Interesting, I discovered (little known stealth change) --
Uber now operates Hamilton Bike Share. (
proof).
Not long ago, Uber purchased JUMP/Social Bicycles (maker of the SoBi bikes in Hamilton).
Then, in another move, recently the operating structure changed of SoBi Hamilton, where JUMP now operates SoBi Hamilton, with the blessing of a closed session of Hamilton City Council (gee). And guess, who's the parent? Uber. So Uber is now operating/captializing SoBi Hamilton. I hear an expansion is planned. I have mixed feelings about Uber, but it is what it is -- and if our fleet grows/renews, then I can live with it. Will go great with Keddy Access Trail (construction on Claremont confirmed to begin summer 2019) and the upcoming Cannon Bike Lane concrete curbs (now under construction, the 4-month closure has begun).
In separate knowledge,
Uber also is developing an electric scooter, so I wonder if they'll arrive in Hamilton before Toronto.
Both San Joes and Louisville had two competing electric scooter companies so I registered for both networks. It was surprisingly fast to register for both, I just scanned my credit card with my smartphone camera (one time) with the LIme app, and done -- registered in like 3 minutes. Thereafter, I simply scan QR code on the scooter to unlock the scooters -- the experience is faster than unlocking a Toronto Bike Share via Transit App or using the SoBi Hamilton keypad. I think both SoBi and Toronto Bike Share should put QR codes on all bikeshare bikes now, for faster unlocking that doesn't involve needing to see cracked screens and broken keypads. It'd just be a simply backup method of unlocking bikes -- surprisingly fast. Modern QR code scanners are so fast/reliable even with partial shadows at nighttime with AI-based QR scanner programming.
Interestingly, Lime Scooters
have already come to Hamilton City Hall for an apparently-planned 2020 arrival in Hamilton. Lime Scooters was giving Hamilton city councillors a chance to try them, and it appears we're going to be confronting the scooter boom scourge possibly before Toronto.
I talked to Hamilton city councillor JP Danko, and he's a fan of these electric scooters too. So we'll be welcoming them in 2020 here in Hamilton, apparently. We might even have competition between JUMP and Lime by 2021.
As members of both Toronto/Hamilton bike share systems and use both regularly -- analyzing the city for scooter ease -- I admit that my home city (Hamilton) has more room for scooters than Toronto does, so we might be a good trial area first before Toronto. But there's tons of room in them for Toronto largely, too -- just a bit tricky in the Front-Spadina-Bloor-Sherborne congestion-hairpull region.
In some cities, the same org does both the bikeshare/scootershare (not common). Toronto Bike Share could theoretically be the organization that adopts electric scooters, or partners with one of the scooter vendors, to integrate bikeshare+scootershare.
Nontheeless, it's an unexpected new mode in today's multimodal Bikshare/Uber society.