Monday, July 04, 2011

"San Antonio B-cycle program fails miserably"

Oh, no. Trouble in cycling paradise.
The whole B-cycle system is flawed. The 30-minute time limit is way too short, and if they can’t even keep the kiosks working, I'd hate to actually test the condition of the bikes. My advice is to skip the whole system and rent from a bike shop like the Blue Star.
(from WOAI's CyberBob)

A few months ago I drew attention to the new bicycle sharing program called B-cycle and noted that it was the first of its kind in Texas. I would have thought that Austin would have beaten everyone to the whole bike-sharing thing. But I also said this in the comments: "It should be interesting to see what state the program is in a year from now." If CyberBob's experience is any indication, that state won't be anything to crow about.

3 comments:

mick said...

I tried a B-cycle once. The checkout procedure has waaay too many screens of text to read before you get the bike, so I skimmed it. I didn't catch on to the 30 minute time limit, kept the bike for a few hours and ended up getting charged almost $40. Would not use again. The bike itself was kind of cool - very sturdy with automatic gears and a light that's powered off the pedaling. Renting from Blue Star does seem like an all-around better idea...

Speaking of Austin, when I saw this comic I thought of you.

Albatross said...

Hilarious, Mick!

selinasss said...

Classic wannabe hipsters my boomer mother was able to rent her own bike pull it from the kiosk and ride off into the afternoon. Typical SA lame ass apathy to crap on new ideas. It is one of the first bike shares in the US and instead of being excited and proud of the little lame town ( of almost 1.5 million) that could? People bag on it hmmmp.... get a clue get informed and be excited for that fact that the fattest city in America is making great strides in not only public transit but also promoting hike bike trails and lanes at a feverish pace compared with years past.