Forum Topic

Mobike

Has mobike folded in London? One has been dumped near us for quite some time, and their website seems to be in Chinese only now. 
Any idea how to report it to them (I've tried fix-my-street but they only have a section for boris-bikes)
Ta

Rob Reynolds ● 2256d34 Comments

Report it on fix-my-street in the Cleansing category as a fly tipping problem.  Tell them how long it's been there. Curiously, FMS describes such reports as "in the Fly Tipping category" despite not actually having such a category in the list you choose from.

Richard Jennings ● 2256d

Hi Rob - which street do you live on?

Cllr Sam Hearn ● 2256d

Wellesley. I did report on fly tipping section, but they just took some bin bags away and left the bike.

Rob Reynolds ● 2256d

While we're on such a topic - how long will the Council leave bikes which are locked up but which have obviously been abandoned in situ? I have quite frequently seen bikes with wheels missing, with wheels fully bent over etc. which remain in place seemingly for years. Surely the Council has the right to remove such items? They are unsightly, sometimes prevent other bikes from 'parking' legitimately and, in some cases, are even a trip hazard.

Anne England ● 2256d

The cycling schemes in London are purely a vehicle (npi) for data mining. Once they have your information they close the scheme. I'm not saying they're sinister, it's a business model. Data is the way to make money these days. Once you're online with Mobike, they know where you are, what you like to do and how often you do it. This is valuable to a lot of companies.  So when they vanish, it means they've hit their targets of x number of subscribers.  A new one has popped up in Acton already. This time the bikes are red.

Tania Bapuji ● 2255d

The cycling schemes in London are purely a vehicle (npi) for data mining. Once they have your information they close the scheme. I'm not saying they're sinister, it's a business model. Data is the way to make money these days. Once you're online with Mobike, they know where you are, what you like to do and how often you do it. This is valuable to a lot of companies.  So when they vanish, it means they've hit their targets of x number of subscribers.  A new one has popped up in Acton already. This time the bikes are red.

Tania Bapuji ● 2255d

I think you're too cynical.  You could say that about loads of things.  What about your mobile phone?  What about your various loyalty cards?  We have to weigh up the pros and cons of everything in life.

Philippa Bond ● 2255d

Heo Tania....spot on big big BIG companies invest millions in these schemes for what ?Hiring rates?...actually google is your friendhttps://www.bikebiz.com/data-mining-is-why-billions-are-being-pumped-into-dockless-bikes/

Mick Collins ● 2255d

Now work out about the other ways you are giving away info.

Philippa Bond ● 2255d

I did the maths on this a while back and on the data provided the scheme was losing money hand over fist.Unless the motive by the Chinese firm was to do their bit to save the planet(😆) then what else other than data collection was their reasoning.

Adrian Irving ● 2255d

Hello Philippa considering the street pollution of these being dumped anwhere by the entitled I am surprised your backing them.

Mick Collins ● 2255d

From fix my street: State changed to: not the council's responsibility. oh well..

Rob Reynolds ● 2255d

I mourn their passing. I thought they provided a useful service. Occasionally you would see one discarded without care but the simple solution was to move it to somewhere it was not causing a potential instruction.Dockless hire bikes would have been invaluable at the moment as government and council policy is to encourage more people to cycle but many are finding it difficult to get a bike as there is a shortage at the moment.On the issue of them collecting your data I can categorically assure you this was not part of their business model. The information collected was not particularly valuable and given the patchy geographical nature of their business. There simply wouldn't have been enough data points to monetise. I'm very careful about what information I give out and while signing up for Mobike and using their services wasn't riskless it was benign compared to operations like Facebook and Nextdoor whose whole business model is dependent on them finding things out about you as you use their supposedly free service.

