OT: BABS

[John Murphy]

$49 annual membership promo

https://www.bayareabikeshare.com/signup/sanpell

[ammon]

That's a discount price? For a network with a handful of bike stations and no plans for peninsula expansion? Baby steps I guess, and not their fault the bay area has resisted necessary population density for decades...

For comparison, 29€ in Pairs gets you an immediate year membership (no 1-week wait for a "key" to be mailed) and a far better network: 1,800 docks with 23,600 bikes.

[Peter Colijn]

But BABS will also throw in the 'service' of yelling at you when you use their bikes. Does vélib do that?

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[Darrin Ward]

heh can we just get the babs maintenance guy/girl to stop parking the babs truck in the bike lane?  its irritating as much as the other double parking.

[Ken MacInnis]

Ecobici in the DF is similarly cheap and awesome coverage. Such a good biking city as well.

I'd settle for a BABS station anywhere outside downtown. Could start with every other stop on the MUNI trains.

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[John Murphy]

Has anyone here used the San Mateo system - they are using "Social Bikes" or something similar, the bikes have GPS and you don't have to drop them off at a dock station. Pluses and minuses, I guess, the biggest plus is that I believe it's cheaper to roll the system out.

I'm going to go talk to someone down there and see if it might be feasible for Santa Rosa around the train station. Of course the problem there is that the connectivity from the train station and downtown via bike is miserable, one time I just could not figure out how to do it so I got off my bike and walked it through the indoor Mall that they built under US-101, as if US-101 wasn't a big enough separation to begin with.

J

[Kurt Wallace Martin]

On Babs - I’m skeptical about their rollout plans but it will include vast new areas of SF as well as San Jose, etc. New in the mix is the pilot of 50 bikes in San Mateo (which we’re operating to help get bike share on the peninsula). Next up in Palo Alto, which should be making a big decision by end of September or so. They would likely go live with a sizable system in 2017. 

[ammon]

The only yelling I heard was bemused encouragement from passers by at the sight of someone on a Velib decked in full sf2g kit with areo helmet. Although Velib is similarly designed for short trips, they encourage earning bonus time for longer rides:

Stations marked as “Bonus V+” are there to reward brave users that make it to the highest-up Vélib stations. If you pick up a bike from a “standard” station and return it to a “Bonus V+” station, you are credited time! There are 100 Bonus V+ stations that reward your efforts with 15 extra free minutes.

We want to ensure your efforts are always rewarded! As such, there is no limit to the number of Bonus V+ minutes you can earn.  [link]

So last week I cashed in the 3 hours of bonus time I had leftover from a month of commuting and went on a 4 hour country ride from the farthest west dock, costing a whole 1€ for the overage. I really enjoyed the whole Velib experience.

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[Kurt Wallace Martin]

Right on, Ammon!

[Christine Windsor]

Does this mean I get to go to Paris (mostly with my husband)?

Right on, Ammon!

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[Peter Colijn]

That is awesome! BABS needs to learn from these folks.

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[R Samuel Klatchko]

Even more impressive is Vienna, there's a 1€ registration fee and as far as I can tell, it has no expiration.

[Guilherme Germoglio]

In Zurich, the bike sharing is free (you only need to deposit CHF 20 that will be returned to you whenever you return the bike). 

[Faye]

For anyone who does not follow Ammon on Strava, his Vélib riding was amazing.  I have never seen anyone so maximize use of vélib not maximize pastry, ice cream, bread, hot chocolate, etc... consumption!  Ammon's strava could serve as a guide to the best culinary delights in Paris, and he even managed to maximize his trips to the best bakery for baguettes despite their having been closed for vacation during a good chunk of his stay.  Major kudos and appreciation for what he did to my strava feed :)

F

[Patrick Kitto]

Not only is it e euro, you 'register' at a kiosk with your cc, are approved immediately, and get 60m free cycling. 

We rode around all day in 60m chunks. Ride wherever/however you like for 45m. Open up the ap, find the nearest dock (rarely more than 5 blocks away as long as you are. Generally in the city center) lock it up, cruise the neighborhood for 15m. Grab the next bike and keep on pedaling. 

My only 'complaint' was that I had to catch a 8m bus ride to get to the nearest dock from my sisters house. One time, I had to wait a whole 11m for the bus to show up. 

[Matthew Hiller]

Huh. With Citi Bike, if you swipe the card that you used to purchase your membership, you can check out a bike even if your key fob is elsewhere, damaged, on its way to you, etc. I'm surprised BABS doesn't work the same way.