>Well that's one way of getting people excited about cycling.
True. A sure-fire way to get people to want to do something is to tell them they're not allowed to do it.
Maybe we've been going about this modal shift thing all wrong..
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Infrastructure
Edinburgh Cycle Hire Scheme
(1576 posts)-
Posted 5 years ago #
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Well... there really IS something there, right? Kids purloining hire bikes are kids who want to muck about on bikes. Not like you can sell a hire bike on.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Good point. I was assuming the thefts were just for the hell of it but given the places the bikes are turning up, there is indeed an element of mucking about on bikes to it too.
I wonder if having docks in every scheme and a reward system for returning strays would help or hinder? Is that rewarding bad behaviour or encouraging good?
Posted 5 years ago # -
Only 82 bikes showing available now. 22 stations showing completely empty.
Posted 5 years ago # -
I received an email plugging a £10-pass covering until the end of March. Intrigued I a quick swatch at the takeaway bikes twitter account and they seem to be trailing some youtube videos promoting the scheme.
Guys - you have no bikes! They are all either (a) stolen (b) in your warehouse. Sort out the locks, get some bikes on the street and keep the video high junks for when the scheme actually works.
I have gone out of my way to use the bikes, I want this to work - but I'm not going to part with cash for a service I simply can't use. I imagine others are the same.
Posted 5 years ago # -
"I am afraid we have had to remove the cycle hire point at the Royal Infirmary due to ongoing vandalism."
via Twitter.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Is “vandalism” that or theft?
Either way doesn’t say much about security/CCTV there.
(I seem to remember suggestions here that it was badly sited.
Move better than remove??
Is Edinburgh unusual bad or have operators not learned anything from other operations?
Posted 5 years ago # -
(I seem to remember suggestions here that it was badly sited.
Yes: https://twitter.com/DFrench88/status/1068859887319429120 (that's them in the background).
Photo in tweet taken here.
Posted 5 years ago # -
@chdot, Edinburgh maybe not as bad as some places...
From the Grauniad article I linked to above:
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When a Santander-sponsored scheme opened in Milton Keynes in 2016 half the fleet were trashed within a year, leaving a repair bill of £200,000.
“But in London, too, we have discovered there are some areas we have realised are no-go areas, for social reasons. They are areas where, if you put bikes there, they disappear. "
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Paris has not fared well either (even before the advent of les Gilets Jaunes):
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Wheels come off Paris bike-share scheme after hi-tech upgrade
Parisians abandon city’s pioneering Vélib bikes as new operator’s revamp is beset by electrical and software glitcheshttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/04/paris-bike-share-scheme-velib-hi-tech-upgrade-problems
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Vélib wasn't perfect, and vandalism was so commonplace that a reported nearly 80 percent of the bikes had to be replaced in the first two years. Wheels were stolen, handlebars ripped off and from time to time entire bicycles were thrown into the Seine.
A former JCDecaux employee, who was familiar with the company's internal data, said Paris bikes were damaged "50 times more" than in other countries. "Paris is exceptional, even by French standards," he added.
https://www.politico.eu/article/velib-paris-last-velo-bike/
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Posted 5 years ago # -
70 bikes and falling
Surprised that for now the program remains open
Posted 5 years ago # -
I assume there are contracts which ought to specify minimum numbers and availability spread(?)
No doubt it’s all a bit ScotRail - ‘late delivery of rolling stock’, ‘problems with specification’ (though I presume sorting 40 year old coaches is harder than getting working seat clamps!), plus staff training - though perhaps SR staff require more than for running a few hire bikes.
Posted 5 years ago # -
That Serco (it is them, right?) are refusing to address this issue openly and be transparent is entirely off-putting. Replies to Twitter queries are not the same as a clear statement on the state of play. Continuing to promote the service when it almost doesn't exist is shady as.
Posted 5 years ago # -
“
Operator Serco has revealed that 100 bikes have been reported abandoned in the past five months with the vast majority being recovered.
At least 25 cycles have been seriously damaged while a total of ten have also been stolen in this time leading to police investigations.
Serco said the level of vandalism being experienced in Edinburgh is comparable to its other locations including London and Trondheim and Bergen in Norway.
“
Which doesn’t seem to entirely square with suggestions on here.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Since launching in September, the initiative has provided almost 20,000 rides
and at £1-50 (or less) per ride, that makes a turnover of £30k over 5 months, plus any advertising revenue from Just Eat.
Doesn't sound sustainable from a business point of view.
As the dragons from Dragon's Den would say, "I wish you all the best, but I won't be investing - I'm out."
Posted 5 years ago # -
I had a disappointing (but otherwise pleasant!) meander round Marchmont this morning trying to get into work (where my bike is.) While a lot of the virtual hire docks are still empty, the ones at Thirlestane Road and Spottiswoode Street were showing one bike each - but on the ground there was nothing.
