Bike Share
Re: Bike Share
Nuts that there's no network of downtown bike lanes, though, right where bike share could most replace cars for short trips.
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- Wells Fargo Center
- Posts: 1161
- Joined: November 12th, 2015, 11:35 am
- Location: Minneapolis
Re: Bike Share
I don't mean to belittle the work of activists like yourself. But it's only the truth that St. Paul is far, far, behind its neighbor. It is a tough place to bicycle, and that's one reason why Nice Ride has struggled there.Cleveland is the exception on bike projects in St. Paul, not the norm, and if you think that's the only bike lane fight that has happened you haven't been paying attention. The city has built or is in the process of building a dozen miles of new trails around the city, including high-quality protected bikeways on Wheelock Pkwy, Johnson Pkwy, Como Ave, and Plato Blvd. It has also added more than 20 miles of generally high-quality bike lanes since 2015, in the process removing more parking spaces than almost any other city in the country (including Minneapolis). The city today has its most bike-friendly mayor ever, with a high-ranking staff person making new and better bike infrastructure a priority, and a stable majority on the City Council that hasn't killed or watered down a bike lane project since the Bicycle Plan was passed. The city is studying how to do a short-term implementation of its downtown bikeway plan in the next few years. And for the first time, there is a dedicated pot of money to do proactive bicycle improvement projects, instead of piggybacking on street maintenance projects or seeking federal grants.***
Is progress slow compared to Minneapolis? Sure. But Minneapolis has a budget that is more than $1 billion larger (almost 2.5x the size of St. Paul's!) and has a more robust street grid--making bike boulevards easy--and arterial streets that are 14-20 feet wider. Building bikeways in St. Paul is hard. That might not be easy to see from all the way in Philadelphia, but real progress is happening, and attitudes like this don't help.
There are some good geographical excuses, like the hills (which really ought to suggest that Nice Rides' new eBikes would be welcome). There are some good economic-political excuses, like the tax base. But St. Paul also throws hundreds of thousands of dollars at a crumbling downtown parking ramp, and is diverting multiple millions of dollars to fix a highway ahead of schedule. Despite the political progress that has been made, the city is still putting its scarce resources overwhelmingly towards mass automobility. I don't mean to diminish the progress the city has made, but to point out that there is a long way to go, and that it is extremely frustrating to me that St. Paul refuses to learn lessons from its neighboring city.
Re: Bike Share
Injuries Force Lyft to Hit the Brakes on Its E-Bike Ambitions
So it was a real disappointment late Sunday when the ride-hail company announced it would remove all of its electric bicycles—at least for the time being—due to reports of injury. “After a small number of reports and out of an abundance of caution, we are proactively pausing our electric bikes from service,” Lyft spokesperson Julie Wood said in a statement. Safety always comes first.” Since Sunday, a number of riders have told reporters that unexpectedly responsive front brakes, made by the Japanese cycling component manufacturer Shimano, had thrown them off the electric bicycles. One rider said he had broken his hip.
Re: Bike Share
Injuries Force Lyft to Hit the Brakes on Its E-Bike Ambitions
So it was a real disappointment late Sunday when the ride-hail company announced it would remove all of its electric bicycles—at least for the time being—due to reports of injury. “After a small number of reports and out of an abundance of caution, we are proactively pausing our electric bikes from service,” Lyft spokesperson Julie Wood said in a statement. Safety always comes first.” Since Sunday, a number of riders have told reporters that unexpectedly responsive front brakes, made by the Japanese cycling component manufacturer Shimano, had thrown them off the electric bicycles. One rider said he had broken his hip.
This is really disappointing. I rode one of the new NicrRide E-bikes at the demo at the convention center a few weeks ago. These are going to be a game changer for bike share in the city. I guess I'll wait to sign up for the annual plan until this gets figured out.
Re: Bike Share
I hope the figure it out quickly. Rode an e-bike in San Diego last week and it was great.
Re: Bike Share
I know the weather delayed their launch, but it sure seems like the dockless bikes are rolling out awfully slow.
Re: Bike Share
Nice Ride emailed out an update today.
Their dockless map looks pretty terrible if you live in South Mpls- https://www.niceridemn.com/blog/dockless-system-updateDear John,
We wanted to give you an update on our system this riding season. We have not yet been able to meet our goals of a dockless hub expansion or an ebike pilot this spring. We are working hard to get back on track and apologize for this inconvenience.
To thank you for your patience, we have extended your membership 45 days. Your membership is now valid until 05/25/2020.
Read on for more detailed updates. Thanks for being a member.
Update on the Dockless System
Our goal in launching dockless bikes is to create a convenient, orderly system that complements our classic fleet. We currently have approval for 400+ new hubs spread across all Minneapolis communities. A map of the planned locations appears below. As of June 10th, 97 dockless hubs are currently on the street with an additional 277 on the University of Minnesota campus. We’re working hard to complete the remaining installations as soon as possible. We have also expanded our operations team to help increase the pace of installation.
UPDATE ON EBIKES
The operator of Nice Ride, Lyft, has paused its ebike program in three other bikeshare systems across the country. This has delayed the launch of ebikes here in Minneapolis. We are still working closely with all of our partners to bring ebikes to the system and will provide an update when we have more to share.
Re: Bike Share
It looks like they identified an area from Lowry to Lake and concentrated their hub planning on that. In fact, considering the number on that map for north of Lowry (0), the 22 hubs planned south of Lake are pretty good.
