How I tried to take a bike in a public bicycle rental in St. Petersburg. A look from the IT side
Yesterday in St. Petersburg officially earned a public bike rental with many points in the city. The event was interested, so I was not too lazy to go and try out and find out how everything works. Interest was from the point of view of IT, the quality and level of great interest me much less. Therefore, I think that the article may be of interest to the habrosocommunity.
Ps hubs chose neatly mated articles. Ideally suitable, I think not.
Being a supporter of the ecological lifestyle, I have always tried to be interested in cycling infrastructure. There are a lot of rental points in St. Petersburg, the community is large, but until yesterday there was no movement from the state. Got the announcement that on July 3 a public city bike rental opens. Began to study and dig.
')
The first difficulty was to find out the official website of this bike rental. In one article I found a link to velobikespb.ru, but this domain was not even registered. I wrote to different activists, constantly monitored news from popular media (thanks to Google with its search option for the last hour). As a result, I got a real site - http://velobike-spb.ru/ . Immediately, there was disappointment, because the site was “closed” in a very primitive way: by redirecting from the main page to the internal one, on which only the logo was located. Not serious, especially considering that the internal pages were available. It was necessary only to know the exact addresses.
Misses the current stage:
When the site was still closed, but it was possible to walk through the internal pages, I tried to register. Did not work, closed. Writes "not enough rights." I called technical support, they said registration will be available on the morning of the official opening. The next day, in the morning, the site was opened for viewing, but you still cannot register. Those. support said that at 16:00 will open.
Ok. Waited registered. Began to deal with pricing to pay. As far as I understood, the principle is the same as in the Moscow bicycle rental (they even say that old Moscow was brought to St. Petersburg). There are two payments:
Accordingly, before taking the bike, it is necessary that on the current date you have paid for a subscription for the right to use and at least 50 rubles to pay for the trip.
He paid, the money in the account did not appear. Instead of 0, it became minus 100. Not understanding what was happening, I tried again to press the "activate tariff" button, I was sent to the payment page (third-party service). I came out, as a result, it became minus 200. I called technical support, telling the situation. While talking money came. They promised to return the fee for the subscription. Ex. Remains the practical part - to test great. By the way, payment notices came in English, which hints at borrowing the entire system from abroad.
Misses the current stage:
The site has a decent map with accessibility by bike. Here, in principle, there are no complaints. Where I wanted to come, there were bicycles. I remembered my number and pincode, went to Chernyshevskaya. Nearby are a bunch of interested passers-by, and no one from knowledgeable personnel. I tried pressing the buttons - there is no reaction. Then the screen went out completely. (by the way, they work on solar energy, which is extremely curious. in St. Petersburg there is little alas). I was upset, but did not despair and decided to go to the next metro station.
At Vosstaniya, there was a staff who pasted stickers with an advertisement for a Moscow bike. With me he pulled one great. I thought, hooray, everything works here. As it turned out, in order for the tsiforki to be pressed, you first had to “start” the console by pressing the “on” button. Brilliant !!! This is not written anywhere. But this is a problem the first time. Perhaps with Chernyshevskoy I left in vain. Then everything is simple, the interface is a little thoughtful. Between entering the pincode and choosing a bike, I had to wait 30 seconds.
The bike was surprisingly good, with three speeds. You can comfortably ride around the city. A detailed description will be left for cycling forums. Renting is great is easier than taking. The main thing that he committed
Misses the current stage:
Summary
In general, there is much to develop, I wish the project to take off, and St. Petersburg has more bike paths.
Some more pictures:
The bikes themselves
Interested people
Ps hubs chose neatly mated articles. Ideally suitable, I think not.
How it all began
Being a supporter of the ecological lifestyle, I have always tried to be interested in cycling infrastructure. There are a lot of rental points in St. Petersburg, the community is large, but until yesterday there was no movement from the state. Got the announcement that on July 3 a public city bike rental opens. Began to study and dig.
