Melbourne city bike share

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Mulger bill
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Re: Melbourne city bike share

Postby Mulger bill » Wed Jun 02, 2010 8:38 pm

Definitely no lightweight Chill.

Box section step thru frames and a dual crown fork. I'd say they're pretty tough in the frame but as always with bikes parked in vandal riddled Melb, the wheels will be the weak spot.
!! BAN ME NOW FOR SWEARING !!, I really hope I'm wrong.
...whatever the road rules, self-preservation is the absolute priority for a cyclist when mixing it with motorised traffic.
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chill
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Re: Melbourne city bike share

Postby chill » Wed Jun 02, 2010 8:42 pm

Me too, I hope they don't get trashed.

The Vélib in Paris is pretty popular and seems to work well. However even there they have constant repairs done and I think there's even a barge that doubles as the repair center.

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Re: Melbourne city bike share

Postby crog » Wed Jun 02, 2010 9:36 pm

Destined to fail (another MYKi)

Expensive, helmets required & will be vandalised

My thoughts, has anyone ridden one??
Image

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Mulger bill
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Re: Melbourne city bike share

Postby Mulger bill » Wed Jun 02, 2010 9:45 pm

Wot? And leave me CF Cannondale in its place? :shock:

The member who comes back with "Sounds like a fair swap" gets a 24hr holiday :P

Naah, no CC and the balance in me debit card is too low for the bond for a once off. If I thought I'd use one regularly I'd spring for the $50 annual fee, maybe if they put a rank near work...
Methinks making them Myki compatible would be a brilliant idea, make that particular elephant a little less white...

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Last edited by Mulger bill on Wed Jun 02, 2010 9:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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...whatever the road rules, self-preservation is the absolute priority for a cyclist when mixing it with motorised traffic.
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Re: Melbourne city bike share

Postby Missy24 » Wed Jun 02, 2010 9:51 pm

Mulger bill wrote:Wot? And leave me CF Cannondale in its place? :shock:
Yep sounds like a fair swap... and its lower spec than mine... it also needs more white :twisted:

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Mulger bill
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Re: Melbourne city bike share

Postby Mulger bill » Wed Jun 02, 2010 9:52 pm

No soup for you trollette :P
...whatever the road rules, self-preservation is the absolute priority for a cyclist when mixing it with motorised traffic.
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Re: Melbourne city bike share

Postby Missy24 » Wed Jun 02, 2010 9:55 pm

Mulger bill wrote:No soup for you trollette :P
Its okay I had pasta for dinner on Lygon, like 600 calories... I'd been saving my calories all day for that!

Melbourne's bike share... great idea, dumb looking bikes, heavy as !! BAN ME NOW FOR SWEARING !!... but I'm cool with that

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Re: Melbourne city bike share

Postby Baldy » Wed Jun 02, 2010 11:41 pm

The cynic in me agrees that they are going to be vandalized and the helmet thing is a deal breaker for some but I think it has some legs....small legs...

I think theres a group that fits this sort of thing.

They dont clean their bike, ever.
They have no interest in learning how to maintain a bike, at all.
They refuse to store the bike under cover and it rusts to within an inch of its life.
They think $500 is a lot for a bike but will pay $20 to have a flat fixed.
They pretty much buy a bike, ride it until it stops working then chuck it round the side of the house to rust. Buy new bike 3months later...rinse repeat...

I dont mean to scoff at these people, as crazy as it seems to me that people bring flat tires into the shop to be fixed... they are getting what they want out of it and thats all that matters.

Never have to clean it, they allways work, tires pumped up, brakes maintained etc... Thats going to be attractive to a lot of people, maybe more so those on a regular commute or timetable.

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Re: Melbourne city bike share

Postby gorilla monsoon » Thu Jun 03, 2010 12:01 pm

You charge $20 to fix a flat? A bit dear don't you reckon? My LBS bloke only charges me $12.50. :D
Not my circus, not my monkeys

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Re: Melbourne city bike share

Postby human909 » Thu Jun 03, 2010 12:10 pm

Baldy wrote:They dont clean their bike, ever.
Hey I don't 'clean' my bike! :D Most of the bikes in Amsterdam don't get much cleaning either! Nor are most left under cover. I always thought a clean bike was more about showing off than getting from A to B.

