Michael Since San Francisco's criminal sidewalk campers broke into our garage and stole my bike (Rundbrief 12/2014, Rundbrief 02/2016) I have renounced bicycle ownership. However, every now and then I do get the itch to take a little ride, to quickly dash down to the Mission district to grab some Mexican food, or just for fun in the evening shortly before sunset, to zoom around and take photos of funny people in embarrassing situations.
The GoBike program was familiar to me from San Francisco's financial district, where a dozen basket-equipped granny bikes stood here and there in front of locking stations similar to the luggage cart machines at the airport. Supposedly, you could unlock and ride them around after paying an annual membership fee. I had never tried the service.
Last week, construction workers suddenly showed up right in front of our apartment building out of nowhere, set up no-parking signs, and started making an infernal noise. Before the neighbors could guess what was being built, the installation was complete, and lo and behold: A large advertising board was promoting something called "Bike Sharing," and half a dozen bicycles were already available for immediate use.
The bike trailer is, no kidding, 10 meters away from our front door and is taking up three parking spaces, which the neighbors are discussing on the neighborhood forum "Nextdoor" (Rundbrief 09/2014), completely freaked out, probably because the city had quietly and secretly struck a deal with the rental company "Motivate LLC," sponsored by the car manufacturer "Ford," and presented the citizens with a fait accompli. No matter, our two cars are in the garage, and I thought to myself, I have to try out this newfangled thing right away. So I installed the phone app, paid 3 dollars for a single ride, chose a granny bike, and pressed the app button to unlock it. The app then displayed a 5-digit code consisting of the numbers 1-3 ("31131" I believe), which I entered using the three number keys on the dock (illustration 4), whereupon the heavy lock clicked and the bike popped out. I zipped around for about 20 minutes, down to the Mission district and then wheezed back up the hill. All in all, a successful start.
Overall, "Ford GoBike" will be installing 2,000 bicycles in the city of San Francisco in the coming months and another 1,500 in the East Bay. A single ride between two stations may take no more than 30 minutes, costing $3. If the rider keeps the bike longer, each additional quarter (!) hour costs another $3. The trick that allows the company to (likely) remain profitable despite low prices is that the bicycles are never on the street for more than 30 minutes; afterward, they are back at a station and available to the next customer.
A day pass costs 10 dollars, and a 3-day pass costs 20 dollars, but both only allow for an unlimited number of 30-minute short rides. Important: Every half hour, the bike must be returned to one of the approximately 100 parking stations scattered throughout the city. You can't just go into a museum or a store to shop because you can't secure the bike, and locking it with a personal lock is explicitly not allowed in the terms of use. The program is therefore only helpful for people who want to quickly bike 1 or 2 kilometers from A to B, with bike stations near both A and B. Since you can also pay 149 dollars annually, this might be suitable for commuters who take public transportation to a stop with a bike station, unlock a bike there, and ride to a bike station a block away from their destination. Provided there is a street with a bike lane leading there, because as a cyclist in San Francisco, you have to be extremely careful not to get run over or hit by the swinging door of a parked car. So: bring a helmet and wear it!