So, I’m still out of town (in Chicago now), so I still have not ridden a Pronto bike. And to think I call myself a bike blogger!
Now that you’ve had a few days to get used to the system, how are things going?
Looking at bike distribution data, it does not appear that there are any critical unbalancing issues yet. For example, there are fewer bikes at Capitol Hill stations fewer empty docks downtown as of late morning on a work day, which is exactly what you’d expect. But so far, no stations are completely full and no Capitol Hill stations are completely empty (the only empty station is on the edge of the service area near Key Arena).
Oliver O’Brien’s bike share tracking website is a great tool to visualize bike distribution, as is the official Pronto station map. The Spotcycle mobile app is a great way to make sure your dock has a bike for you when you’re on the run. If you want to use Pronto data in your app or project, here the link to the feed (at I think so, I don’t know what any of it means).
One size never fits all
Though the bikes and helmets are designed to fit a whole lot of people of different sizes, some people have reported issues. Sounds like you can’t be much taller than 6’2″ or so and expect the bikes to fit very well. This might mean that the Arcade-made bikes have a lower height maximum than the Bixi bikes used in other cities like New York and Chicago, which apparently have a height limit around 6’8″. But the Bixi bikes have been a challenge for people in the 5′ range. If you are on the tall or short end of the Pronto limits, what has your experience been like?
Others reported that the free helmets are too tight for those with larger craniums, but Pronto says more helmet sizes are on order.
Geekwire’s Taylor Soper has a good post about his first ride on the system, which includes screenshots of the check-out process. It’s a pretty positive review considering the machine swallowed his friend’s credit card (has that happened to anyone else?).
Pronto parties
As the Urbanist reports, Pronto is throwing a series of free neighborhood rides this month. Details:
Capitol Hill – Saturday, 10/18 @ 1PM
Start: Pine and 16th End: Seattle Central College
South Lake Union – Sunday, 10/19 @ 1PM
Start: REI (Yale and John) End: SLU Park
Seattle Center/Waterfront – Saturday, 10/25 @ 1 PM
Start: Key Arena End: Pier 69
Downtown – Sunday, 10/26 @ 1 PM
Start: 2nd and University End: 6th and King
Let us know your thoughts on Pronto so far below.
Comments
47 responses to “So, Pronto is a few days old. How’s it going?”
My experience on launch day was that the checkout process was incredibly fast and easy. I had incorrectly assumed that I, as an existing Pronto member, would have to go to the kiosk machine to checkout a bike. But instead I just had to insert my key into the slot right above the front tire of the bike I was checking out. It took literally 3 seconds for me to check out a bike and be ready to ride.
As for the helmets, I got mine a few days prior at REI and even though my helmet size has always only been in the medium-to-large range, the Pronto helmets were too small for my head. I instead brought my own helmet to the launch since I (correctly) assumed that they would require us to wear helmets on the ride-out from Occidental Park to distribute the bikes to the stations.
I don’t forsee the helmet size issue to be a big deal because I think most people are not going to wear a helmet. (disclosure: I am pro helmet but anti-helmet law because I believe, and it seems that all the data shows, that helmet laws reduce bicycle use which ends up making bicycling less safe for everyone)
I’m one of the too-tall folks. Kind of bummed out, but they refunded my membership fee no problem. I’d love it if they had a larger size bike available in the future.
Since the bikes don’t go to Fremont, they are of limited use to me but I have still ridden them around downtown mostly just for fun so far. SLU is often a hot mess for buses, so it’s nice to have the option to jump off a bus and take a bike if the bus gets stuck.
I, too, appreciate the incredibly fast check-out/in procedure for members. Having to stop and get a helmet at the kiosk or carry one around will probably end up being too much work for me, and kind of goes against the purpose of just hopping on and going.
I took one up Spring between 2nd and 3rd just to see if I could- and it wasn’t any worse than on my other bikes. The low gearing is great, but going southbound on 2nd, my gears topped out after about a block, so you aren’t going to win any races (which obviously, is totally not the point for these bikes). Another bonus is that I can wear a tight skirt and actually ride these bikes, as opposed to the bikes that I own that I wouldn’t even be able to get a leg over the top tube.
Yes! I rode one to a bar the other night wearing a skirt and boots- it was comfortable and easy to step through on this bike! I’d never be able to get away with this on my regular road bike. It’s so nice to have another option!
Every time I’m on one of these it strikes up a conversation with pedestrians and other cyclists. Everybody wants to know what these bikes are like and my best response is that they’re “Fun.” Plain and simple. Fun and easy to ride.
A tip for riding with a skirt.
http://grist.org/list/easy-tip-for-biking-in-a-skirt-put-a-penny-in-yo-pants/
Thank you.
Here’s where the SDOT’s 24-foot-wide sidewalks on Mercer Street will start to pay off, for Pronto users who don’t wish to be mowed down. Should be interesting.
