You’ve probably seen them by now, the bright green bikes and the bright orange bikes scattered randomly throughout Wallingford and other neighborhoods, signaling the return of bike share to Seattle. With the demise of Pronto earlier this year Seattle became the first American city with a failed bike share system. We are now getting a second chance with not just one, but with two new bike share systems: LimeBike (the green ones) and Spin (the orange ones).
The biggest difference between these two new systems and Pronto is that Lime and Spin are “free-floating.” Bikes are self-locking and are not parked at designated stations. They are both app-based and work much like Car2Go and ReachNow—open the app, look for a bike near you, and go for a ride. 30 minutes of riding will cost you just $1.
Another huge differentiation from Pronto is that these new bikes will actually serve Wallingford. I’ve spoken to representatives from both companies who have told me that the systems’ boundaries are currently unlimited. When I asked a Spin rep if I could ride one of the bikes to Cle Elum and leave it there, he replied, “Technically, yes.”
While I haven’t yet tested the geographic boundaries of the bikes, I have taken each of them for a spin around Seattle. Both companies’ bikes are solid and comfortable to ride. Spin bikes have an easily-adjustable (and long) seatpost, which makes riding easy no matter your size. They do, however, have only 3 gears, and frankly the lowest gear is not low enough for Seattle’s hills. Lime bikes have 8 gears, with the lowest one being super low and good for climbing, though I doubt I’d take one up the Queen Anne Counterbalance. A drawback of the Lime bikes is a short seatpost. I’m 5’9” and the bike barely fits me. A friend 5 inches taller found the seat much too low even when adjusted to its highest point.
Since the bikes’ locations can be tracked online, I’ve made a hobby
recently of seeing where they congregate. Unsurprisingly the bikes typically wind up near the ship canal and Lake Union, the flattest parts of the city. This points to one of the failures of Pronto: by ignoring Ballard, Fremont, Wallingford and most of the Lake Union perimeter, Pronto didn’t serve the locations where people actually ride.
The Helmet Law
In 1993, King County passed legislation to require that all bicyclists wear a helmet when riding. Interestingly, this regulation initially excluded Seattle (I was once told that this was because of the lobbying efforts of bike messengers…remember them?), but in July 2003 the county Board of Health extended the law to include Seattle as well.
A big advantage of bike share is its flexibility. A common refrain I hear is, “I already have a bike, why would I use bike share?” This misses the point. I use bike share when I need to get somewhere but don’t want to have my bike in tow. Like to take light rail to the airport or go to a concert at the zoo. This helmet law takes a bite out of that flexibility, because I don’t necessarily want to carry my helmet with me to the airport or to a show.
I’m a big advocate of wearing a helmet when riding, but I don’t think it should be illegal for adults not to do so. Partly because bike safety is very contextual. Commuting downtown at 20mph on a road bike during rush hour is much more dangerous than riding the Burke-Gilman at half the speed on a heavy bike. Quite frankly the helmet law is frequently broken and rarely enforced. It’s essentially useless and should be repealed. Hopefully Lime and Spin will put some weight behind doing so.
“Is that your bike?”
Last week, after dropping off a rental car downtown, I picked up a Spin bike near Denny and Fairview. Strangely, the bike was parked on the lawn of the Seattle Police Department’s vehicle maintenance shop. As I went to unlock it, an employee poked his head out of the office and said, “Is that your bike? It was just left on the sidewalk so I moved it over here.” I explained to him that this was a bike share bike and leaving them on the sidewalk is pretty much how it works.
The gentleman’s confusion was justifiable. It is strange to see a random bike parked on a planting strip away from a bike rack, but that’s how it works. It is imperative, however, that users of these systems don’t block pedestrian access when parking the bikes. I have seen a couple of bikes parked in a manner that obstructed a walkway. If you see something like this, feel free to pick up the bike and move it out of the way.
What’s next?
Lime and Spin are currently in six-month pilot stages. Both companies were permitted by the city to launch with up to 500 bikes for the first month, with a starting date of July 7, 2017. During the second month they can expand to 1,000 bikes and then 2,000 bikes in the third month. After six months, SDOT “will analyze bike rental data and performance metrics” and “evaluate the performance and efficiency of the pilot and determine if it meets the standards to become a permanent transit program.”
I know cyclists are frequently mocked by some in Seattle, but whether you find bikes to be a childish annoyance or a wonderful way to get across town, I think we can all agree that traffic in Seattle is terrible and the buses are over-crowded. We need more transportation options. Let’s hope that these new bike share systems succeed and become a permanent transit program starting next year.
I read that Lime wants to have 10,000 bikes in Seattle. With 1,000 they already seem to be everywhere in Fremont. We will soon have the problem of them being in the way everywhere. And often they are parked in bike racks, blocking access for real bikes. But those problems hopefully can be worked out, it is IMO a good thing to have them.
The helmet law indeed is not enforced. But I differ with your easy-going attitude about it. True, there are times when it is more knuckleheaded than others not to wear, but I think it is always imprudent and irresponsible. A slow-moving slide-out can smack your head on pavement badly. Of the four or so times I have fallen and been glad I had a helmet, three were slow-speed and none had anything to so with a car. When I see a rider without one, not only do I think the knuckles are showing on that head, but how I hope there’s no fall that will push my insurance costs another little notch up. It is “interesting” that the city is pretty much explicitly allowing a helmet-scofflaw business.
