Took a takeaway bike up Kirk Brae. Gearing is definitely adequate - I didn't even use the lowest one.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Infrastructure
Edinburgh Cycle Hire Scheme
(1600 posts)-
Posted 6 years ago #
-
Yes I have wrote to the Takeaway Bikers to ask about exclusion of the dumbphone and nophone community from the scheme. No answer yet. Or ever I suspect.
Posted 6 years ago # -
I signed up for the early adopter discount whilst in my cups last night (be the change you want to see in the world :-D ). Hoping to have a few test goes on the bikes soon. Not entirely sure whether the docking station locations are particularly helpful for me at the moment, but sure that will improve.
Posted 6 years ago # -
I've had my first go. Thoughts/pictures in this twitter thread:
https://twitter.com/pidginposting/status/1041632566426705920
Posted 6 years ago # -
How did you choose a specific bike? I missed that option when I used them earlier - it seemed to just pick one for me.
Posted 6 years ago # -
I think I got lucky...was standing right next to it.
Posted 6 years ago # -
"Regarding OSM: We'd be super happy to help out in any way we can"
Probably a good idea for you guys to keep the docks up to date in OSM, especially while they're growing?
Posted 6 years ago # -
I couldn't get one unlocked - fortunately there was a staff tester there, who used a wee swipeycard to release one. One bike seemed to flash green but the app wasn't confirming that it was for me, not the other customer standing nearby.
The gears were very skippy in position 2. Fed that back via the site.
Having had the bike released for me, there was no way of confirming via the app that it had been registered as re-locked. The web support chat were able to confirm.Whilst the lowest gear allowed me to get up Gloucester Lane, I still had to stand, which is tricky on a wide-bar upright. The tyres are sufficiently thick to be able to ignore cobbles. I didn't notice the bell until I finished, as it was on the wrong side.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Thought it was great. Gearing is pretty perfect for a 3 speed, it gears out downhill but has a higher gear than boris bikes I think so I didn't gear out too much on the flat.
I didn't take on anything too steep going upwards, so 1st gear wasn't really needed.
The app works really well, but I can imagine dodgy GPS on a phone being a right pain for trying to unlock a bike.
I also don't see how two people can rent a bike at once, as a bike seems to just be randomly unlocked without the app saying which it should be.
Hopefully they successfully advertise themselves during use and get exponentially more popular.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Also making the bikes "dumb phone" accessible would presumably hugely increase the costs. The racks don't seem to need electricity, whereas getting boris bike docks would massively increase the cost of them (and limit locations) .
If the costs were to sky rocket for the docks, then the service would have to be significantly compromised, with a smaller area, and sparser docks within that area. To maximise the number of journeys, the current smartphone exclusive system seems the right approach.
Posted 6 years ago # -
"...bike seems to just be randomly unlocked without the app saying which it should be."
Both times I took a bike the app told me which one to take - first one I took at Charlotte Square was "Lesley" which seemed appropriate! The second time was at The Meadows launch area. The bikes weren't physically docked and were presumably using geofencing. It took me a couple of goes to find the right bike and to unlock it - you need to hold the central button on the bike down for a few seconds.
Posted 6 years ago # -
I asked some of my questions to the GM on the meadows, here are the answers
> 1000 bikes by Christmas (5x increase in volume from today's launch)
> Pause mode is coming within a couple of weeks
> Areas in which pauses are recorded will be used as one of the metrics to decide where new infill docks are added
> Automatic overflow is coming within a couple of months
> Any community group or business with an interest in a geofence dock can make inquiries direct to the GM or via customer services. These are cheap and easy to roll out
> They want requests from members of the public as well but they need to be a little more fleshed out than 'outside my house please'
> They are able to add and remove temporary geofence docks for special events like the Meadows launch extremely easily. Keep this in mind if you are planning any sort of event like a fireworks show, street market, boot sale etc.
> Scheme funding is on the basis of 70% geo-fence docks. These will be initially marked by vinyl mats but a design for road paint is being developed
> The world heritage site can only have physical docks
> If you need to report a faulty bike you need to hire and then re-dock it first before you can report a problem.
> Automatic bike selection is to avoid the problems other schemes have with uneven wear and tear on bikes, and to make sure the lock module remains charged by the dynamos
> Anyone without a smartphone can register for the scheme via the website and for now will be able to phone the call centre for an unlock.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Automatic overflow
What's that?
Posted 6 years ago # -
@toomanybikes
The bikes don't unlock by talking directly to your phone, they get their instructions via mobile data. So unlock via SMS or an automatic phone line is technically possible, it's a matter of if Serco want to facilitate it.
In the generic plans included within every planning application there is a drawing for an optional kiosk that can be added to the end of a docking station, but the informational notes make the same observation that you do that it makes a dock much more expensive and requiring of a connection to the street lighting supply.
Posted 6 years ago # -
> They are able to add and remove temporary geofence docks for special events like the Meadows launch extremely easily. Keep this in mind if you are planning any sort of event like a fireworks show, street market, boot sale etc.
Ooh, that's great - set them up at Murrayfield after the rugby for example!
