Ofo cycles

So this has been hanging out on Sunderland Rd for a few days. Interesting alternative to Santander Bikes. Especially as there are none in SE23.

Any other sightings?

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Had one on my street a few weeks back. I’m assuming it was dumped, so I tweeted them and they came to collect it.

There are loads popping up now though. Good idea, even if finding one is a little vague, especially when you just stumble across them like this. A few different offerings out there these days.

Will stick with mine for now lol

I have seen a couple here and there and kept meaning to have a Google to see how it all worked. As suxh I like the dockless (autocorrect changed that to reckless…) parking concept. However do agree would seem to be random where bikes can end up so can’t necessarily plan! I don’t cycle without a helmet so wouldn’t just hop on one if passed by. Will still download the app and have a look how might work for me.

Interesting article.

Currently there are 11,200 Boris bikes in London, but Ofo hopes to flood London with 10 times that number and extend their use into the suburbs. Ofo will be to cycling what Uber is to taxis.

Meanwhile in China…

Once hailed as “Uber for bikes”, China’s cycle hire startups allowed users to unlock GPS-enabled bikes with their smartphone, and drop them off anywhere without the need to park it at a dock.

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I know they’re currently in Hackney, not sure which other London Boroughs they’re in.
the app works very well, in my opinion, and rides of less than 30 minutes are charged at 50p, and I think less than a certain time/distance is free, as I only go from Dalston Junction to Hackney Empire (or back), and a lot of journeys recently were free.
on my travels I’ve seen them, in Norwich, and also last week in Sydney Australia.
The concept works well, however in London, a lot were vandalised early on, they’re easy to break the lock, and just cycle off for free on, so kids were doing that quite a lot.
the future is definitely in gps tracked, none docking bike hire.

Just got back from China where ofo and mobike are huge (I believe started in China) Bikes everywhere, lots of people using them. But all felt a bit chaotic which would drive me crazy here. Our footpaths are too narrow for random leaving of bikes. Also it works well there because it’s increasingly a mobile payment culture so everything is done via WeChat/Alipay and QR codes. Not sure we’d have the same ease of adoption here.

To be honest, I am not sure I want to see a massive explosion of occasional cyclists, in bikes they are unfamiliar with, rolling around the streets.
You only have to cycle in Central London amongst the tourists and other users of the cycle schemes, to see how chaotic it all gets.

I’m all for more provision for cyclists, and more taking to their bikes for a commute etc, but until we have suitable spaces throughout, I relish these schemes staying minimal.

Hey fran, do you happen to work in the payments industry?

No. Why do you ask?

Curiosity of how far the payment types you mentioned are hitting consumer awareness as it’s an insightful post

No I’m no expert. But I was completely blown away by the mobile payments culture in Shanghai and the use of QR codes for everything. And we went to stores that were doing ‘facepay’ so you didn’t even need a found. It was crazy!