This weekend I tried a one-day pass to Melbourne's bike share scheme. I did find the initial process a bit clumsy with 80 pages of terms and conditions to agree to.
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| At least it's not an EULA with "I Agree" at the bottom of the document. |
Also I didn't realise that it was a two-step process in that I had to buy the one-day pass and then get a bike-unlock code separately. If there was some prompt on the screen, it wasn't helped by the poor lighting at the Flagstaff Gardens station where I completed my transaction.
The bike itself feels 'squishy' in the same way that a recent Holden Commodore feels squishy with the steering. It's good in that the bike bounces over bumps but quickly runs out of gears. The frame shape is very practical. The bell, however, doesn't seem to work so well - I think it was supposed to work by rotating the cuff around. I could not find a lever. Also, the bike seems to auto-correct steering back to straight. It's not a twitchy bike at all.
The station where I started from had two bikes with loaner helmets. This seemed to be a common number for the stations that I passed. There was no 7-11 store for me to buy a helmet nearby. I probably wouldn't want to as it'd be annoying to carry around a helmet with me.
The website states that you need to wait five minutes between rentals. However...
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| Keep your trips under thirty minutes and take two minute breaks. |
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I'm sure you've seen the bike-only lane on Swanston Street and how wonderful it is. Here's Collins Street instead.
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| Drain is about shoulder width. |
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| It's always good fun when your bike lane exists entirely in the door zone. |
