Bike Share in St. Louis

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tlombard
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Bike Share in St. Louis

Post by tlombard »

I'm curious as to the thoughts of others who live in St. Louis what there thoughts are on Lime Bike being in St. Louis now. I know there is another company too but so far I've seen only one of the OGO bikes and tons of Lime Bikes.

What made me think of posing the question is that a couple of us were just walking across the street on a quick break and there was a bike parked right on the sidewalk. One of the people started complaining way too much about the bikes being left on sidewalks as they walked around it. Instead of walking around it, I simply picked it up and moved it two feet to the side so that it isn't on the sidewalk anymore. It wasn't that difficult. This person was more than capable of doing the same thing I did. I have seen some that were left in inconvenient spots for others but overall I think they are great and a benefit overall. I see people riding them all over the place in my area way more than I thought I would have.

I don't understand the need to complain about it. I have also heard that there are people all over social media complaining about them (I haven't seen it) and posting pictures of the bikes while complaining about having to walk around the same bike for a couple of days until somebody else uses it or the company picks it up. If I do happen to see somebody I know complain like that on social media my response is going to immediately be to ask them why they didn't just take the five seconds to move it out of their way the first day and point out that it takes them more time to take the picture and [expletive] about it on social media than it does to just move the bike aside.

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G. Keenan
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Re: Bike Share in St. Louis

Post by G. Keenan »

The sight of bikes makes people with car-based lifestyles very angry.

Freed Roger
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Re: Bike Share in St. Louis

Post by Freed Roger »

Seen a few near bus stops by my home (route-gap filler)
Saw several in Forest Park (primarily casual rec use)
G. Keenan wrote:The sight of bikes makes people with car-based lifestyles very angry.
Yeah- that attitude is out there. Especially in STL since it targets more densely urban areas...i.e. those blacks!!

I like the concept, but am skeptical how workable it will be on large scale in stL (sprawl and convoluted routes). - but if it fails - isn't that just the way capitalism goes? With this business, there isnt a big gash left behind environmentally/economically.

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wart57
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Re: Bike Share in St. Louis

Post by wart57 »

Freed Roger wrote:Seen a few near bus stops by my home (route-gap filler)
Saw several in Forest Park (primarily casual rec use)
G. Keenan wrote:The sight of bikes makes people with car-based lifestyles very angry.
Yeah- that attitude is out there. Especially in STL since it targets more densely urban areas...i.e. those blacks!!

I like the concept, but am skeptical how workable it will be on large scale in stL (sprawl and convoluted routes). - but if it fails - isn't that just the way capitalism goes? With this business, there isnt a big gash left behind environmentally/economically.
There have been a few news stories in Phx about the bikes being left all over the place...

https://www.abc15.com/news/region-north ... the-valley

tlombard
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Re: Bike Share in St. Louis

Post by tlombard »

I have been really surprised by how often I see them used. The Friday after they were dropped off downtown I saw the first people riding them in my neighborhood when I saw a couple riding towards Tower Grove Park on Kingshighway at Vandeventer and then another guy was about three minutes behind them. I see them being ridden all of the time in the park too. Every couple of days one shows up on my block and then is gone before long with somebody renting it.

I love the idea myself. As mentioned, if they don't turn a profit and they go away then nothing is really lost other than Lime Bike's investment but they can always just move the bikes to another city where they are used more and not lose their entire investment as far as that goes. And if it helps people get around better without adding more cars to the roads, I'm all for it.

Arthur Dent
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Re: Bike Share in St. Louis

Post by Arthur Dent »

wart57 wrote:There have been a few news stories in Phx about the bikes being left all over the place...

https://www.abc15.com/news/region-north ... the-valley
Though they're nothing compared to the dockless cars left all over the place.

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Radbird
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Re: Bike Share in St. Louis

Post by Radbird »

Freed Roger wrote:I like the concept, but am skeptical how workable it will be on large scale in stL (sprawl and convoluted routes).
You haven’t seen convoluted routes until you’ve been to Boston.

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