bikes would really be suitable for journeys of up to that length? For journeys of up to about 30 minutes, they are OK, though, as long as you don't encounter too many uphills!)
Posted 5 years ago # -
Riding right now
28Was at 35 an hour ago
Hope they don't all want to go to the same place!
Posted 5 years ago # -
First time use for me today. Took a while to get going as I didn't realise that the unlock option only appears when within touching distance of a bike. Newhaven to Commonwealth Pool then a return trip later - no docks available when I got back so had to go to Commercial Street. Not a deal-breaker today but a long way to have to make up on foot and may have necessitated purchase of a bus ticket on another day so, a bit off-putting for me.
Posted 5 years ago # -
I thought that the hybrid system was in part to deal with the disruption when a fixed docking point was full, or a surge in demand was expected. Excess bikes can be virtually docked at a fixed docking point, within reason, giving the service team the opportunity to attend & rebalance the system. Nextbike in Glasgow works this way
For a fully fixed docking system, operating without a skewed commuter demand (ie London Waterloo to The Bank - around 400-500 bikes every weekday making this trip at roughly the same times between same places) the capacity to 'dock' bikes should exceed the number in circulation by c.50%
By contrast the number of bikes hired by a Brompton Hire point can be up to 2.5 times the number of lockers available - & bikes are typically hired for 1-2 weeks with no limit to the 24 hour hire periods running continuously without re-docking. Price per day for frequent user membership £3.50. Expecting a Brompton Hire unit in Scotland soon, provided by a developer as a facility for tenants (with public access also) in a commercial property development - similar to the unit at Kings Cross, close to but not at the station. If planning to hire (or return) at Kings Cross you are advised to pre-book, to ensure a bike or space is there when you turn up.
Posted 5 years ago # -
The backend system provided by UIP is capable of docking station overflow but Serco has chosen to not enable it (or journey pausing) yet
Posted 5 years ago # -
I was on a bike this morning and was thinking that the front rack is extremely poor in design. The elastic is extremely tight and crushed my small and narrow backpack which only just fits within the width restriction, and you can't put shopping in it as carrier bags will just fall out.
It appears to have been designed around, and only fits well, a traditional man's briefcase.
Posted 5 years ago # -
@klaxon, that is poor design as I doubt many Traditional Men will be hiring these bikes it will be all alternative people
Posted 5 years ago # -
“I doubt many Traditional Men will be hiring these bikes it will be all alternative people”
Is that an Edinburgh-specific statement?
Posted 5 years ago # -
briefcase specific statement
Posted 5 years ago #
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