Right. Going downtown at 20 mph or wobbling down the Burke-Gilman at 5 mph, when you go down, the head impact has as much to do with the fact that you dropped 6 feet to the ground.
Of course, you don’t even need a bicycle, you can fall down without one and get a life changing head trauma, and I hope we never get to the point where we must wear helmets at all times in the interest of safety. But a bicycle does somewhat increase your odds of falling down, and I suppose it’s more likely for someone picking up a hire bike who may not be as familiar with the bicycle or have well developed cycling skills. Difficult issue.
And the BG isn’t even all that safe either, even without cars on it, despite the claims of cyclists. I just read an article about that the other day, here’s a couple snippets:
“It’s the superhighway of biking in Seattle,” said Cliff Mass, the outspoken University of Washington climatologist who has commuted on the trail for nearly 30 years. “Everybody who commutes has been hurt. Without exception, you get hurt. If you go every day, something’s going to happen to you eventually.”
“Causes of crashes are myriad. Bikers hit pedestrians as they drunkenly weave about while texting. Oblivious individuals wearing headphones make sudden stops or lurch about unpredictably. Dogs can leap across the path, creating trip wires with their leashes. Pavement cracks and root bumps can spill a cyclist in an instant. And bikers often fly down the trail at unsafe speeds, blowing through stop signs with impunity.”
“Leisure bikers, commuters, pedestrians, dog walkers, joggers, and families with kids of all ages share what is still a mostly-idyllic regional treasure. But they’re increasingly competing with Tour de France inspired weekend warriors, who whip along the path. This group of cyclists, whom some refer to as MAMILs (middle aged men in lycra), often exasperate other trail users who describe them as rude, entitled, and dangerous.”
That said, as long as these new bike-shares aren’t unduly causing more problems than they solve, and since they’re apparently not privately financed so it’s not another scam to enrich Scott Kubly’s (the corrupt head of SDOT) friends, I say give a it chance. I do predict, however, that eventually they’ll have to start carting bikes back uphill with vans, like they did with Pronto.
Not sure it’s quite as bad as you describe, but safety on the Burke has definitely become an issue. And I would add one more significant unsafe user: “e-bikes” They can go way too fast and, IMHO, they are not bikes and they don’t belong in bike lanes or on bike paths. That said, there are a lot of parents on e-bikes loaded down with groceries and kids at safe speeds. I’ll give them a pass, but the too-fast too-easy e-riders — they should just go play in traffic where they belong, they are basically on a motorcycle.
The article states “Quite frankly the helmet law is frequently broken and rarely enforced. It’s essentially useless and should be repealed.”
Frankly head and neck injuries can be quite serious. Following the author’s logic, we should not enforce seatbelt laws for people using ZipCar or ReachNow vehicles because it may be inconvenient to buckle up….does that make any sense at all?
There are numerous studies (see http://www.helmets.org/journals.htm) showing positive results of using helmets when riding a bicycle and various online odes to personal choice with varying arguments based on chances of being injured while riding.
I’m in the helmeted majority having been hit by an automobile as well as crashing due to road conditions. Let’s be responsible. Thank you
And if you think it’s bad here, I was recently in Amsterdam, reputedly one of the best place for bikes. Nobody wears a helmet there, and they will even tell you it’s safer without. Some can quote an alleged study showing that cars will give you more space if they see you without a helmet. …now, in Amsterdam the bike lanes are mostly separated, so the logic is little loose. Worse – they allow motor scooters in the bike lanes. (well, no worse than e-bikes) I bike all the time here, but did not there because it didn’t seems safe if you did not really have the hang of how they do it, with two car, two tram, two bike and two pedestrian lanes as you cross everywhere. Fortunately, they all ride crappy slow bikes. It’s better here for bikes, I’d say. Unrelatedly, the pot stores are better here as well.
I hear the Dutch have particularly hard heads.
No what the Dutch don’t have? Hills.
Great post.
My only concern is that they’re starting to feel like litter in some places. Hopefully a culture of parking them politely emerges on its own.
Based on experiences from existing programs, there will be needs for cleaning up specific hot spots.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/17/chinese-discard-hundreds-of-cycles-for-hire-in-giant-pile
It’s not hard to see tourists always dropping off bikes at specific locations to take public transits or even Uber to leave.
Along the same lines, it would be irritating to find that in the rare case where a business or neighborhood has installed bike racks, they’re now full of hire bikes waiting for a fare.
Likely the company manages the bikes – picks them up and moves them to a location more likely to get used. If you see them occupying a bike rack, cuss them out I guess.
I read there’s a third company getting in on this evidently lucrative business.
IMO the Burke is more treacherous than the Neighborhood Greenway through Wallingford.
The best rule when to use a helmet is don’t be a dummy.
Know the area you are riding and the risks associated with that. Don’t assume that the Burke is safe, but also get to know side streets in the City that can get you places just as safe as walking there.
Speaking of knowing the associated risks – some familiarity with how drivers take side street intersections might cause you to reassess your enthusiasm. It’s a problem on the trail too, especially where it crosses streets at some distance from the parallel road, but with relatively high level of bicycle traffic and typically better visibility.