It will be great when they expand the service area to more neighborhoods. Fremont is obvious. Wallingford, Ballard as well. Omission of the stadiums seems unfortunate. Alki/ Alaska Junction too.
I saw people using them the first couple of days, but then it rained and haven’t seen much of them since.
I wish the Alaska airlines rear wheel cover thing was backlit integrated into the generator hub. It would make the ads more noticeable (good for the airline who ponied up the cash) and the bikes more visible from the side in the low-light months (good for everyone).
I also would like to see expansion to west seattle, though integration with the rest of the network would be a challenge since the ride from west seattle to downtown pushes the 30 minute window a bit for a lot of folks. Especially with the top gear of the 7 speed internal hub not being super high.
3 Stations could link the Alki commercial area to downtown: Alki Bathhouse, Water Taxi Dock and 1st and Lander in SODO. These last two locations could be less than a 30 minute ride apart assuming the bridge is not up or the trains are not blocking the route. If not, you spend an extra $2, still cheaper than the bus.
Not bad. Plus a station at 1st and lander would be pretty useful on game days as well as kind of a park and ride. And I completely forgot about the water taxi, that’s a quick way into town in itself as the boat accommodates bikes well.
Yesterday I rode it from near the train station to the Key Arena location. Prior to this just a rode it a short station to nearest station. The bikes are really comfortable to ride for a 5’4″ person. The docking station was mostly full at the train station but there was a dock or two open. Several places were open when I got to Key Arena. The key fob is great for quick check out. I still don’t like the baggage holder on front. A true basket would be more useful for non-structure bags or not bag at all but wanting to throw in you keys and wallet.
Forgot to mention it was nice to have the option to bike home even though I bussed to work in the morning without having to load my bike on the bus for the night right home.
(Reposting from other thread)
Rode a couple of bikes on Monday. Customer-service had to get my key activated properly, but that was quick & easy. The station (43rd & University Ave) had no helmets, but that didn’t matter, as I found out later that one-size-fits-all does not fit me. I brought my own helmet for just such an eventuality, so no big.
Checking out a bike is super-quick (like < 5 seconds) and returning is even faster (like a second). Much better than car2gos, where locking & unlocking (and adjusting mirrors & seat, etc.) can add several minutes to a trip. The bike easily adjusted to fit me (I'm 5'11", and set the seat to position 12), though I did find that the seat felt a bit too far forward. Not a huge deal.
Riding, the steel frame, squishy seat & big tires mean that it does pretty well on rough streets, which is appreciated, given the coverage area. The upright position means that not much weight is on your hands, so they don't get rattled-out, either. Brakes & gear-shifting felt solid.
These bikes are slow. Really slow. Also heavy. I spent most of my time on the flat in gears 6 or 7, and every time I nudged up to 14-15mph or so, my legs ran out of RPMs. Even a gentle downhill doesn't get much faster. Going up any sort of hill, you're going to want to be patient, use your gears, and don't try to make the light at the top.
I think, if the program is as popular as we hope, this will be the death of "vehicular cycling" as a design concept in Seattle. Vehicular riding kinda relies on you being able to sprint up to near-traffic speeds on occasion (~20mph), when merging & turning, and that's effectively impossible on a Pronto.
If any significant # of people are using these on Seattle streets, dedicated bike infrastructure better get deployed fast, as otherwise many 2-lane streets will be limited to 5-10 mph, depending on grade.
Very valid points. I rode one this morning on my commute into work instead my regular bike and found that I wasn’t able to sprint to make lights like I usually can (on my regular bike.) The weight of the bike forced me to slow down and ride at a much more leisurely pace. I normally have no problem keeping up with buses on 3rd Ave in the morning on my bike- on these bikes, I wouldn’t even consider it.
Concerning the end of vehicular cycling by design, I was thinking the same thing. Riding around on Pronto made me wish even more that we had more “8 – 80” safe cycling infrastructure.
My normal style of riding and routes taken just don’t work on Probto bikes. The acceleration and speed just aren’t there, so without safe dedicated infrastructure I felt greatly limited as to where I felt comfortable going. I hope the mayor lights a fire under SDOT to greatly accelerate the building of safe routes where one can leisurely bike around downtown.
Good points. At 5’10 I feel like I am at the upper height limit of the bike and seatpost and it does feel I am leaning really far forward. I am surprised at how slow they are. It took 20 minutes to get from Eastlake to Seattle Central CC and I felt like I was trying to go as fast as I could. Definitely good for cruising though!
Got a lot of questions about it – maybe because it was due to me riding in the rain today.
I took a bike for a spin at lunch. I’m on the tall side, so the bike was a bit too small, which was different from my experiences with other bike shares. But, I still enjoyed the ride. The bike is definitely geared slow, which was fine because I was in my work clothes anyway, and it was great for a quick ride from city hall to 7th and pine. The slow speed definitely steered me toward safer routes (like 2nd ave), but the bike was great for getting up the steep hill between 2nd and 4th.
