urbanMSP

Maybe this is an aside, but as a former resident who returns sometimes I find that the GoTo Cards are pretty useless except as monthly passes. There is no benefit to using the GoTo pass (discount wise) as many of the other passes (day pass, weekly pass, weekend pass) are not available, stored value is not cheaper than cash, and adding value can often take an entire day to register.

I am aware that Uber sells gift cards through a number of retailers which has helped the un-banked access their services and seems like an excellent model that Lime and other shared mobility options should offer as well.

It is a bummer how Metro Transit removed the 10% discount with Go-To last year Being an out-of-towner makes transit cards less useful. I have a collections of them from cities I'll probably never go to again.

Hour Car and Nice Ride aren't using the Metro Transit card balance to pay for the service (though that would be cool!). They're just using the card for its unique RFID, so you have one card to tap for all transit, instead of: 1 Metro card, 1 Nice Ride card, 1 Hour Car card, 1 Lime card, 1 Uber card, 1 Bird card, etc. You still end up paying the companies directly. Like I said, the card tech already exists and is being used in Minneapolis. Maybe we could teach these Silicon Valley startups a thing or two?

Maybe this is an aside, but as a former resident who returns sometimes I find that the GoTo Cards are pretty useless except as monthly passes. There is no benefit to using the GoTo pass (discount wise) as many of the other passes (day pass, weekly pass, weekend pass) are not available, stored value is not cheaper than cash, and adding value can often take an entire day to register.

There is a weekly pass available on the GoTo card ($24 for a week at the $2.50 fare) along with a 10-ride pass for $20.50 that's a decent value if trips aren't frequent enough for a pass but the trips are often during rush hour, express buses, or the Northstar (it registers as a $2.50 fare.) That said, removing the 10% bonus entirely definitely removed an incentive for the GoTo card.

The main reason I use it is because it's easier than dealing with the app, and I don't often have exact change on me and don't want to have to wait for the machine to load so I can pay a fare at the machine. The GoTo card is truly a tap-and-go experience (and, if you're on auto-refill, you don't even have to think about refilling it.)

In a dream world, I'd like to see the GoTo card be a conduit for fare capping (so once you've hit two rides, the rest of the trips for the day are free, and once you've spent enough for the monthly pass you get the monthly pass for the rest of the 31-day span for free.)

Credit/debit card manufacturers are able to add RFID chips in cards. They tried 10, or so, years a go but it never caught on. In the UK and Europe, it did take off and so using contactless payments is quite common. Transport For London now allows users to use their credit cards to pay for tube and bus fares instead of loading an Oyster card. It's a really slick system that would make the most sense here.

Chicago's Ventra card is similar, where you can use your bus card as a re-loadable debit card.

If these rental scooters/bikes/whatever are going to become permanent fixtures, I would strongly encourage the city to require they work with the existing Go-To transit cards. The new Nice Ride dockless bikes and Hour Car already do. After registering, you just tap and go.

Letting these companies effectively privatize last-mile public transportation, and requiring you to run their proprietary (GPS-tracking) apps in order to use the service, is not being a good citizen. Nice Ride doesn't require an app; they work with the Metro Transit RFID Go-To cards. So these other services should be regulated to do likewise. It's not a technology limitation issue, obviously.

If we're going to give up sidewalk space to these corporations, let's make sure the service is as accessible as possible by making them easy to use by everyone.

It's not a Go-To card, but Lime does offer people on any public assistance program the ability to purchase 100 rides for $5. That's a pretty good deal.

Very interesting about Lime's Access program! I'm glad they're trying. But it's frustrating that only EBT (food assistance) citizens are allowed to use SMS to unlock bikes. For those of us not on EBT, you may only use Lime's smartphone app. They must make a lot of $$$ selling the data they collect from our smartphones, if they're not willing to let everybody use SMS. Especially when they've already built and maintain their SMS system, and it costs only fractions of a penny to consume/send SMS's.

Very interesting about Lime's Access program! I'm glad they're trying. But it's frustrating that only EBT (food assistance) citizens are allowed to use SMS to unlock bikes. For those of us not on EBT, you may only use Lime's smartphone app. They must make a lot of $$$ selling the data they collect from our smartphones, if they're not willing to let everybody use SMS. Especially when they've already built and maintain their SMS system, and it costs only fractions of a penny to consume/send SMS's.

Yes, they want ALL THE INFORMATIONS. Offered me a discount for giving them my email today. Jeez, you have my phone number, why do you need my email.

If you run into your (or a friend or family member’s) abode for a minute while the clock’s ticking, they are tracking your pathways. Probably building a map of the interiors of buildings, in addition to seeing where you shop, eat, drink, etc.

Big data. They eat it up.

Very interesting about Lime's Access program! I'm glad they're trying. But it's frustrating that only EBT (food assistance) citizens are allowed to use SMS to unlock bikes. For those of us not on EBT, you may only use Lime's smartphone app. They must make a lot of $$$ selling the data they collect from our smartphones, if they're not willing to let everybody use SMS. Especially when they've already built and maintain their SMS system, and it costs only fractions of a penny to consume/send SMS's.

Pretty sure it has nothing to do with buying and selling personal data (which is generally a over-hyped claim in the first place). SMS has a fixed cost and when there is a cheaper, more user friendly version available it makes sense that they'd restrict usage of the platform that costs money.

Additionally, their website states anyone receiving a federal or state assistance program can sign up.

I'm pretty sure increasing their costs per trip by $0.0005 is not of concern to them; they are giving out huge promotional discounts left and right. It's not as if many users will use SMS (which they already support), and for those who do, that's only 1/5,000th of their average trip revenue.

It seems to me Lime might make more money off selling data, compared to the 1/20th of a penny they save by disabling SMS for "rich" people.

I really hope that lime decides to place more scooters in North Minneapolis.


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I wish that Bird and now lime bike would place some of the scooters at the light rail stations in the morning.


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I checked the Lime app this morning and it seems that nearly all the scooters were redistributed to downtown.

I like the Lime scooters more than the Birds. They feel more stable and they have an actual speedometer, though they accelerate slower.

However, Bird is advantageous in that it lets you lock the scooter for a layover and then continue your trip. That way if I stop into a gas station for a few minutes to buy a sandwich on the way to work, I don’t have to worry about someone getting the scooter before I get back to it.

I saw a Lime last night. Riding down the sidewalk.

Maybe they can add some software which will automatically steer them down the sidewalk at 15 MPH without hitting anybody. That would truly be progress!

A CRIME FOR THE AGES

Sidewalk bicycles (and now scooters) are actually a big problem downtown. GET OFF THE SIDEWALK.

They get people out the damn skyways ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Saint Louis Park has a mobility survey about the potential of bike and scooter sharing in the city.

https://www.stlouispark.org/how-do-i/le ... s-scooters

Go take it!

Bird will let you report bad parking? Nice. If this gets people to park scooters better, where reports of bad parking jobs cause your rates to go up for each ride after a reported bad ride I can see it making a big difference.

https://mashable.com/article/bird-scoot ... d-parking/

I've done the parking photo rating thing on Lime, but didn't know it worked for Bird. I only did the rating once out of curiosity, but I would not do it again without some sort of incentive... What, do our techbro neoliberal overlords expect me to do their QA work for free?

One other thing I (briefly) noticed in the Lime app was the ability to request a scooter dropoff at your address in the morning. That would be cool for taking it to the train rather than wait for a low-frequency crosstown bus. I haven't seen that option recently.

Finally, what are their plans for winter? I still see the scooters around, but it seems like there's less volume now with the cold weather compared to the big surge in scooters seen late September through late October.