Jenni Sheppard takes us for a nuts and bolts spin on Mobi. Plenty of detail on how it works and what to expect. Thanks to DailyHive.
. . . when it comes to getting a bike, it’s about as simple as it gets – go to a docking station, press enter on the bike’s keypad, scan your card and enter your pin.
After a few seconds the bike will beep, unlock and you can go.
To return it, you just push the bike back into the rack at a docking station; after about 15 seconds the bike will beep to register as returned and you can walk away. . . .
. . . “These are really meant for short trips, to get you from A to B,” said Kohout [Ed: GM of Mobi]. “For people who ride already, it’s just an extra convenience factor.”
Can a non resident use the system?
Yes
Author
Yes. Precise details yet to come. Check other bike-share systems (Toronto, Montreal, New York, Chicago, London, Paris) to get a representative sample of costs and methods. Mobi will likely be in roughly somewhere generally in the same ball park.
Yup. Bike shares suit short hops that replaces a long wait for a bus, long walk or short cab ride. On & off. This type of riding has doubled there number of trips by bikes in some cities of the world
I just hope the VPD don’t receive orders to fine any user who chooses to not wear a helmet. Helmets are the red herring of safety and a major deterrent to riding a bike. If the city really wants users to wear helmets, they’re shooting themselves in the foot if they push for this
I don’t think the City wants people to wear helmets but it’s a provincial law and they have to comply.
Given how much time and effort the VPD is putting into ticketing people without helmets, it seems the city wants people to wear helmets.
Metro News:
The number of cyclists ticketed for riding without helmets in Vancouver dropped drastically in 2014, a year where a record number of people pedaled along the city’s bike lanes.
Police handed the $29 fine to 981 cyclists last year compared to 1,787 in 2012 and 1,538 in 2013, according to Sgt. Randy Fincham.
That’s a decrease of nearly 50 per cent while tickets for other offences, such as riding on the sidewalk or failing to use a reflector at night, remained largely static over the three-year period.
http://www.straight.com/blogra/707351/happy-bike-work-week-oh-yeah-and-heres-ticket-not-wearing-helmet
“In 2014, the Straight reported that the number of $29 tickets nearly doubled over the three-month period from April to June compared to the first three months of that year.”
it’s true that there has been a drop in helmet violation tickets handed out but (and correct me if I’m wrong here) the proportion of tickets handed out to people riding bikes for not wearing helmets is still the vast majority of all tickets (something like over 80%?) given out.
Perhaps this is an indication the city isn’t placing as large a priority on helmet enforcement, but my guess is it probably has something more to do with not wanting to have the annual “crack down” and getting adverse publicity for stoping people from riding bicycles during bike to work week or bike month.
The city has also been adamant in it’s support for its own and the provincial law despite the knowledge that its reasonable to expect fewer people using public bikes because of the law.
Heather Deal has gone on record as saying, “if it saves just one life” it’s worth it. Odd how the supporters of the law use this reasoning, but they turn a blind eye to the number of fatalities to people wearing helmets. The fact is, if a crash is powerful enough to kill someone, it’s going to take life regardless of whether the cyclist involved is wearing a helmet or not. It’s also a fact the expected drop in fatalities never happened after our law was passed because the reasoning behind the law, like the cites support for it is fundamentally wrong.
It’s a proven fact that riding bicycles on a regular basis improves health and increases life span whether a helmet is worn or not. Passing and enforcing laws that stop people from riding bicycles because they wish to do so without a helmet helps no one.
The helmet law: So, there’s a sniper on a block who is shooting people who walk along that block. The solution? Issue body armor to the passers by. Don’t deal with the shooter (car).
I wish the City and Province would look at this from an evidence-based perspective. It’s a law based originally on a lie and spread with good but misguided intentions. It’s time to figure out what’s real and what isn’t.
I’d prefer that our laws to be based on evidence and not on fraudulence from a helmet manufacturer.
The provincial law applies to public roads, called highways under the Motor Vehicle Act. Vancouver City Bylaw 2849 requires bicycle helmets on other paths not covered by the MVA, including the seaside paths, John Hendry park paths, the BC Parkway, Stanley Park paths, etc. I don’t see any problem with wanting people to wear helmets, but if the City doesn’t want a mandatory helmet law provincially they should start by repealing the City helmet bylaw.
Indeed, Jeff, indeed.
The issue is that even if only one cyclist dies the opposition party will exploit it and say “you voted for the no helmet law. You caused her/his death.” That is the only reason why this common sense approach is not done.
We should allow people to make their own choice. Most heavy cycling nations in Europe do not require it. Some wear it, and some only on high speed bikes. I’d say let people decide what they want to do. There is a big difference in going 10 km/h around Stanley Park or the new Arbutus Greenway with the family or on a heavy exercise high speed ’round UBC 50 km loop in the late afternoon. Different attire for different modes I’d say.
Author
On helmets, I think we’re seeing the confluence of selective enforcement and civil disobedience. The mandatory helmet law is a bad one, and lots of people know it.