Posted 6 years ago # -
Automatic overflow
What's that?
If you take a bike to a docking station and find it full you are given the ability to use the wheel lock instead.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Am I looking at the right app. Or the one by urban sharing. There doesn't seem any way to browse a map without entering credit card details. Nor even an option to use the "free" promotion today.
I won't be near a dock so can't use it but had hoped to take a look.
Posted 6 years ago # -
The world heritage site can only have physical docks
Yes, wouldn't want the High Street littered with parked vehicles.
Posted 6 years ago # -
“The world heritage site can only have physical docks”
You mean no chance of geofencing?
That seems odd.
Posted 6 years ago # -
I've been pretty impressed by the map on the website showing bikes available and empty docking stations. That should take some of the uncertainty anxiety out of the system.
Posted 6 years ago # -
"> If you need to report a faulty bike you need to hire and then re-dock it first before you can report a problem."
That won't do if the allocation is not user-cobtrolled but you can see a duff bike in the rack. I was going to ask if there'd be a way to 1: select nearest station, 2: select relevant bike from list of those docked, then 3: select and report fault, for obviously visible things like flat/mushy tyres or damage.
Posted 6 years ago # -
This all sounds great. Just wish we hadn't already made plans today so we could have stopped by the launch event. How does the free trial work? Is it only available at the launch event (and hence only today)?
Posted 6 years ago # -
I briefly bumped into the UIP staff while cycling along George Street. I recognized from the twitter photos
Very nice guys!
That won't do if the allocation is not user-cobtrolled but you can see a duff bike in the rack
Etiquette from other cities is that you turn the saddle backwards if the bike has a fault. If you're given a bad bike here you'll just need to report and re-roll.
A bike that is reported faulty in the app, or hired and docked twice in quick succession, is locked out of use until maintenance crews can attend to it.
Posted 6 years ago # -
The person who unlocked one for me had a wee swipeycard thing, which the bike or lock appeared to be able to read or respond to. Could non-smartphone users have a card to swipe, with confirmation of what they're doing sent to them by SMS once the bike/dock tells the control centre that it's been swiped at?
Posted 6 years ago # -
Interesting that there is no ability to select your preferred bike.
In London I use the boris bikes most weeks and always do a "front wheel, back wheel, cranks straight, peddle check, bell check" before I select a bike. What Santander bikes pass off as a "rideable bike" can vary. I imagine a symptom of reduced funding over time and margins being squeezed.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Free bikes are city wide on the app
Posted 6 years ago # -
@toomanybikes cool. I might yet manage a quick try today then. What is app called?
Posted 6 years ago # -
Just Eat Cycles
Play Store
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=no.urbansharing.citybike.edinburghPosted 6 years ago # -
I might yet manage a quick try today then. What is app called?
"Just Eat Cycles: Edinburgh Cycle Hire" in the Play Store, I presume similar for other operating systems.
Posted 6 years ago # -
> Can you implement a ‘pause’ mode where the bike may be locked by the wheel lock in any location but the hire timer keeps going? The use case is to be able to stop and secure a hired bike outside a shop while en route to a final destination.
The system supports it, and the feature will be turned on for Edinburgh this autumn. I don't have a firm date, unfortunately.
> Is the app going to be translated into other languages - European and Asian?
There are no plans to support other languages than English (well, and Norwegian – just set your phone to Norwegian (-: ) for now.
> What happens when a dock overfills? Do they all become virtual docks? With spacing in the initial rollout being very wide, moving to another dock will simply not be acceptable!
The tech allows this, but it's up to the operator what they'll enable and where. As I understand it, this depends on several factors, including city regulations. I don't know what their plans are here, unfortunately.
> So I ask the question, are there other payment methods coming like SMS or contactless card? I realize why you'd want to build a cashless system, but a smartphone-only system is going to exclude a big chunk of society.
The operators has no plans to support other payments methods as of now. Contactless directly on a bike would be cool, but unfortunately not trivial to implement, both security-wise and with the power and energy limits we have for the electronics in the current design.
> How did you choose a specific bike? I missed that option when I used them earlier - it seemed to just pick one for me.
You can't – the system will chose one for you, based on several factors, the most important being energy levels in the batteries – cycling around recharges them, so we typically allocate a bike that needs charging.
> Probably a good idea for you guys to keep the docks up to date in OSM, especially while they're growing?
The GBFS feeds are near-realtime (at most 10 seconds delayed – we might do it completely realtime later). They include the coordinates and other info on each station, and new stations will pop up immediately as they're activated.
We don't contribute directly to OSM – would that be useful? In that case, where and who would we talk to community-wise and technically?
> The racks don't seem to need electricity, whereas getting boris bike docks would massively increase the cost of them (and limit locations) .
That's right – the racks are completely passive and without electricity, all the logic and moving bits and pieces are on the bikes themselves. I can't comment on costs, but suffice to say you won't see anyone digging when new stations are setup. (-:
Also: Hi to Klaxon, whom me and my colleague randomly met at an intersection, and they recognized us from some promotional pictures online where we happened to smile (=
Posted 6 years ago #
Reply »
You must log in to post.
posts
