Social Bicycles, the maker of Jump Bikes, just got permitted to run a fleet of stationless e-bikes in the city of San Francisco. The permit runs for 18-months and the service will be evaluated at that time (for the possibility of extending the contract).
Stationless? It means you can rent a Jump Bike (that is the name of the brand, you’re not suppose to jump them) and when you get to where you want to go, you leave it there. This eliminates the need to return your rented e-bike to a specific destination. A phone app will help riders find available bikes and reserve them.
The program kicks off in April and I’m planning to take a trip to San Fran to try out a Jump Bike (kind of defeats the whole green angle) because San Francisco is one of my favorite cities to visit and least-favorite city to move around.
Social Bicycles removes bicycle ownership from the rider’s responsibility. As an adult rider who has owned at least 25 bikes, this is a weird concept to wrap my head around, but I can see how renting instead of owning an e-bike could greatly enhance the San Francisco experience for residents, commuters and tourists.