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Re: Melbourne city bike share

Postby sogood » Thu Jun 03, 2010 12:10 pm

rustguard wrote:sorry the link sent me to 'Gaza flotilla violence night vision'
there was no bike, I'm assuming that is not the right article?
Oops, sorry about the the wrong link. :oops: :oops: :oops:

Here's the correct page.
http://www.smh.com.au/victoria/on-your- ... -wp4k.html

The first post corrected.
Bianchi, Ridley, Tern, Montague and All things Apple :)
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Re: Melbourne city bike share

Postby gorilla monsoon » Thu Jun 03, 2010 3:09 pm

human909 wrote:
Baldy wrote:They dont clean their bike, ever.
Hey I don't 'clean' my bike! :D Most of the bikes in Amsterdam don't get much cleaning either! Nor are most left under cover. I always thought a clean bike was more about showing off than getting from A to B.
Clean bike, clean mind.
Not my circus, not my monkeys

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18htan
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Re: Melbourne city bike share

Postby 18htan » Fri Jun 04, 2010 4:20 pm

So i need a helmet to hire a bike, yet I do not need a boat license to hire a boat?

I can hire this without a license and tackle the waterways with 10 people... :shock:

Image

Safety concern either way.

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Spork!
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Re: Melbourne city bike share

Postby Spork! » Fri Jun 04, 2010 5:51 pm

Don't know about you northerners, but in Tassie any motor boat capable of > 6 knots (IIRC) requires the hirer to have a license.

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sogood
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Re: Melbourne city bike share

Postby sogood » Fri Jun 04, 2010 7:20 pm

18htan wrote:I can hire this without a license and tackle the waterways with 10 people... :shock:
You don't? Can't be serious... :shock:
Bianchi, Ridley, Tern, Montague and All things Apple :)
RK wrote:And that is Wikipedia - I can write my own definition.

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Re: Melbourne city bike share

Postby Baldy » Fri Jun 04, 2010 7:22 pm

gorilla monsoon wrote:You charge $20 to fix a flat? A bit dear don't you reckon? My LBS bloke only charges me $12.50. :D
Not my shop but yeah the rate is not set in stone, some pay nothing. Im sure you know the deal, small shop, quite busy so there might be a week or more of work lined up at any one time. Like most tradies, the rates will vary depending on how much they have on at the time.


I had no idea that cleaning your bike was showing off, thats a new one.


I guess my point was that allthough its not going to suit the no helmet crowd or the spur of the moment use by helmet users. I dont think thats a reason not to go ahead with it, theres nothing wrong with catering for the group that will use it.

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Re: Melbourne city bike share

Postby chill » Fri Jun 04, 2010 7:47 pm

Big test this weekend. Saturday night drinks and drugs. Hope the bikes survive. Actually hope human beings survive too.

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Re: Melbourne city bike share

Postby hh445f » Fri Jun 04, 2010 9:15 pm

What about public liability insurance. Just say someone takes one of these bikes, rides down the road and the breaks fail and they end up under a tram. does the tax payer pay for the rehab. :?: :?: :?:

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Re: Melbourne city bike share

Postby Mulger bill » Fri Jun 04, 2010 9:27 pm

hh445f wrote:What about public liability insurance. Just say someone takes one of these bikes, rides down the road and the brakes fail and they end up under a tram. does the tax payer pay for the rehab. :?: :?: :?:
You'd think it'd be the RACV as the operator tho' knowing how this Govt works its contracts, I'm sure it'd be us out of pocket somehow...

