Category: bike share

Two bikes with a single bike share key fob?

Update: Bay Area Bike Share tells me I shouldn’t be able to do this. It’s a bug, not a feature. I experimented a little more and discovered timing seems to be key, which maybe suggests a software race condition?

(Original post redacted. I originally thought this was too cool to be a bug. Turns out it’s not a feature, but a headache for Alta. I want this thing to succeed to please avoid hacking the system.)

Bay Area Bike Share explains why SF bikes can’t leave the city

Shortly after Bay Area Bike Share launched, an intrepid bike person pushed the limits of the system to see how far he could take the system in the proud tradition of hackers everywhere, because that’s what we do. He discovered San Francisco bikes cannot be docked outside of San Francisco.

After some internal investigation, the Bay Area Bike Share people discovered why and disclosed the reason (sort of) in an update to their Frequently Asked Questions.

Why Bay Area Bike Share bikes cannot be docked outside of San Francisco -- see article text

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Bay Area Bike Share confirms SF bikes can’t be docked outside of origin city

Ken just pointed out this recent change to the Bay Area Bike Share FAQ, which now says San Francisco bikes can only be docked in San Francisco stations, while bikes in the other cities can be docked elsewhere (but presumably not in San Francisco?).

Bay Area Bike Share FAQ - San Francisco bikes cannot be moved to other cities

The FAQ also notes that riding from, say, San Jose to Sunnyvale might exceed the 30 minute time limit, which means overtime fees.

Bay Area Bike Share announced this FAQ changed a couple of hours ago. I checked on the day of Peter Coljin’s epic 47 mile bike share bike journey from San Francisco to Mountain View and a couple of days after, but didn’t see this text then.