I continue to stress that removing the hybrid dockless option for the East Bay system was a terrible idea, as dock density & walkability here is worse than SF, & @baywheels.bsky.social rebalancing isn’t reliable.
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I really appreciate the balance of docked vs undocked that SF BayWheels’ hybrid system is. Never too many bikes undocked to be a problem for pedestrians especially with the locks, but it has the predictability and clear sidewalks of a mostly docked system.
aug 30, 2025, 10:43 pm • 0 0 • view
IMO they should have gone the opposite direction to add the hybrid dockless option to the pedal-powered bikes as well, instead of removing it from the e-bikes.
aug 30, 2025, 11:47 pm • 2 0 • view
That sounds like it would be good. Wondering your philosophy on docked vs dockless more broadly for a system like baywheels.
aug 31, 2025, 12:18 am • 0 0 • view
Hybrid dockless, meaning there are still stations but people can still park away from them when need be. This was the original promise for BayWheels expansion into E Oakland, allowing for more bikes without the need for so much expensive station infrastructure.
aug 31, 2025, 12:25 am • 2 0 • view
Interesting and basically baywheels moves the bikes around to docks? What’s the incentive then to dock a bike? Right now in SF it’s not to pay the $1
aug 31, 2025, 1:56 am • 0 0 • view
Maybe you don't need to take a picture to end the ride? More convenient
aug 31, 2025, 2:03 am • 0 0 • view
Here’s what the East Bay cities’ proposal was to Lyft back in May 2020. There was an added fee for locking away from a station, but the station areas could be more abundant by not needing so much hardscape infrastructure. Capping the per-minute fees for some users was also critical.
aug 31, 2025, 4:14 am • 1 0 • view
The proposal to credit users who bring a non-station bike back to a station was another incentive.
aug 31, 2025, 4:15 am • 1 0 • view
That plus the premium membership proposal w some amount of e-bike usage / day w no per minute fees was intended to help people w limited income be able to budget for daily bike share usage better. Other transit fees are consistent between identical rides, but currently BayWheels e-bike fees aren’t.
aug 31, 2025, 4:40 am • 2 0 • view
Interesting, this all seems like a very good balance
aug 31, 2025, 8:15 am • 0 0 • view
Standard stations could still exist, but others could be set up quickly & cheaply as just striped curbside areas w signage. This serves less dense areas much better, since destinations tend to be not as concentrated. It also solves the issue of a “full” station at the end of a trip.
aug 31, 2025, 12:25 am • 2 0 • view
Did I share this from Friday? There is so much demand for bike share at the top of Bancroft near U.C. Law and other major destinations that people treat it as if it were dockless. We need 50 more docks in Berkeley but we're only doing a dozen or so, and very slowly.
aug 31, 2025, 12:13 am • 6 0 • view
agreed, taking bikeshare from Downtown #Berkeley BART up bancroft bikeway is very popular. these e-bikes are better than the first gen, minus the cable lock for "dockless" or worse case scenario full docks
aug 31, 2025, 1:32 am • 1 0 • view
Hybrid dockless would have allowed for a lot faster infill station development w/o as much cost. Such a misstep by Baywheels, largely due to the profit margin being prioritized over service & user experience.
aug 31, 2025, 12:17 am • 6 0 • view
I think we need a better explanation than "profit motive" because that can't explain why SF, and Portland Biketown, are hybrid and operated by the same people. I think only local rules can explain the difference.
aug 31, 2025, 12:19 am • 3 0 • view
BayWheels has indicated they aren’t adding any more hybrid dockless bikes to the SF system. They conveniently decided to pull the plug on them just when the e-bikes were being reintroduced to the East Bay, making the previously planned expansion to E Oakland impossible.
aug 31, 2025, 12:28 am • 2 0 • view
Portland’s bike share is operated by Lyft but publicly owned by the city. BayWheels is privately owned & operated. Publicly owned bike share systems (like Portland, LA or DC) tend to center access & equity more than privately owned ones.
aug 31, 2025, 12:31 am • 5 0 • view
Pre-pandemic I was working w the East Bay cities to advocate for bringing e-bikes back w hybrid dockless, better pricing structures, & serving more of Oakland. The local cities were clamoring for this, & yet Lyft didn’t follow up for nearly 5 years. It’s the profit motive, not a local rules issue.
aug 31, 2025, 12:35 am • 1 0 • view
ALSO Lyft only followed up to bring e-bikes back to the East Bay when they got a $20M bailout from MTC. Ridership has exploded since then, contrary to Lyft’s prior claims that they couldn’t afford to provide more service in the East Bay due to low ridership.
aug 31, 2025, 12:37 am • 2 0 • view
When Lyft’s Bay Area bike share contract is up in 2027 MTC needs to simply take it over themselves. Lyft could still participate as a contracted operator, but we need to stop subsidizing private companies with public tax dollars. Bike share should be public transit.
aug 31, 2025, 12:40 am • 10 1 • view
Bay Area's biggest failing is too many tech people who want to try novel neo-liberal ideas for public services that depend on profit Other cities have publicly owned bike share with a democratic process for this We should be preparing now to switch Bay Wheels to that more successful model
aug 31, 2025, 12:49 am • 4 1 • view
Uh I think it's pretty difficult to know the history of Lyft bike share, through Motivate, Alta, 8D, and the Montreal Public Bike System, and conclude that it was a neoliberal silicon valley idea.
aug 31, 2025, 3:25 am • 3 0 • view
This is not a complete list, but I looked at the largest bike sharing systems and most are publicly owned Publicly owned: Montreal Toronto CDMX Boston Barcelona Chicago LA DC Portland Philadelphia Paris Taipei London Amsterdam Seville Privately owned: SF NYC Toyko
aug 31, 2025, 6:07 am • 2 0 • view
While publicly owned bike share systems can be more effective than privately owned systems the operational model can also have an impact. In China I found systems run by the local transportation department were more effective than public private partnerships. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...
aug 31, 2025, 6:52 am • 1 0 • view
Thanks for the research! It matches my intuition that bike share works best integrated with a public transit network.
aug 31, 2025, 6:56 am • 1 0 • view
when were done saving transit i want the next campaign to be rollout baypass and as part of it do municipal bikeshare with cost included in baypass
aug 31, 2025, 7:06 am • 2 0 • view
I’ll be generous & say the privately-owned bike share experiment has proven the demand & the system now deserves to be publicly owned/funded. A similar trajectory as to rail transit in the mid-1900s. Let’s not make the same mistake by allowing service to degrade before then.
aug 31, 2025, 12:54 am • 2 0 • view
And expanded to include all residents in participating cities at a price they can afford It wouldn't even cost that much. DC Bikeshare costs about $10M a year to operate a similarly sized system. Covers 96% of those costs with prices that are less than half what Bay Wheel charges
aug 31, 2025, 1:48 am • 1 0 • view