They’re here.
Just one day after the unexpected announcement that ofo had introduced dockless bikeshare to Griffith Park, came the equally unexpected announcement that LimeBike had established a beachfront in Councilmember Joe Buscaino’s 15th District.
According to a press release, LimeBike has partnered with Buscaino for a three-month pilot program, calling it the first time a dockless bikeshare company has operated in any of America’s five biggest markets.
Or maybe the second, since it comes a day after ofo’s landing in the City of Angels.
The bikes cost $1 for 30 minutes, or 50 cents for students; entering the code LIMELA after downloading the iOS or Android app will get you 25 free rides until November 20th. The bikes can be picked up anywhere one is available, and left anywhere once you’re finished.
Low income residents can pay just $5 a month for up to 100 rides, with an option for cash rather than credit card.
Meanwhile, CiclaValley searches for, and finds, the ofo outposts in Griffith Park — and nearby, on someone’s lawn.
And the Guardian looks at the epic battle being pitched behind the scenes between Silicon Valley-backed bikeshares like LimeBike, and their Chinese competitors, including ofo.
Let’s hope Angelenos take better care of the bikes than people have in other cities; bikes abandoned in creeks and trees could mean the end of what promises to be a very useful program that could benefit a lot of people.
And help make bicycling more accessible to everyone.
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Bike SGV posts proof that the South Pasadena extension of the Arroyo Seco bike and pedestrian path is on its way.
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Over 500 Phoenix-area cyclists turned out to honor former SoCal resident and Big Orange cyclist Rob Dollar, who was killed by a drunk and stoned teenage driver last week.
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Sad news, as promising 20-year old Belgian cyclist Bjarne Vanacker was found dead after apparently passing away in his sleep from unknown causes.
Alberto Contador looks at the changes in pro cycling over his career as he prepares to retire, including climbing 30% grades and the advent of motor doping.
Bicycling talks with SoCal’s own Coryn Rivera, saying she has the potential to become America’s best ever bike racer. Which would mean surpassing a certain Texan, who once was great but officially isn’t anymore.
Cycling News talks with former great American hope Andrew Talansky as he transitions to tri.
And probably not the best idea to attack the members of another cycling team, even if you do blame their team car for your crash.
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Local
Paranoid much? A dermatologist and Mar Vista Community Council member says the Venice Blvd Great Streets project is just a secret attempt to turn Mar Vista into another Wilshire Blvd.
A Medium post says the effort to recall Councilmember Mike Bonin is really an Alt-Right campaign in disguise, and calls recall leader Alexis Edelstein a flesh and blood version of a Russian Facebook bot.
The LACBC’s Operation Firefly light distribution campaign kicks off tonight in Van Nuys.
Claremont police are investigating a break-in at the Jax Bicycle Shop last week.
Long Beach will consider a road diet and parking protected bike lanes on a half-mile stretch of Alamitos Ave. Unlike Los Angeles, where road diets are in danger of becoming an endangered species.
State
The Voice of San Diego looks at how that city screwed up bikesharing.
San Francisco will vote on a proposal to remove parking spaces on 17th Street to install one-way protected bike lanes.
Sacramento State University campus police busted a pair of suspected serial bike thieves.
The FBI is offering a $10,000 reward for the arrest of a Davis-area woman who apparently fled to Mexico after being convicted of vehicular manslaughter for a 2014 hit-and-run that killed a bike rider.
National
Streetsblog says distracted walking is a distraction from the real problem of distracted driving.
A crowdfunding campaign is offering a chance to buy a new $2,000 electric foldie for just $499. Unless you’d rather travel to Europe to buy a new BMW ebike for over six times as much.
A Portland letter writer complains about a red light-running, dog pulling bike rider who managed to flip him off anyway.
A Dallas writer says riding on carfree streets was great, unless you were in one.
A kindhearted Wisconsin woman gave her own three-wheeled adult bike to an 80-year old woman after hers was stolen in a burglary.
A Brooklyn writer says ebikes could be the future of transportation, but no one wants to let them on the road.
A HuffPo writer calls protected bike lane networks, like the one in Brooklyn, a breakthrough to make bicycling easy for almost everyone. Meanwhile, CityLab says European cities like Paris, Madrid and Lisbon have figured out how to live with ebikes, so why can’t New York?
A New Yorker movingly remembers a friend killed in last week’s bike path terrorist attack.
No surprise here, as Juli Briskman was fired from her job with a Virginia government contractor after they learned she was the bike rider who flipped off the president last week. Which doesn’t make it right. Thanks to David Drexler for the heads-up.
A Philadelphia writer learns how to ride a bike as an adult.
Buy a special North Carolina license plate, and help give a kid a new bike helmet. Although giving the kid a safer place to ride his bike would probably help a lot more.
Atlanta is attempting to become a top ten bicycling city, which would mean jumping 33 spots in Bicycling’s latest rankings.
