GTrusted

We've seen how easy it is to use the Mobike shared bike service in Shanghai (see How to Use the Mobike Shared Bike Service). Let's see how the Portland government did with its Nike sponsored BIKETOWN shared bike service found in downtown Portland, Oregon.

Both Mobike and BIKETOWN use the same orange color so it's common to see fleets of orange bikes around Portland just like in Shanghai and other China cities. The main difference in Portland is that there are fixed areas with stands to lock the bikes whereas in China, there are simply white lines demarking where you should park the bikes. Whereas these BIKETOWN stands are more expensive to set up and maintain, it reduces a lot of the problems in China where people can park the bikes everywhere creating management problems with many bikes just abandoned on the side of the road.

To compare the BIKETOWN experience with Mobike, we used the Huawei P10 to download the BIKETOWNpdx App from Google Play.

  

When you open up the App, there are various introduction screens on how to use BIKETOWN.

  

  

  

To use the App, you need to register a new BIKETOWN account. You can select what type of plan you want to use. The rates for BIKETOWN are significantly higher than Mobike- In Mobike you can put in a refundable deposit and then use the bikes at almost next to nothing prices, for BIKETOWN you need to pay at least $2.5 per trip fee with no down payment if you choose a Single Ride plan.  

  

After choosing your plan, you need to enter your personal information.

  

Next you need to create both a password and a PIN. 

  

You can then add a credit card and purchase an initial amount to fill your account.

  

  

You will then get assigned an account number. Needing to remember account numbers and PIN's is not as convenient as the Mobike App where you simply need to scan QR codes and go.

There are a couple of ways to get a bike. You can find a bike in Portland through the App and then press one of the buttons to wake up the bike.

    

The bike needs a long amount of time to find a network. This is a significant disadvantage compared to Mobike where you use your phone's always on 3G/4G network to unlock the bike.

Once the network is found, you can then enter in your account number.  The BIKETOWN bike's use of keypads is another problem waiting to happen since some keypads may stop working or be very unresponsive. Mobike doesn't use a keypad on the bike, again with entry user inputs being through the phone.

You can also reserve a bike at a bike hub location visible on the App.  

The first time we tried to reserve a bike at SW Naito at Ankeny Plaza, the App chose Bike 0985 to be used.

   

We could locate the Bike 0985 at the back of the bike.

While we could see that the bike showed that it was reserved, the keypad was extremely unresponsive. We were unable to even press the unlock button to go to the next screen despite multiple attempts and waiting around.

Eventually we gave up and cancelled the reservation. So much for our first try with BIKETOWN.  

   

We tried to make another reservation at the same bike hub but got assigned the same Bike 0985 even though we had already reported a problem with this bike.

  

We then cancelled the reservation again and had to find another bike hub location.

 

This time at SW 3rd at Ankeny, we were able to reserve another Bike 0422.

    

When we found the bike it was searching for a network.

After being patient, the Bike is Reserved screen came up.

This time we could unlock the bike and enter in the PIN code. Having to remember the PIN code is quite inconvenient compared to Mobike where you can just scan the QR code to unlock the bike

Once the PIN code is entered, the bike becomes unlocked.

When unlocked, the bike display starts showing the time duration, distance, and cost associated with the trip.

Unlocking the bike involves taking out a large metal bar which then needs to be added to the side of the bike.

This metal bar adds both weight and cost to the bike compared to Mobike which just locks the back wheel without needing a separate bar. Having the metal bar allows the user to lock the bike to other bike stands and shows the difference in philosophy between the BIKETOWN and Mobike business model and environment.

Taking the BIKETOWN bike for a spin, it has simple braking and gear controls, making for a comfortable ride.

BIKETOWN is a great way for visitors to check out the sights around Portland and get some exercise along the bike routes along the riverfront.

After we returned the BIKETOWN bike to another bike hub, we simply had to lock the bike by inserting the metal bar back into the bike stand.

The App then records the journey as being completed and any trips less than 30 minutes don't have any additional charges beyond the $2.5 fee for the Single Ride Plan.

Compared to Mobike which is in all major cities in China each with population in the many millions, BIKETOWN is a lot more complex and costly despite just servicing Portland with a population of over half a million. Although we did see some people use the BIKETOWN service, a lot more people seemed to prefer using their own bikes. Shared bike services are a lot more common in Chinese cities as a complementary transportation service to the extensive subway and bus services covering a wide urban area.

While there are a lot of ways to make BIKETOWN less complex, lower cost, and easier to use, we hope that BIKETOWN and other similar services in the US will continue to make bike sharing a more popular and economically viable public transportation option.