@HaTetsu__dup_32189@mastodon.com.pl
2025-06-10 09:21 UTC
Replies (15)
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@HaTetsu@mastodon.com.pl 2025-06-10 09:27
For comparison, a monthly bus ticket valid only on Gdańsk buses and trams *on weekdays alone* would have run you 82 PLN (or half that for children and students) at the time. Mevo 1.0 was an INCREDIBLE bargain. 2/n
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@HaTetsu@mastodon.com.pl 2025-06-10 09:40
Naysayers were aplenty, and at the spring 2019 launch finding a bicycle was memetically difficult in many places: https://www.trojmiasto.pl/wiadomosci/Jak-nie-korzystac-z-roweru-Mevo-n133277.html The summer of that year, though, I cycled the hell around the cities - it was just so *cool*. Before Mevo, I think I hadn't touched a bicycle in years - when I got started, the feeling of freedom and empowerment was so great. (Is this what car lovers feel and try to protect from us public transport types?) 3/n
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@HaTetsu@mastodon.com.pl 2025-06-10 09:58
The Tricity is rather hilly - forested moraines make for some nice views and healthy climbs, but aren't very conducive to commuting by bike - especially the slope (ridge?) that divides the so-called Lower Terrace (city centers and older neighborhoods such as Wrzeszcz, Oliwa, Chylonia) from the western and southern districts on the Upper Terrace where most of the later developments are (Chełm, Migowo, Karwiny, to give some examples). E-bikes make a LOT of sense outside of the main Gdańsk-Wrzeszcz-Oliwa-Sopot-Gdynia axis here 4/n
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@HaTetsu@mastodon.com.pl 2025-06-10 10:05
This exposed a certain fatal flaw of the Nextbike E-bikes - when the assistance worked, they were a dream. It was incredibly easy to break it though - just drive off a taller curb. Yup, I learned the lesson after only a couple of times. Still, this contributed to the system's difficulties - lugging heavy batteries around with only your muscles and three gears for motive power is the opposite of fun and liberating, after all 5/n
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@HaTetsu@mastodon.com.pl 2025-06-10 10:07
And before you ask, I seem to recall there having been an 'eligible' curb at some junction on some cycling path somewhere, don't remember exactly. 6/n
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@HaTetsu@mastodon.com.pl 2025-06-10 10:35
Nonetheless, the joy was real, but so was the shadow of financial difficulties. Already in May, the local portal Trojmiasto.pl wrote about worries about the unsustainability of the system: https://www.trojmiasto.pl/wiadomosci/Radykalne-pomysly-jak-rozwiazac-problem-z-dzialaniem-Mevo-n134220.html Some local opposition politicians and activists accused Nextbike of knowingly underestimating the costs of the project and under-investing into the NB Tricity company that actually ran the system. Others blamed the city halls that participated in the tender procedure. Milions of PLN in fines had been issued already - but who would pick up the bill in the end was uncertain 7/n
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@HaTetsu@mastodon.com.pl 2025-06-10 10:43
Their fears proved correct - by the start of October, NB Tricity was basically broke: https://www.trojmiasto.pl/wiadomosci/Nextbike-operator-Mevo-prosi-wierzycieli-o-uklad-n138529.html And by the end of October, Mevo 1.0 was officially over: https://www.trojmiasto.pl/wiadomosci/Mevo-przestalo-dzialac-Operator-zlozy-wniosek-o-upadlosc-n139270.html (Just in time for All Hallows' Day, you might say) 8/n
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@HaTetsu@mastodon.com.pl 2025-06-10 11:05
The summer dream may have been over, but the politicians refused to give up, even though the public mood had been soured by the ordeal (which would later fuel negative attitudes towards the Fala project that is meant to unite the Tricity's disparate, yet kind of shared, public transport tariffs and bring contactless payments to the whole voivodeship). Stations, which didn't have any special docking equipment (the bikes relied on O-locks), stayed and were promptly taken over by the ensuing e-scooter wave: https://www.trojmiasto.pl/wiadomosci/Hulajnogi-zamiast-rowerow-Nowe-zycie-stojakow-Mevo-n140460.html Planning and tendering procedures stretched on, perhaps partly due to COVID, perhaps partly due to the sour mood, perhaps partly due to Nextbike's insistence on being included in the tender, but in mid-2021, Spanish City Bike Global (now known as Inurba) won the tender for Mevo 2.0: https://www.trojmiasto.pl/wiadomosci/Najnizsza-oferta-159-mln-zl-za-Mevo-2-0-n158169.html Amid some more delays with regard to signing the final contract, test runs quietly started in November 2021: https://www.trojmiasto.pl/wiadomosci/Mevo-2-0-na-testach-w-Gdansku-n161523.html 9/n
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@HaTetsu@mastodon.com.pl 2025-06-10 11:16
