The main problem with bike sharing schemes is that there are too many competitors, none of which has enough bikes to actually be useful. Few people are willing to sign up with five different companies and deal with five different ways to unlock the bikes.
If they somehow found a way to work together, grant mutual access to the networks, then it might work. Otherwise, you'll need a massive investment into bikes to get critical mass, and cities often increase that problem by only allowing each company to deploy a few hundred bikes.
Also, as the article points out, those locks... I've yet to see an electronic lock that would actually work reliably, and for the bike sharing scheme I use, I feel like the ride works well (e-bike present, unlocks on first attempt, battery is charged) about 50% of the time, ignoring a stretch of my commute (to/from the public transit stop) where I know there will be no bikes available at the time I'll be going.
The actual solution here is for municipal transport companies to get involved - e.g. there’s a brand new bike scheme in Edinburgh that was set up by the council-owned bus company and run by Serco under a concession. The bikes are really quite nice - there’s docks all over the city centre and clearly marked spots where you can use the integrated lock to leave them where a dock can’t be installed, they’re quite sturdy and easy to use, and handle the hills quite well. There’s rumours that electric assist bikes are being brought in too. I handed in my bus pass and bought a bike pass (for a savings of a few hundred pounds) within the first week.
I handed in my bus pass and bought a bike pass (for a savings of a few hundred pounds) within the first week.
Why didn't you just buy a bike with the savings? It's probably much better quality, a much nicer riding experience and -as you describe your transit needs - would pay for itself in no time.
Because I don’t have space to keep a bike in my apartment. It also means I can cycle somewhere and take the bus back, or vice versa, when needed - that’s my partner’s commute, a bus into work in the morning and a cycle back from the dock outside her work to the virtual dock at the end of our street in the evening.
If they somehow found a way to work together, grant mutual access to the networks, then it might work. Otherwise, you'll need a massive investment into bikes to get critical mass, and cities often increase that problem by only allowing each company to deploy a few hundred bikes.
Also, as the article points out, those locks... I've yet to see an electronic lock that would actually work reliably, and for the bike sharing scheme I use, I feel like the ride works well (e-bike present, unlocks on first attempt, battery is charged) about 50% of the time, ignoring a stretch of my commute (to/from the public transit stop) where I know there will be no bikes available at the time I'll be going.