Mark Evans ● 2255d

Completely agree Mark with both what you have said about the usefulness of a shared hire system of bikes and the two websites you mention.  Many have used them.  A great way to have a go without having the worry about locking it safely somewhere or having to find the initial financial outlay.I'm sure the well behaved Chinese never imagined the violence and lack of respect the British would have for such a useful piece of equipment that wasn't their own.  In fact they were shocked - I remember more than one article.  We discussed this yonks ago as we had many threads on here.  The designs evolved and I'd like to think that British manufacturers learnt something about a design that incorporated solid tyres that didn't puncture, a registration system and lights permanently sttached.  All things which seem to be problematic for cyclists here were provided.  It is a shame that the stand wasn't a bit better and more attention wasn't paid in their placement and collection.  I somehow doubt it.  The batteries run out on the GPS and then they can't find them - though apparently many were hidden on private property for the convenience of the borrowers spoiling the system.  The Councils all across the UK who entertained the schemes also tried to get both the companies and the users to cooperate better and be more responsible.  As per usual the minority spoil something for the majority.There was data collected which the universities were using to show where the majority of journeys went which allows the studying of traffic routes and transport options and solutions.They seemed to work well when stationed outside tube stations.  Also on the campus of a local university.

Philippa Bond ● 2255d

Completely agree Mark with both what you have said about the usefulness of a shared hire system of bikes and the two websites you mention.  Many have used them.  A great way to have a go without having the worry about locking it safely somewhere or having to find the initial financial outlay.I'm sure the well behaved Chinese never imagined the violence and lack of respect the British would have for such a useful piece of equipment that wasn't their own.  In fact they were shocked - I remember more than one article.  We discussed this yonks ago as we had many threads on here.  The designs evolved and I'd like to think that British manufacturers learnt something about a design that incorporated solid tyres that didn't puncture, a registration system and lights permanently sttached.  All things which seem to be problematic for cyclists here were provided.  It is a shame that the stand wasn't a bit better and more attention wasn't paid in their placement and collection.  I somehow doubt it.  The batteries run out on the GPS and then they can't find them - though apparently many were hidden on private property for the convenience of the borrowers spoiling the system.  The Councils all across the UK who entertained the schemes also tried to get both the companies and the users to cooperate better and be more responsible.  As per usual the minority spoil something for the majority.There was data collected which the universities were using to show where the majority of journeys went which allows the studying of traffic routes and transport options and solutions.They seemed to work well when stationed outside tube stations.  Also on the campus of a local university.

Philippa Bond ● 2255d

"Occasionally you would see one discarded without care but the simple solution was to move it to somewhere it was not causing a potential instruction".Obviously Mark you did not use Riverside Drive, Staveley Gdns or the vicinity of Chiswick Station during the Mobike heyday. I walked from Staveley Gdns to the A316 trafic lights at Riverside Drive most days and there was always around 5-10 dumped in that short distance. I regularly used the contact number to get them removed. Moving them elsewhere as you suggest raises two questions, 1. where to, when everywhere in the locations is a potential obstruction (not instruction) and 2. how do you move a locked heavy bike?

Bob Guyett ● 2255d

When you come out of a station 2 sheets to the wind  from town they were a great idea at the end of the journey to get home a proper lightbulb moment "I know i will jump on this" but at journeys end just had to get rid and dump it as quick as poss and get to bed

Mick Collins ● 2255d

"Occasionally you would see one discarded without care but the simple solution was to move it to somewhere it was not causing a potential instruction"Occasionally? Try far too often.As for the simple solution, there are plenty on this forum who accused others, like me, of vandalism when I moved them (they weren't that heavy). So you can't have it both ways. I know you all like to, but you can't.

David Lesniak ● 2255d

"As per usual the minority spoil something for the majority"I agree with that Phillipa. A few people were responsible for the Mobikes scheme done on the cheap with no proper control, little or no backup done in  hope  rather than in reality spoiling our district for the majority of residents.Shame really as it could have been so different if proper planning and control had been done.

Adrian Irving ● 2254d

It was never my experience that more than a small proportion of these bikes were parked inconsiderately but I'll accept there may have been black spots where their nuisance value was too high.As you say moving them was not difficult. Even for someone who might find lifting any considerable weight difficult you could raise the locked rear wheel off the ground and direct it to where it needed to be with minimal effort.