The new system would be composed of e-bikes only in part, and it was originally envisioned that the Nextbike bikes would be stripped of the electric parts and used as the 'conventional' component. The new company was given a year to get things going and was expected to start in the spring of 2023. Prices would be raised, and a monthly subscription would cost 30 PLN for two hours of 'conventional' biking a day (or 0.15 PLN/min for pay-as-you-go - a minute of e-biking would be worth two 'conventional' minutes). This pricing structure has held up thus far, despite inflation. 10/n
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@HaTetsu@mastodon.com.pl 2025-06-10 12:02
What has changed completely before launch, however, were the bikes themselves: On one hand, the plan to reuse Mevo 1.0 bikes was scrapped and a new fleet was introduced. On the other... You may remember City Bike Global from Nordic cities. Such as Stockholm. Where the Vaimoo e-bikes that were supposed to be used in Mevo as well literally started coming apart in sub-zero temperatures. Not to mention, the factory wasn't keeping up with deliveries, either: https://www.trojmiasto.pl/wiadomosci/Mevo-lapie-opoznienie-Bedzie-konieczna-wymiana-rowerow-n177858.html 11/n
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@HaTetsu@mastodon.com.pl 2025-06-10 12:17
This, however, would turn out to be a blessing in disguise - a quick decision led to Vaimoo being replaced with Segway Ninebot: https://www.trojmiasto.pl/wiadomosci/Segway-uratuje-Mevo-Nowe-rowery-jeszcze-w-sierpniu-n178421.html And let me tell you, those things are *luxurious* as far as bike-sharing goes: automatic gear shifting, tubeless tires (no popping worries!), phone mounts with Qi wireless charging… They are also 40 kg monsters that you really don't want to push up a hill or get hit by. The assistance can also vary from bike to bike - I heard that it can be adjusted remotely, and during early tests I found it to be way too responsive - they had a heck of a launch and you could cruise at 25 km/h while barely pedalling at all - but these days it's more reasonable, though I think it depends on battery level. To me, that decision salvaged the whole project, really. (Well, the continued bike infra improvements probably helped too) 12/n
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@HaTetsu@mastodon.com.pl 2025-06-10 12:31
In order to accurately gauge the performance of the new operator and (presumably) encourage Tricity residents to give bike-sharing a second chance, free public trial operation was launched in Sptember 2023: https://www.trojmiasto.pl/wiadomosci/Mozna-juz-jezdzic-Mevo-Bez-oplat-ale-pod-kilkoma-warunkami-n181949.html The total lack of fees other than 10 PLN fees for parking outside stations (now non-refundable) resulted in difficulties finding bikes and a good amount of rule-breaking: https://www.trojmiasto.pl/wiadomosci/Testy-Mevo-w-obecnym-ksztalcie-nie-maja-sensu-czas-je-przerwac-n182305.html In response, time limits were introduced in October: https://www.trojmiasto.pl/wiadomosci/Mevo-Od-dzis-ograniczenia-czasowe-i-oplaty-n182689.html And hundreds of thousands of PLN in penalties were levied: https://www.trojmiasto.pl/wiadomosci/270-tys-zl-kar-dla-uzytkownikow-Mevo-Rekordzista-dostal-12-tys-n182749.html 13/n
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@HaTetsu@mastodon.com.pl 2025-06-10 12:46
The system officially re-launched in November 2023, which was criticized, because who would ride bikes in winter? As it turned out, probably over 10 thousand people. The following spring, the full summer complement of bikes was made available, and has been functioning fairly well since then. It isn't the insanely cheap mobility of Mevo 1.0, but appears to be financially sustainable and... worth it, simply! Covid-era cuts to public transport schedules that were only partially reversed and fare hikes have reinforced Mevo's position in our mobility landscape. It didn't kill e-scooters completely, but the better prices helped push them back and they aren't nearly the scourge they used to be a few years ago. I believe it's here to stay. 14/16
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@HaTetsu@mastodon.com.pl 2025-06-10 12:54
There was one unfortunate recent episode, however - in February 2025, a fire burned down an old warehouse in Przeróbka, Gdańsk that, among others, held the summer complement of Mevo bikes (there was a lot of important stuff there, not to mention the building itself, which is where Berlin S-Bahn cars seized by the Russians were rebuilt for use on the newborn Tricity SKM, that was lost - the cause was apparently an illegal drug factory): https://www.trojmiasto.pl/wiadomosci/Duzy-pozar-hali-na-Przerobce-n198850.html (Yes, the battery fire theories started spreading immediately 🙄) They have yet to be replenished, as far as I know, but the system remains functioning. 15/16
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@HaTetsu@mastodon.com.pl 2025-06-10 13:24
PS: Another advantage of Mevo 2.0 over Mevo 1.0 is that the new system doesn't require providing an identity number (PESEL), which the original did. Binding detailed records of one's journeys to that feels icky in retrospect 16/16 fin