Miami police are looking for a cape-wearing, bike-riding armed robber who shot his victim in the face.
A Florida paper examines the benefits of bike paths in terms of health, financial investment and crime, noting that rails-to-trails conversions generally have lower crime rates than the abandoned railways they replaced.
International
An Argentine city is mourning the deaths of five residents killed in the New York bike path terrorist attack, while the president of Argentina placed flowers at the site of the attack.
Toronto’s bike-riding parking cop is still off the job, and off Twitter, giving drivers a chance to park in the bike lanes again.
Montreal elects a new bike-friendly mayor, the first woman to lead the city.
A British dog walker uses his cam to record what he considers dangerous, speeding cyclists riding illegally through a park. Although they appear to be riding safely, slowly and considerately, even if they’re not supposed to be there.
An Australian website asks if Adelaide’s future as a bike-friendly city is already in its past.
Finally…
A cycling kit for bike-riding Beyoncé fans. Riding backwards while pedaling forwards.
And it might surprise many women to learn that riding a bicycle 75 miles is harder than childbirth.
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On a personal note, my wife will be having major surgery this week to correct a condition that has the potential to be life-threatening.
I’ll do my best to keep up with this site every day, but please accept my apologies in advance if I miss a day or two, or have to settle for a shortened post.
And if anyone would like to submit a guest post, now would be a great time to do it.
Hope things go well with your wife. Don’t worry about missing blog days. We will be waiting for your return when you can.
Thanks David, I appreciate that!
Western Ave Great Streets appears to catch a 2nd breath after mural paintings & street clean up last year. The group met again last month to get ideas for sprucing up Western between Melrose & 3rd. And they’re meeting Wednesday 11/8 in front of the post office @Western & 3rd 5-8pm to let us know what improvements might be launched.
LimeBike in the harbor area has a greater potential than the useless Metro Bike share for the Port of LA, which hugs the coast in a linear fashion with maybe a couple of stations more than half a mile from the water. The issue with CD 15’s odd lines is jurisdictional – who knows if they are in the City of Los Angeles, unincorporated County area (like Harbor-UCLA hospital or San Pedro Hospital) or an independent city like Carson or Lomita?
Whats the difference between Metros & Lime? Just curious. I presume if they’re in good locations – they’ll get used.
Metro bikes are found and docked at specific locations, while LimeBike is dockless. You use the LimeBike app to find and pay for a bike, then leave it anywhere when you’re finished — though hopefully, somewhere appropriate.
Another difference is price. Metro Bike Share is free for the first half hour with a membership and $1.75 per half hour afterwards, or $3.50 per half hour without a membership. LimeBike is a flat $1 per half hour, no membership required.
Metro’s costs will have to come down if they want to survive in the new dockless world.
Sending positive thoughts and energy your wife’s way for a successful surgery and healthy recovery. Don’t worry about us, we appreciate all you do and will be here when you return.
Thank you for the good thoughts!
The indiegogo campaign for a folding small wheeled electric has seen price nearly double and a long wait.
Small wheeled bikes should be tried before being bought, the wheels are not “composite spoked” but spokeless, this is a bike needing to be reviewed after being pedaled by many not bought far enough in advance to grow a person from egg to delivery.
The nyc essay is a deepish dive, with those long day early adopting riders facing incredible sanctions from confiscation deserving intervention somehow- UPS to rescue maybe.
You link to Alan Levy, the paris based occasional san diego writer, who argues density is super important for bike share, that having vast voids is worth it in coverage.
He expresses opinion mainly, but elsewhere noted 8 mph speeds for heavy use transit routes. Even in europe that is half electric bikings productivity. Such madness is where bike share can get greatest traction. Head to head routing. Get on a crowded bus or your own two wheels. At such slow speeds buses cost much more.
To bike is a express service, no other user slows you down. The sharing is serial, and the decongesting catalytic, a way of tuning demand to supply.
Buses cost too much to be used so slowly. Even 12 mph is obscene. It simply means full bussloads wait for others not like them. That chaos robs productivity. Till ai helps, bikes win, so san diego can NOt afford to optimise use. They engineer unpopularity, that is transit, the evil art of it.
A new dockless bike share went in here in Munich a few months ago. The city was littered with them. There don’t seem to be as many around these days. But then the weather on Monday morning was 38 F with light rain when I pedaled to my hearing therapy so.. They may have collected some to store for the winter or they are used more where I don’t ride.
E-bikes. Could be one in my future. However in my apartment there is at least one in use on a daily basis. I see plenty of them around town. My favorite bike store is at least 1/4 e-bikes in the adult section. Besides being range extenders they are activity extenders.
No you don’t need to be uber fit to ride. One local guy has a physical handicap. Doesn’t use an e-bike but has a little cup near the drop outs on the front forks with a pair of clips on the handle bar. The set up allows him to ride and he walks away using his crutches carried on the bike. One neighbor is missing a leg right up to the hip and rides.