Excuse the spelling nazi in me
...whatever the road rules, self-preservation is the absolute priority for a cyclist when mixing it with motorised traffic.
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Re: Melbourne city bike share

Postby hh445f » Fri Jun 04, 2010 10:13 pm

TRUE THAT :!:

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Re: Melbourne city bike share

Postby spirito » Sun Jun 06, 2010 10:56 am

rustguard wrote:I once worked for a muslim man, he seemed fairly nice and quiet, then one day there was something in the paper about israel. The tyrade that came out of his mouth about killing every jew was very disturbing, the swearing and the passionate hatred was a total shock.
About 2 years later a jewish friend of mine was very sick. I called in to see if she was ok. she rang up a locum but she said the 2 on duty had names that could be pakistani and she couldn't risk it. I asked "why" and she replied that it was too dangerous. I was about to reply when I thought back to the muslim I worked for and realised that she was right.
since then I think I have had a different view on the middle east, if it was america gaza would have been invaded long ago


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Re: Melbourne city bike share

Postby Westgarth » Sun Jun 06, 2010 1:18 pm

This scheme will fail because

a) It is only accessible to people with credit cards (like the bike cage justparkit system) which would presumably disenfranchise most students, unemployed people etc.

b) The bikes are extremely ugly. They look terribly unwieldy too, maybe someone who has ridden one can give a review?

c) The lack of provision of helmets. Sure, they claim 'they will be available for sale nearby soon' but what does that mean? Are they going to hire staff to sit in a booth and try to sell/hire helmets?

d) Bad publicity - There was an item in the paper the other day, the machines apparently charge your credit card for the bond when you check out the bike, not if you fail to return it. So some guy took his ladyfriend out for dinner and they decided to ride a couple of the bikes as a nice novelty. Of course when it came time to pay for dinner his card bounced because he had been charged a $600 bond.

e) Association with MYKI - with all the horror stories of people's accounts being emptied by MYKI but not getting any credit for their trouble, people will be very reluctant to use their CC for this purpose IMO.

f) Vandalism/sabotage. It will take one idiot/kid with a pocketknife or a matchstick to put an entire rank out of action for as long as it takes them to fix the flats - and that's in case of 'soft' vandalism.

g) This is Melbourne - nothing vaguely technological works well here or doesn't lose bucketloads of money.

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Re: Melbourne city bike share

Postby x8pg2qr » Sun Jun 06, 2010 5:22 pm

WRT the “getting trashed” thing.

That’s a worry with everything. I visited Copenhagen when ByCyklen was new (1996). All the bikes were trashed. But the system still continues.

When we started having wheelie bins, they were pushed over or stolen. But they still continue.

During the World Cup, cars parked on Melbourne streets were vandalised++, but we still allow on street parking.

By all rights, vandals should target all those payphones and car parking payment terminals that are full of coins. They should burn all buildings and bus stops for a laugh. All bus seats should be slashed with penknives or spat on. But these public furniture are still around.

What matters is whether RACV can make enough $ from this, to protect their investment. Either by fixing their tyres, employing security, or whatever. And whether enough people benefit from these bicycles to have a vested interest to ensure vandalism is frowned upon. I dearly hope that this works in the same way I hope that when people buy pets from a pet store, they don’t just abandon it at the first sign of poop.

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Re: Melbourne city bike share

Postby jules21 » Sun Jun 06, 2010 10:44 pm

x8pg2qr wrote:What matters is whether RACV can make enough $ from this, to protect their investment.
like most quasi-public schemes, my bet is that the tax payer is wearing most of the financial risk. RACV will probably be getting revenue based on the provision of service, that is at least partly protected from outright profitability of the scheme.

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Re: Melbourne city bike share

Postby kukamunga » Mon Jun 07, 2010 9:01 am

The contract for maintaining the bike fleet is based out in western suburbs by a large bicyle retail franchise, so any repair has to be transported out there to be done, rather than the contract being given to an inner city bicycle business - FAIL

If it is to succeed, a helmet exemption law for people riding these things has to be put in place, or place subsidised helmet vending machines at the parking bays, or place the parking bays nearby helmet vending bicycle businesses. There are at least seven bike shops in the CBD, and the closest parking bays to any of them are at least a block and a half or 300 m away

OK. Lazer helmets currently 20% off at CWC. An X3M can be had for $40 :wink:

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