Public Address | Cafe | Speaker: Shenzen's hire-bike explosion

Paul Campbell

Thu, 23 Mar 2017 12:22:26 +1300

Here's another Guardian article on the same phenomenom

Paul Campbell

Wed, 18 Jan 2017 08:50:49 +1300

heh – the pile outside HQB wasn’t that big, but really has the same cause, people fed up with all the new bikes blocking the footpath.

This week it’s probably made worth because people are starting to travel for Chinese New Year, bike use is probably dropping off quickly

Stephen R

Wed, 18 Jan 2017 06:24:23 +1300

Guardian reckons that Shenzen's still got some work to do on public attitudes to bike hire...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/17/chinese-discard-hundreds-of-cycles-for-hire-in-giant-pile

Rich of Observationz

Tue, 17 Jan 2017 13:26:01 +1300

You can take them inside, if it isn't jammed with cruise ship tourists off to do the "look at a town with water next to it from quite high up" for the 19th time on their fun-packed holiday.

Carol Stewart

Tue, 17 Jan 2017 13:14:57 +1300

Perhaps the cable car could be retrofitted with bike racks

Julian Melville

Wed, 11 Jan 2017 15:18:08 +1300

See also stickers (Intel Inside! NXP Inside! Thingawammy XP2900!) on generic Windows laptops

I really liked that on my new Dell all the standards logos on the bottom are hidden behind a small magnetic door, it definitely adds a feeling of polish. I quite like the Intel Inside stickers though,…

Paul Campbell

Tue, 10 Jan 2017 17:22:40 +1300

I think that Wellington should install a bike lift up to Vic, that would make sense

Paul Campbell

Tue, 10 Jan 2017 17:21:06 +1300

Actually in Futian, I've seen only one rental spot, and it's new too, a bunch of orange bike docks and a rental screen, I see very few people riding them, the utility of just grabbing a bike off the street or being able to search for where the nearest one…

BenWilson

Tue, 10 Jan 2017 16:59:02 +1300

Heh...love it. We should have those, whether they're viable or not, just on account of the kookiness.

mark taslov

Tue, 10 Jan 2017 16:47:09 +1300

There is one sort of bike that is rented from a kiosk. That limits where you can bike to and from, it doesn’t seem very popular.

I think the novelty wore off a bit. The bikes were managed by different organizations under district government departments, which is a huge limitation.…

Paul Campbell

Tue, 10 Jan 2017 15:39:13 +1300

Oh, and Norway has the whole bikes vs. hills issue solved

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7j1PgmMbug8

Paul Campbell

Tue, 10 Jan 2017 14:21:51 +1300

Yes there are yellow bikes at Burning Man, most of them are (I think) bikes people have left in previous years painted yellow ... There aren't enough and some people seem to hoard them (lock them up or hide them) which does rather go against the whole yellow bike ethos.…

Glen Koorey

Tue, 10 Jan 2017 14:17:44 +1300

There is Nextbike in Auckland – those schemes in Shenzen seem a bit techier.

I'm curious as to how Nextbike works with the helmet laws in NZ – is there a helmet with the bike, or do riders just use their own, or just ride without a helmet?

Nextbike have…

Rich of Observationz

Tue, 10 Jan 2017 13:16:21 +1300

So apparently, and this is a true Burning Man rumour, Eric Schmidt donated 1000 yellow bikes for people to ride around at Burning Man (a big party thing in Nevada).

The monetisation was that each bike contained not only a GPS in the saddle, but also a micro-DNA tester that…

BenWilson

Tue, 10 Jan 2017 11:35:25 +1300

Classic. I love how it doesn't even appear to have an electric drive train. It's the magic solution to traffic, rather like how Uber has solved the commuter problem using cars, because Ubers turn up by digital magic.

Rich of Observationz

Tue, 10 Jan 2017 11:05:33 +1300

Obvious solution: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSZPNwZex9s

BenWilson

Tue, 10 Jan 2017 11:02:12 +1300

Environmentally those exact trips are not as good as a bus, but it's better than taxis and much better for the passengers

For sure. I'm more interested in whether it's a viable business model in Auckland, if for some percentage (call it x) of the extraordinarily cheap bike trips, there's…

Moz

Tue, 10 Jan 2017 09:52:21 +1300

how the bikes get distributed to where they are wanted

In Paris there are men with vans who spend their days lugging piles of bikes around. Environmentally those exact trips are not as good as a bus, but it's better than taxis and much better for the passengers. The scheme…

Rich of Observationz

Tue, 10 Jan 2017 08:57:39 +1300

The addition of gimmick features are often a good indicator of a quality drop

See also stickers (Intel Inside! NXP Inside! Thingawammy XP2900!) on generic Windows laptops – Apple go to the opposite extent by removing features that are actually useful, but it keeps the product elegant.

Russell Brown

Mon, 09 Jan 2017 20:24:29 +1300

Oh and I had intended to add a few more quick notes about all the bikes:

– no helmets

I wonder to what extent helmet laws make hire bike schemes more difficult where they apply.

Russell Brown

Mon, 09 Jan 2017 20:19:40 +1300

BTW a quick note about money 1 RMB == 1 yuan == 1 kwai – the distinction between the words is roughly RMB (Remimbi) is the name of the currency (like “sterling”), yuan is more like the name of the unit (like “dollar”), and kwai is what people use (like…

Paul Campbell

Mon, 09 Jan 2017 15:29:04 +1300

Oh and I had intended to add a few more quick notes about all the bikes:

– no helmets
– no lights
– bells (everyone rides on the footpath, ringing as they come up behind you)
– no "men's" bikes
– no gears
– the seats are adjustable if you…

Paul Campbell

Mon, 09 Jan 2017 15:23:03 +1300

well the bikes seem to be around work places during the day and where people live at night – that line up in the pic above was gone after work hours .... I think Mobike do move bikes around at night – the tangle at HQB market seems to go…

BenWilson

Mon, 09 Jan 2017 13:21:07 +1300

TBH, I think sprawl is less our issue than hills. But electric drive trains as a solution change the dynamic massively, since the bikes need to find their way to charging stations periodically.

One part I don't understand about this model, btw, is how the bikes get distributed to where…

Allan MacLachlan

Mon, 09 Jan 2017 13:05:42 +1300

There is Nextbike in Auckland – those schemes in Shenzen seem a bit techier.

I'm curious as to how Nextbike works with the helmet laws in NZ – is there a helmet with the bike, or do riders just use their own, or just ride without a helmet?

Public Address

Mon, 09 Jan 2017 13:05:42 +1300

Discussion from blog post.