Mark Evans ● 2254d

Having seen off the Mobikes, we now have green electric Lime bikes and red Uber Jump bikes scattered along the pavement and among the bike racks outside Chiswick Park station. It's certainly tempting to move them out of the way. Into the road, maybe?

Peter Evans ● 2254d

As you say moving them was not difficult. Indeed, not. Just beware some will accuse you of vandalism, that's all I'm saying.

David Lesniak ● 2254d

Even Oxford with their thousands of personally owned bikes had them on their streets for hire.

Philippa Bond ● 2253d

I think at first the bike riders were told that they could not use the Sheffield bike stands or any others that might be wanted by cyclists with their own personal bikes.  Maybe the instructions are clearer/easier to use now?  I've seen plenty of well parked ones - have you noticed those or only the ones that upset you?Is it that the fluorescent colours of these bikes - needed for obvious instant recognition purposes - is something that you find jarring and unacceptable unlike the riding colours of the personally owned bikes?

Philippa Bond ● 2253d

I think the issue is, if mobike no longer operate in this area, then their bikes are unusable and at best street clutter. The council seems to decline responsibility for them too.

Rob Reynolds ● 2253d

Had them Phillipa.Operative word, had.Now why would that be?Could it be that the few people behind Mobikes got chased out of Town  by the majority of residents fed up with its abysmal management?

Adrian Irving ● 2253d

"needed for obvious instant recognition purposes"Philippa, love, this is called advertising. Something for which they paid nothing. Contrast that with the licensing fees local businesses must pay for simply putting out an A-board to do precisely the same thing - gain recognition for their product with the hope of getting someone to pay for it. So if you get that principle for these hire bikes, why is it you don't get it for local businesses that actually pay for rents and rates? The disconnect is curious to say the least.

David Lesniak ● 2253d

Of course it helps prospective hirers find them - and it should help the Mobike operators to find them but it does seem that they weren't that interested.There were several firms and there were takeovers and multi-coloured piles of bikes that could be seen from space.There were a lot of users too though and I don't think they were all stupid enough to only use them when they were newted.David - would you have been that irritated if they parked neatly and properly and visited your cafe for breakfast?

Philippa Bond ● 2253d

Any business that relies on using our public spaces to store and display their products, and pays nothing for the privilege, is unacceptable, however neatly they're arranged.

Peter Evans ● 2253d

You're presuming that we got nothing in return.

Philippa Bond ● 2253d

"You're presuming that we got nothing in return"Mobike et al do not pay a fee of any sort. Not for a license to trade nor one to store their product on public land. Bricks and mortar businesses do both. As to your question, Philippa, if and when hired bikes get parked neatly I'll let you know. Otherwise, we've had them occupy the space for pavement tables. The space we paid for but were unable to use because some numb nust simply dismounted a bike and left it there. Much like the new daily occurrence by the Futon Shop. As you emerge from the construction hoarding by the cinema, a hired bike is left in the middle of the pavement, sometimes it blocks the entrance to the flats (let's simply ignore the risk that poses to emergency egress, shall we?) and sometimes the entrance to the store. But always it sits in the middle of the pavement. Super great for distancing, Philippa. Super great. Though heavier, the Lime bikes can also be moved to the curb which I'm happy to do so others can move freely on the pavement. And by others I mean pedestrians who should be there. As opposed to the bikes that should not.

David Lesniak ● 2253d

Saw one parked neatly in a cycle lane today.  :)

Philippa Bond ● 2252d

Saw one parked neatly in a cycle lane today.  :)Presumably your point is to demonstrate the cycle lane is under utilized and better off serving as storage space?Smiley face.

David Lesniak ● 2252d

Some of the old cycle lanes were useless because they aren't wide enough and are littered with parked cars.  I think they really need proper parking area like the Santander ones.  If the GPS data works Councils should be able to find out where to site them.  I understand putting in the Santander ones is very expensive.  I did see a group of those being cycled around Chiswick yesterday.

Philippa Bond ● 2251d