Left a support message on the app where they mentioned the seat clamp issue and apologised for the lack of availability, then said the problem might be theft. Meanwhile, both docks are still claiming to have their phantom bikes. A fairly poor experience :(
Posted 5 years ago # -
Yeah, turnover is crap so far, but it's winter and they're still rolling out the docks to get to a level of coverage that the scheme is convenient to use.
I'm withholding judgement on profitability til the end of summer,assuming lots more bikes and docks go out before then.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Anyone know how long the Serco contract is for? These things are never profitable from day one...
I'm sure I saw some of their bid info online at one point (may have been in the Council Transport Committee docs), but haven't been able to find it. Would be interesting to see what projections they had in there.
Posted 5 years ago # -
I've found this https://qsrmedia.co.uk/community/news/just-eat-sponsors-bike-hire-scheme-in-edinburgh article that says three years with the option for another 4.
They were planning 1000 bikes by the end of 2018. At the moment they have 73 - (http://bikes.oobrien.com/ shows 71 bikes in docks and https://edinburghcyclehire.com/stations/live shows just 2 live).
Good to fix the seat posts, but surely you would fix them in batches.
If you take the 20 000 rides in 5 months factor in a 4x increase then it's around and 1.50 a ride it's £288 000 revenue a year.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Because I'm stuck on a problem at work - I though it might be interesting to look at some of the ride counts by week:
2018-38 979
39 1086
40 1009
41 666
42 1009
43 896
44 825
45 1095
46 1059
47 832
48 717
49 748
50 993
51 902
52 759
53 156
2019-1 791
2 1068
3 1247
4 1091
5 733
6 443
Excluding launch, 3rd week of January was the busiest week so far!
And the busiest days:
23/09/2018 234
04/11/2018 226
06/10/2018 220
17/01/2019 214
16/11/2018 208
20/10/2018 204
18/01/2019 203
18/11/2018 196
28/01/2019 192
03/11/2018 188
Posted 5 years ago # -
Are the data sufficient to exclude rides based on duration, to remove those which start/finish at the same dock and are too short to involve a meaningful journey and which are probably failed undockings, which account for 1/3 of my recorded rides?
Posted 5 years ago # -
That's certainly possible, the open data for each trip has the following entries:
started_at "2019-01-01 05:58:47.853000+00:00"
ended_at "2019-01-01 07:16:14.003000+00:00"
duration 4646
start_station_id "259"
start_station_name "St Andrew Square"
start_station_description "North East corner"
start_station_latitude 55.95474881217642
start_station_longitude -3.1927736686587878
end_station_id "285"
end_station_name "Ocean Terminal"
end_station_description "Debenhams / Puregym entrance"
end_station_latitude 55.981286014792985
end_station_longitude -3.176351263805259
(That's the first trip of 2019, from here)So that's easy to identify using the duration and station ids.
Although I don't know if failed undockings have already been excluded. Should be possible to check that from the data too.Posted 5 years ago # -
Bike numbers creeping up again. 110 today.
Posted 5 years ago # -
The new seat clamps are a big improvement. Still having a good experience with these bikes. Only significant issue for me has been the lack of bikes at docks on the southside, but good to hear the numbers are increasing again.
There seems to be a new dock at Ferry Road/Goldenacre (or have I only just noticed it?)
Posted 5 years ago # -
So, I took a bike out this morning... You know, pub run to work, so no need for a bike later...
The bike promptly fell out of the dock, even though the dock was on the level. As I went to catch it, I failed to grab something solid and it fell against my hand, crushing against my fingers.
I then went to balance the bike between my legs, forgetting there was no crossbar. Again, bike fell over, this time the pedal landing on top of my foot with the full weight of the bike on it. Yes, that was a sair yun.
<okay, okay, I can hear the tiny violins playing>
The bike had the new seat clamp, but the seat post was still covered in grease and the seat would waggle from side to side when riding. It did slip down a bit as I rode, maybe 1 notch, but not so bad that I had to stop.
What clown keeps putting grease on the seat posts?
Posted 5 years ago # -
Sounds like it would maybe be better to do the run from pub to work on foot if that is the consequences of trying to do it on a bike ;)
Posted 5 years ago # -
@jonty.
The pub is for later. Sometimes I do feel like a drink at 7am, but that is usually childcare related...
Posted 5 years ago # -
Some lunatic is riding stolen Burger Bikes round Craigmillar Hill.
Posted 5 years ago # -
@iwrats, looks like he has stolen your jacket too?
Posted 5 years ago # -
You reckon it's a guy?
Posted 5 years ago #
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