')
The first difficulty was to find out the official website of this bike rental. In one article I found a link to velobikespb.ru, but this domain was not even registered. I wrote to different activists, constantly monitored news from popular media (thanks to Google with its search option for the last hour). As a result, I got a real site - http://velobike-spb.ru/ . Immediately, there was disappointment, because the site was “closed” in a very primitive way: by redirecting from the main page to the internal one, on which only the logo was located. Not serious, especially considering that the internal pages were available. It was necessary only to know the exact addresses.
Misses the current stage:
- If we closed the site, it was necessary to make a normal landing page. With the form of collecting emails, for example, and the further purpose of reporting open registration on the site. Or at least add some text with information when registration becomes publicly available.
- Immediately negative impression of the site design. Ala 2000s The feeling that they took the standard template and put the logo. Imkho so now it is impossible
We try to work with the site
When the site was still closed, but it was possible to walk through the internal pages, I tried to register. Did not work, closed. Writes "not enough rights." I called technical support, they said registration will be available on the morning of the official opening. The next day, in the morning, the site was opened for viewing, but you still cannot register. Those. support said that at 16:00 will open.
Ok. Waited registered. Began to deal with pricing to pay. As far as I understood, the principle is the same as in the Moscow bicycle rental (they even say that old Moscow was brought to St. Petersburg). There are two payments:
- For the right to use. You have to pay to love. If you take the season, the price is very affordable - 950 rubles. Per day - 100 rubles.
- For the actual travel time. The first half hour is free, more payment appears incrementally
Accordingly, before taking the bike, it is necessary that on the current date you have paid for a subscription for the right to use and at least 50 rubles to pay for the trip.
Payment
He paid, the money in the account did not appear. Instead of 0, it became minus 100. Not understanding what was happening, I tried again to press the "activate tariff" button, I was sent to the payment page (third-party service). I came out, as a result, it became minus 200. I called technical support, telling the situation. While talking money came. They promised to return the fee for the subscription. Ex. Remains the practical part - to test great. By the way, payment notices came in English, which hints at borrowing the entire system from abroad.
Misses the current stage:
- Deposit funds should be instant. Users really don't like their money to evaporate.
- The personal account menu is intuitively incomprehensible. Below is a screenshot. For example, what is the difference between rental and rental bikes? The first one just shows what I took and where. The second is empty. As if the same.
- Found a bug with the repeated withdrawal of the subscription for the already paid period. Today they phoned saying that they fixed it.
- The subscription payment interface is also confusing, to be honest
Travel list
Tariff activation (subscription fee)
Notification of funds crediting
Menu
Take and rent a bike
The site has a decent map with accessibility by bike. Here, in principle, there are no complaints. Where I wanted to come, there were bicycles. I remembered my number and pincode, went to Chernyshevskaya. Nearby are a bunch of interested passers-by, and no one from knowledgeable personnel. I tried pressing the buttons - there is no reaction. Then the screen went out completely. (by the way, they work on solar energy, which is extremely curious. in St. Petersburg there is little alas). I was upset, but did not despair and decided to go to the next metro station.
At Vosstaniya, there was a staff who pasted stickers with an advertisement for a Moscow bike. With me he pulled one great. I thought, hooray, everything works here. As it turned out, in order for the tsiforki to be pressed, you first had to “start” the console by pressing the “on” button. Brilliant !!! This is not written anywhere. But this is a problem the first time. Perhaps with Chernyshevskoy I left in vain. Then everything is simple, the interface is a little thoughtful. Between entering the pincode and choosing a bike, I had to wait 30 seconds.
Here is the remote
The bike was surprisingly good, with three speeds. You can comfortably ride around the city. A detailed description will be left for cycling forums. Renting is great is easier than taking. The main thing that he committed
Misses the current stage:
- It is not immediately clear how to activate the remote;
- On the first day, volunteer support could be organized at each rack. I, for example, would not leave with Chernyshevskaya, and the guy at the BKZ would not try to tear off great;
Summary
- The backlog of the practical part of the PR;
- In principle, working rental, critical functions are implemented;
- Good, intelligible and pleasant tech support
In general, there is much to develop, I wish the project to take off, and St. Petersburg has more bike paths.
Some more pictures:
The bikes themselves
Interested people
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/228679/
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