Couldn't pick a better time of year to roll out a new bikeshare option
That being said, I think e-bikes are a great solution for KC. IMO the city is too hilly for bike share to be super appealing for the average person between river and plaza without something like this. Having ridden a high-end assisted road bike, they can be a lot of fun and very impressively take the sting out of a strenuous uphill ride.
Ebikes are awesome. Perfect for a hilly city like KC. I like how they are trying to keep the bikes parked at dedicated bike stations even though they are dockless.
They are live in time for First Friday! I truly had a great ride! Only gripe is how the seat adjustment doesn't hold very well so I had to pull over way too many times to raise and tighten the seat. Your first ride is free and if you top off with $25, you also get 2 additional rides for free (my 45 minute ride was $0).
As the weather improves, more bikes are out and more "hubs" for the e-bikes are live (including regular bike racks, not just bike share stations). First ride is free! http://ridekcbike.com/
The docked system will be rebranded "RideKC Bike" this year, too!
So why are there even hubs? Is this just where they are restarted after servicing? Would one be punished for ending their ride hooked to say a sign post or utility pole?
KCPowercat wrote: ↑Thu Mar 07, 2019 11:22 pm
So why are there even hubs? Is this just where they are restarted after servicing? Would one be punished for ending their ride hooked to say a sign post or utility pole?
It's about maintaining an orderly operation and being able to reliably find a bike. I suspect we'll see more bike racks added as a result of this approach.
You cannot check a bike back in until you lock it to a hub (which are all bike share stations or bike racks at this time).
I tried to check out ebikes several times today and none would work. Said the bike is unavailable at this time or something like that. The app should also support Google/Apple Pay as kind of a pain to enter CC info while standing at bikes.
The ability to drop ebikes anywhere is a very welcome addition. Just used that functionality last weekend and wouldn't have been able to use the ebike at all without it.
They're replacing sensors in almost all of the Drop bikes, in case any of you ran into a problem where the assist doesn't kick in when it should. Apparently it's never happened before at this scale, and the Chinese factory churning them out makes almost all of the electric bike share bikes in the world. Regardless, it's being addressed right now.
earthling wrote: ↑Sun Nov 17, 2019 11:57 am
Is that an indication that ebikes are getting higher ridership than pedal only bikes? Or a plan to evenly balance the type of bikes available?
It's an indication that we're moving off the b-cycle platform entirely. Existing pedal bikes won't be converted to electric.