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Inside Bratislava's Low-Cost, Open Source Bike Share Solution

Posted by Soulskill on from the trusting-people-not-to-be-jerks dept.

An anonymous reader writes: The Bike Kitchen started WhiteBikes in Bratislava after a failed attempt by the city to finance a similar program. At first users shared donated bikes with the same lock code. They needed a system that would work somewhat automatically without the need for manual rentals (e.g. somebody giving out bicycles). From there, smsBikeShare was born. Users registered with a mobile phone number and could send basic SMS commands (RENT, RETURN, FREE, WHERE, etc.). The system used an inexpensive SMS gateway API and a local message-back number to receive and respond to messages. Shared bicycles have a coded U-lock with a four-digit number, and upon renting a bike, users receive a code to unlock the bicycle and another to reset it to once they are done. Send a message, receive the answer, unlock the bike, reset the lock, and you're off pedaling.

37 comments

  1. For me a bike is a personal thing by MichaelSmith · · Score: 2

    If I can't ride my bike I will walk or take public transport.

    --
    http://michaelsmith.id.au
    1. Re:For me a bike is a personal thing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      But with bike share you can do both - I have a friend who walks a block to a bike share stand, rides it to the DC metro, then grabs another bike share for the last few blocks to her office. For commuting, it can be super convenient.

    2. Re:For me a bike is a personal thing by dunkelfalke · · Score: 1

      Same for me. But there was a situation when I was visiting my parents who live about 250 km away. I took the train. On my way back it was already so late that the last bus from the station to my home was gone. A rental bicycle would have been perfect for this situation. I had to walk instead, not a problem but it took me almost two hours. Would have been more like half an hour on a bike.

      --
      "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
    3. Re:For me a bike is a personal thing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You walked 250km?

    4. Re:For me a bike is a personal thing by dunkelfalke · · Score: 1

      From the train station to home, not from my parents. It is about 10 km away. I think 30 km at once is about my limit when walking - I am unfortunately not as fit as I used to be.

      --
      "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
  2. SMS gateways by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What is a good way to send SMSes from my server that doesn't involve plugging my cellphone into my server and leaving it in the cage where it gets 1 bar on a good day?

    Yes, I'm aware that if people know their phone company they can give me their phone company and I can send them an sms via the email to sms gateway run by their phone company, my experience is that it drops emails 50% of the time and gets worse the more emails you send. Oh, and the SMS you get from this looks like shit.

    1. Re:SMS gateways by MetalliQaZ · · Score: 1

      In the US, most carriers have email addresses that can receive messages that get sent to SMS. (for example, vtext.com for Verizon)

      --
      "Here Lies Philip J. Fry, named for his uncle, to carry on his spirit"
    2. Re:SMS gateways by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Use one of the N services that does SMS. You will have to pay for it.

    3. Re:SMS gateways by hawguy · · Score: 1

      Use one of the N services that does SMS. You will have to pay for it.

      Twilio is one provider that provides this service.

    4. Re:SMS gateways by chipperdog · · Score: 1

      One of these or one of these if you want to do direct SMS...

  3. Not here by Sowelu · · Score: 2

    Am I just having a really, really cynical day today, or could this never work in the USA because people are much bigger jerks here?

    1. Re:Not here by Paco103 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I don't know that it's just here. I think most people are good and honest, but there's enough assholes to ruin a program like this for everyone. They'd have to have credit cards attached or something, or it would be a matter of weeks until someone either stole or destroyed them all. Unfortunately it would be the .01% of people that would ruin things like this for everybody!

    2. Re:Not here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You don't get much bigger jerks than in Slovakia.

    3. Re:Not here by SirSlud · · Score: 3, Funny

      Even when it involves being jerks, Americans think they're unique. ;)

      --
      "Old man yells at systemd"
    4. Re:Not here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Where are you? Bike sharing works well in a number of large American cities and there are some smaller community programs as well similar to Bratislava. So this isn't so much an if as a when. The NYC program is having financial problems so a lower cost system like this has a lot of appeal (although things are looking up). You can fix a lot of donated bikes for the cost of one $70K automatic bike rental station. You lose a few to accidents and jerks, but overall it works.

    5. Re:Not here by Em+Adespoton · · Score: 1

      http://tulsa-townies.com/howit...

      Credit card is used to pre-authorize until the bike is returned to a rack. Seems to me SMS would work better, as you could have them directly billed to the person's phone bill in a similar way (agreements would have to be made with the carrier).

