I've seen other bikesharing services which all require you to pickup and return your bike at specific stations.
Spin just launched in Austin for SXSW (good timing 👍🏼).
@rrhoover Well yes, but their tagline "bike sharing, reinvented" is not true. They are simply copying the successful bike sharing model of Chinese companies like Mobike, Offo and alike.
👋 thanks @rrhoover!
Hey everyone, I'm Derrick, one of the co-founders of Spin. We're solving the last mile transportation problem (https://medium.com/adventures-in...), and station-less bikeshare is our first stab at it!
Happy to answer any questions you have here 🙌
I'm currently traveling in china and they have these everywhere it's a pretty awesome system. Their first iteration was the ones that need to be returned to the rack and these are their V2. In Ningbo there are already 2 competing companies. And or course they use WeChat to pay for them :)
Looking forward to trying this out in SF. I use Bay Area Bike Share all the time but sometimes having to leave it at the closest station near my destination is an inconvenience.
@_jacksmith Use a special and heavy frame. Use cheap parts. Offer for a reasonable price. Give incentives for customers who correct miss-use in-field. And last but not least - track your bikes via mobile network.
@_jacksmith Ah. Here they have a spokes lock which you have to unlock with your mobile or you call a number and they unlock it remotely (every bike has a unique number).
Congrats on launching Spin @derrickko and team! Love not having to deal with specific pickup and drop off stations. Looking forward to using this in the Bay Area!
It reminds me of ofo & Mobike, the 2 biggest bikesharing services in China. Really hot 🔥 in the public eyes as well as in the VC's mind (both have funded billions of RMB 💰). Basically people use them for short distance purposes (less than 1 km normally).
I am curious about what will the market adoption rate be in the States (considering the fact it is A Nation on Wheels)? Any insights to share?
Is there anything asking users to place the bikes in preferred areas? Having the bikes all over the city is nice, but I can imagine how quickly it could become to find a bike.
@leonhitchens That's the goal! You'll always be minutes away from our bikes. We encourage and enforce (where possible) that people park their bike responsibly, not in the public right of way, and easily accessible for the next rider.
We had that for years in Berlin, Germany and were very happy with it. Why it's gone? Nobody knows exactly - a common joke is that the former state owned company Deutsche Bahn, not known for good service, has accidentally launched a good product - as they have understood what they have did, they have closed it.
Previously, China copies western models and now it is other way around. After huge success of MoBike, Offo and other related bike sharing services in China, the same concept is being applied in other part of world.
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