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- Union Depot
- Posts: 313
- Joined: June 17th, 2014, 7:13 am
- Location: Payne-Phalen, St. Paul
Re: Bike Share
It looks even worse if you live in St. Paul.Their dockless map looks pretty terrible if you live in South Mpls- https://www.niceridemn.com/blog/dockless-system-update
Re: Bike Share
It looks even worse if you live in St. Paul.Their dockless map looks pretty terrible if you live in South Mpls- https://www.niceridemn.com/blog/dockless-system-update
Re: Bike Share
Great. So much for getting sedentary people to be active - just give them a motor instead. They'll need to change their branding and advertising.
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- Metrodome
- Posts: 88
- Joined: April 2nd, 2019, 8:54 am
Re: Bike Share
As a person in pretty good shape who runs and bikes regularly, this is great news to me. After riding electric assisted bikes in Seattle I found them to be much better than the electric scooters. My parents, who never ride the scooters anywhere, were very comfortable riding the bikes. The larger tires as opposed to scooters make it a much more comfortable and safe ride for older people and they lack some of the negative stigma attached to the scooters. For those who are concerned about getting sedentary people active, these still require effort and you still get moderate exercise. I think it will be a great way to get people who would never think of biking or using scooters out of their cars to try these out, and may get a little exercise in the process.
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- Wells Fargo Center
- Posts: 1025
- Joined: February 20th, 2015, 12:38 pm
Re: Bike Share
Can't expect bikes to become a widely accepted part of a multi-modal solution if you gatekeep their access to the most physically fit and able bodied riders...
Re: Bike Share
Saw one on the map (desktop, they aren't showing on the app for me), so went down to try it. With the important caveat that it was my first time on an e-bike, I did not like it. Okay, I liked going up hill on it, but I didn't like the ride. It's not really "pedal assist." It's "pedal throttle." If you pedal, it will speed you up to whatever the speed is for that gear and keep you there. You have to keep pedalling, but it isn't really doing anything as there's essentially no resistance.
Which brings me to the gears, which are really speed settings. Shifting up doesn't make you work any harder while the throttle is engaged, but it does make it hard to pedal for the bit right before it kicks in, so if you didn't downshift, starting is hard for the first rotation, but then the throttle kicks in and you're again not doing anything.
It was also weird trying to go slow across the Stone Arch Bridge. Cruising without pedaling feels strange and I'm fairly certain it throttles you back in the lower gears, so I guess you're supposed to be constantly shifting up and down, rather than able to just cruise without turning the pedals or something.
Topped out at 17 mph on the 3rd Street Bridge and discovered they do mean topped out. Pedaling more did nothing, which was kind of annoying.
Anyway, seems like the whole thing would work better with a throttle.
Which brings me to the gears, which are really speed settings. Shifting up doesn't make you work any harder while the throttle is engaged, but it does make it hard to pedal for the bit right before it kicks in, so if you didn't downshift, starting is hard for the first rotation, but then the throttle kicks in and you're again not doing anything.
It was also weird trying to go slow across the Stone Arch Bridge. Cruising without pedaling feels strange and I'm fairly certain it throttles you back in the lower gears, so I guess you're supposed to be constantly shifting up and down, rather than able to just cruise without turning the pedals or something.
Topped out at 17 mph on the 3rd Street Bridge and discovered they do mean topped out. Pedaling more did nothing, which was kind of annoying.
Anyway, seems like the whole thing would work better with a throttle.
Re: Bike Share
"most physically fit"? Commuting on a current NiceRide bike isn't exactly the Tour de France.Can't expect bikes to become a widely accepted part of a multi-modal solution if you gatekeep their access to the most physically fit and able bodied riders...
Re: Bike Share
"most physically fit"? Commuting on a current NiceRide bike isn't exactly the Tour de France.Can't expect bikes to become a widely accepted part of a multi-modal solution if you gatekeep their access to the most physically fit and able bodied riders...
I think you're underestimating how big of a win this will be as they roll out tons of ebike. You'll be able to get to where you're going without showing up all sewaty. It maker longer trips faster. The more users NiceRide has the more bikes they'll be able to put into the system.
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- Wells Fargo Center
- Posts: 1025
- Joined: February 20th, 2015, 12:38 pm
Re: Bike Share
I originally purchased my e-bike when the only viable bike route for my daily commute was up through Theodore Worth. There's zero chance I would have done that more than once without it.
But that's an extreme case. An aging population would be more inclined to bike (and not join the merry "why am I paying for this I can't use it" chorus) if they're able to travel further distances without added bodily strain.
Ultimately it comes down to "Don't like it? Don't use it", but certainly acting like someone is lazy for using an e-bike isn't a take many people are going to appreciate outside of the racing crowd.
But that's an extreme case. An aging population would be more inclined to bike (and not join the merry "why am I paying for this I can't use it" chorus) if they're able to travel further distances without added bodily strain.
Ultimately it comes down to "Don't like it? Don't use it", but certainly acting like someone is lazy for using an e-bike isn't a take many people are going to appreciate outside of the racing crowd.
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- Wells Fargo Center
- Posts: 1717
- Joined: March 30th, 2016, 1:26 pm
Re: Bike Share
My e-bike makes riding around hilly West Bloomington so much easier. You know those really hot days where just standing outside makes you sweat? Well with my e-bike I can ride around and still not be drenched in sweat.
Re: Bike Share
You know I wonder assuming all of them where dockless, how far out some the e-bikes will end up at end of each day, given how I've seen several different brands/types around hopkins and only one of which has a hub nearby.
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