      And yes, even in this system, there's a certain amount of damage, both to bikes and to the racks.

    6. Re:Not here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, those Northern Hungarians seem like pretty decent people, if somewhat quaint.

    7. Re:Not here by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

      They tried this "yellow bike" program in Austin in the 90s. It went about as well as you would expect. The yellow bikes lasted about a couple months until they were all gone. Shipped to Mexico.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    8. Re:Not here by Kjella · · Score: 1

      The people who want to ride the bikes are rarely the problem at all, as long as you got a credit card/safety deposit linked to them that's not a big issue. They can break it, but the service will typically eat that as part of doing business. One problem is theft by breaking the locks, which is why the city bikes around here are all a corny model with custom color. It would be fairly obvious it's not a regular for-sale bike, even if you removed the ads that pay for it. The big problem is vandalism while they're locked up. Slice open the tires or the seat, cut the brake wires or just give the wheel a solid kick and it's broken, not just one bike but a whole row in a matter of seconds. Sure it's a dick move but a lot of strange shit happens at night with drunkards roaming the streets. Around here it costs $15/year, though it's just inner city bikes and you need to return it within 3 hours which means you can't use it as a day lease to bike somewhere, spend the day and return in on your way home. I'd probably prefer the bus most of the time.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    9. Re:Not here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Am I just having a really, really cynical day today, or could this never work in the USA because people are much bigger lazy fatasses here?

      FTFY.

    10. Re:Not here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Better than at my university. A bunch of volunteers fixed up donated bikes. The bikes were brought to racks at the upper elevation of campus. Two weeks later they were all in the pond at the bottom of campus. No one wanted to fish them out.

  4. BlackBikes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I remember this - the original trial was called BlackBikes.

  5. Upkeep by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I'm a little fuzzy. With a free bike service, who pays for the maintenance?
    tires get flats, treads wear thin, chains corrode, brakes wear out, cables fray, gears rust,...

    1. Re: Upkeep by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You can have credit system enabled and charge users small fee.

    2. Re:Upkeep by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      they are designed for really really low maintenance not performance
        generally advertising and 'green' initiatives cover the running costs

      the coin / token is the best concept so far

  6. Links that should have been in the article by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    video: http://opensourcebikeshare.com/how-it-works

    code: https://github.com/mmmaly/OpenSourceBikeShare

  7. A solution looking for a problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The vast majority of people in the Netherlands and Denmark ride their own bike, and they have decades of experience.

    The only case where bike share makes sense is for commuters, so that you can leave the bike at the station, take the train, and then ride another bike to your destination.

    What gets people to ride is good cycling infrastructure and terrible motorized traffic. Expensive gasoline also helps.

  8. Copenhagen system by billstewart · · Score: 1

    The Copenhagen bike-share system is free with a deposit of a coin that's worth about $5, which unlocks the bike, and you get your coin back when you relock it to a bikeshare rack. As the tourist guidebooks say, if you don't want to go to the trouble of returning your bike to the rack, a local bum will happily do it for you. (Ifound this to be correct, even when "not returning the bike" meant "hiding it in the shadows behind the store I was popping in to" - there wasn't a bikeshare rack nearby.)

    --

    Bill Stewart
    New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
    1. Re:Copenhagen system by jemmyw · · Score: 1

      Was free. That system was abolished in 2012 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C...

      They have the white bikes now, which I've used but they're quite pricey, and there's no bum replacement service. They do have electric motors and GPS, so I guess they're more aimed towards tourists than casual use.

  9. Stop, Hammertime! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    All i can think of is the guy from bratislava in eurotrip haha

    1. Re: Stop, Hammertime! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You would be idiot thinking trash movies like that equal reality. I believe you are not an idiot.

  10. They weren't the first service of its kind by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So where's the story here? I don't see the big innovation. Googling suggests the service in Bratislava started out in 2001. Bike-sharing technologies have been around longer in Europe. E.g., a phone-based bike-rental service dubbed "Call a Bike" existed in Munich since 2000. Computer-based locks on bikes existed in Amsterdam since 1999. Etc.

    1. Re: They weren't the first service of its kind by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They were open source, so anybody could grab code and start their own?

  11. raep by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Aaah! Rideshare! Bikeshare! Just wait until somebody gets raepd!

    1. Re: raep by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bike share is hardly rideshare, get your shirt together

  12. had this in college by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We had an unspoken system like this in college, though not everyone participated.
    People would just leave the bikes unlocked by the dorms etc and you could just take them and ride them to where you were going.