Forum Topic

Mobike/Lime-- are they gone for good?!

I sincerely hope so - nowhere to be seen and its not before time - visual and actual cluster-clutters, semi-sponsored by the councils have disappearedI did a search here and cant find any reference to them- hopefully gone to great throwaway bike in the sky, for goodanyone with time on their hands (!) have a read of this- the business models have failed everywhere...quite what Hounslow and ealing thought they could do when the experiences elsewhere scream " it doesnt work" i do not knowhttps://medium.com/foreign-policy/the-rise-and-fall-of-chinas-cycling-empires-9cbeff4f9be4p.s. Im not anti-bike..

Tim Garfoot ● 2393d8 Comments

Mobike is still operating here and in the City

James Carter ● 2393d

Was a van on the Avenue yesterday collecting the mobikes from the side roads. Thought they were just rounding the stray ones up to put back in key places. Now come to think about it,not seen the usual bunch parked up in lines

Julian Pavey ● 2393d

Lime voluntarily shut down in Spain, Italy and many parts of the USA as they were not cleaning bikes between hirers so they suspended operations due to Covid-19.

N V Brooks ● 2393d

Mobike were still operating here yesterday. There are far fewer bikes showing as available to hire on the app but I do see lots of them being used so it could be because they are hired out. Would be a backward step to take them out of service in my view because cycling allows more effective social distancing for all than walking.

Mark Evans ● 2393d

id imagine they have hoiked them as i) no-one is using them ii) the cleaning/health concerns that lime have identified How do you get to the conculsion that bikes are more effective social distancing- they cause more traffic /pavement bottlenecks and pinch points that walking in every case i can think -

Tim Garfoot ● 2393d

'How do you get to the conculsion that bikes are more effective social distancing?'If you are on one you will be on the road not the pavement so better for you and other people on the streets.There is obviously a potential risk with transmission if you use one that has been previously ridden by an infected person but if you wipe down the saddle before use that may mean overall the risk remain less than if you walked. There was an increase in shared bike in Chinese cities during the outbreak after a government health official recommended it as the safest form of public transport.People are still hiring them out. The last few times I hired one they disappeared from where I left them very quickly. Whether that is because they are being used more or there are fewer of them I don't know. As a regular user of them before I rarely encountered one that was causing an obstruction. Hardly an issue now as they seem to have become so rare.

Mark Evans ● 2393d

If you are on one you will be on the road not the pavement so better for you and other people on the streets.Really? I'd say that a bike pedaller spends on average more than 50% of the time on the pavement.As for " rarely encountered one that was causing an obstruction "  - simply not the case - they exist for selfish users to dump them where they feell they have no use for them any more

Tim Garfoot ● 2393d

Are you all talking about the orange push bikes?  I realise the OP was on about the lime green ones.

Jennifer Selig ● 2393d