more bike share launches in the neighborhood

In addition to the LimeBike launch on Tuesday, 2 additional companies have gotten the green light from the city to start operating in the same service area (south of 79th St.) as LimeBike. (LimeBike is the bright green and yellow bike. There were some at County Fair last night, remaining after Tuesday's launch shown in the photo below.)

LimeBikes

Pace bikes appeared in the neighborhood yesterday. I spotted 2 of them by the 95th St. Metra station. Those are the white bikes with blue wheel rims.

Pace bikes

I had my first Ofo bikes sighting at the 99th St. Metra station on my way home tonight. Those are the bright yellow bikes.

Ofo bikes

Each bike share company offers a distinct style of bike. LimeBike has e-assist. Pace and Ofo are regular pedal bikes without e-assist. To use each company's bike, you need to have their specific app on your smart phone. The terms of service and fee structure vary somewhat from one company to another. Because the bike itself is more expensive and the e-assist battery requires charging from time to time, LimeBike costs a little more than the regular pedal bikes. It's worth reviewing the terms of service and checking out the style and size of the bike to see if that particular company's service suits you. Take a test ride or two and see if you like it.

For now, the city is allowing both free-locking bikes (rear wheel lock with no attachment to secure bike to a lock or pole) and bikes with built-in locks for securing to a lock or pole. For each type of bike, you are responsible for the bike from the time you unlock it with the app to when you lock it at the end of your ride.

So far I've done test rides on LimeBike. That bike makes a distinct tone when you lock it to let you know that it's secure and your trip is closed out.  I'd imagine that the others do something similar.

I used a LimeBike to ride home from Metra after work tonight. The basket is a nice size for a small grocery run, buying a container of ice cream or a six pack, retrieving a takeout order, bringing home books from the library and many other uses.

What types of trips do you think you might take using bike share? Have you tried any of the bike share bikes yet? Please share your experiences in comments.