Bicycle hire schemes

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Do you have these bicycle hire schemes in your area? The idea is that you download an app to your mobile ’phone (this is on the assumption that everyone has a ‘phone of course, and not only that but a smart ’phone too) and then you pay using a credit/debit card or a payment app (assuming we all have one of those as well), unlock the bike, ride to your destination and then lock it up again and leave it for someone else to use if they are nearby, or else to be collected up by the staff who periodically gather the ones from out-of-the-way places. Over the last year or two we had a massive proliferation in these, and at one point bikes from four different companies were cluttering up the village. Most were left in sensible places, but some were just abandoned across the pavement, blocking gateways or even in the road – and of course a few found their way into the river. I couldn’t work out how a business could afford to buy such a large number of bikes and just leave them around. The returns from hire didn’t seem to be that great - I gather the cost was only a few pounds per ride – but I never used one because I have my own bike and anyway I’m wary of anything that tells you to download anything. There is also nothing to tell you the cost or terms until you have already signed up; why would you do that? Eventually it seemed that the businesses worked by importing a huge number of cheap bicycles from China and then basically using them as a way to harvest data regarding the movements and spending habits of the users, by linking up with a person’s mobile ’phone and credit/debit card. ‘Big data’ is the big new thing and worth far more than the actual alleged business. Now though, as suddenly as they arrived, they have almost all disappeared again. It seems that in the end the value of the information obtained did not outweigh the cost of vandalised or stolen bikes. I wonder what will be the next ploy? Have you seen these, or used them? All rights reserved. © Text and image copyright Fleur 2019.