Availability

This is frequently the kind of availability I see when I open the app

This is not something I blame JUMP for, but it was my biggest barrier to use I experienced. There just aren’t enough bikes. SFMTA inexplicably capped the number of bikes at 250. There’s no indication this number is based on anything. It’s just the number they pulled out of the hat, couched in language attributing it to “San Francisco’s unique operating environment”. They just launched in Sacramento with 900 bikes. They have 400 in DC. They are planning to put 400 in Providence.

If we are fortunate, they may add another 250 bikes at some point. But even SFMTA’s blog post can’t really articulate a good reason why. But it already seems clear these bikes are a net good service for the City. The trial window is excessive and excludes these mobility options from so many folks because the bikes are concentrated in the same neighborhoods they always are. Why not create the opportunity for JUMP to succeed in the Outer Sunset by putting more bikes out there? I don’t know.

It’s not uncommon to see this many bikes outside the zones

I’m concerned they artificially capped the number so low. If the proposal is to study them, why not allow a sufficient amount to cover the entire city instead of leaving out the same neighborhoods that always get left out from new mobility options? People want to get out of their cars, or create more space on our transit for folks who may need or appreciate that mobility option more. Let’s give them the opportunity.

As to how this played out in real life, I frequently could not find a bike in Inner Richmond when I needed one. That’s embarrassing. How is that good for the pilot? I have no clue. You’d definitely see a lot more rides out of the Richmond with more bikes if you asked me. SFMTA is creating bad data with this cap. Artificial scarcity is bad. But the gods of process must be satiated. So we are stuck with bad options. It’s a shame.

However, there’s no point in just complaining about it here. Reach out to SFMTA and let them know what you think of this. Perhaps they can articulate where they are on adding the next 250 bikes, which won’t be eligible until October 2018, or how they arrived at that number. I plan to ask, since I haven’t seen a good explanation anywhere, and share many of these same thoughts.