I was disappointed that my free helmet was too small. Not surprising, I have a giant head, so I’ll just get a second one to keep in the office for when I don’t bike to work. The check out process was super easy, better than my experience in NYC.
All in all, I’m glad bikeshare is here and hope it grows.
They’re a little small for me too (6’2″ here) but I can’t complain too much, because I’ve already used them for errands, meetings, and a couple commutes. I love my road bike, but the flat pedals of Pronto (yay, dress shoes!) plus not having to deal with locks? Priceless.
I love the stations around UW! I used them this week to get to and from meetings around campus, and it was awesome. If there were more stations, it would be even more convenient – but as it is, I still anticipate using the bikes daily at work.
This makes me wonder whether Pronto and UW Transportation might work out some kind of deal: with more frequent stations around campus, and with a quarterly membership option for students a-la UPass, I think that Pronto could quickly become a primary mode of transportation for students & faculty around campus.
How did Montlake Freeway Station get left out of the Pronto network? It would be quite useful for UW students that live on the Eastside and ride the bus.
The only issue with that station would be that all morning long the guys with a truck would be driving bikes back to the station and in the afternoon removing bikes so that there would be openings to park.
Still it would make a lot of sense to have one over near Husky Stadium/ Link Light Rail station. I could see that station getting more traffic that isn’t just one way.
The flyer stop, for now, is a popular place for people that live all over northern Seattle to catch a bus to eastside jobs, too…
The only problem is that their residences are too dispersed to blanket with bikeshare stations. Unfortunately it’s also an unattractive place to park your own bike due to high theft rates, which I’m sure is one of the reasons so many people attach their bikes to buses for the trip across the lake. More secure bike parking there could help…
To some extent, any bikeshare station oriented at first-mile/last-mile for transit integration is going to have to deal with somewhat uni-directional demand that would require re-balancing. Even in the worst case, where a guy has to constantly drive back and forth in a truck, it’s still cheaper than running extra buses to move people the same distances.
In the case of Montlake/520, however, I don’t the demand would be that uni-directional. To a large extent, Microsoft commuters and UW commuters would naturally balance each other out. Especially since many of the UW commuters will be on buses that already go through the U-district, in which case, the natural inclination will be to just stay on the bus.
The real reason it wasn’t built was probably a question of money. Pretty much every station more than a mile or so from downtown has some private entity sponsoring it. The UW and Children’s Hospital are sponsors of Pronto. Sound Transit is not.
How much of the rebalancing question could be addressed with “sale pricing” on longer rides?
Whenever a station is full, the first bike out is allowed 60 or 90 minutes free instead of 30.
That would provide a small incentive for users to take bikes from the overloaded stations, and added time to get the bike further away from the overloaded station, at essentially zero net cost to Pronto unless ordinary use would have put every bike in the station back on the road within an hour.
Wouldn’t work for particularly remote stations that have significant capacity issues, but it might help with smaller rebalancing needs without bringing out the truck.
I live on Capitol Hill and have an electric bicycle and no car. I joined bike share because I want to support it and also so I can use a Pronto bike for short trips to the library or downtown and I don’t have to worry about my expensive bike being locked up on the street for hours someplace in harms way. I live 2 blocks from the 16th & Pine station. I was at the Pronto rollout on Monday and deployed a bike to the 2nd & University station (it’s nice they honored Sher Kung in the station name.) I rode 6 different bikes on Monday. They are a bit clunky compared to mine, but no big deal. Derailleur adjustment was a bit off on one bike. The Pronto brakes are much less effective than my hydraulic disk brakes and I found I needed to mentally adjust to that. The one thing that was a bit annoying is that after you check in a bike, you have to wait 3 minutes before you can check out another one, so switching off bikes 5 times cost me 15 minutes of waiting around for the system to reinitialize. I have been to 33 of the 50 stations so far, with all of the ones left to visit mostly in the downtown area. The tricky station to find so far was the E Blaine & Fairview Ave station. It is on the SE corner of the intersection on Blaine St where there is a 3 story building blocking the view, so if you are riding north on Fairview and don’t look to the right as you pass Blaine St you’ll miss the station. I missed it and had to backtrack to find it. Maybe they should put a Pronto sign on the corner to catch your attention. The UW campus stations are a bit off most people’s beaten path, but those will be used mainly by UW people. There was a sign at UW saying that if you have a U-Pass, that you can get $10 off the yearly Pronto membership fee. I hope to visit the other 17 stations later this week.
Good info, thanks.
So bummed these aren’t in Ballard and Fremont! Can’t wait for the system to expand so I can try it out. Sounds great!
Well, it is great if this actually can work. It seems like it is being used by experienced cyclists which is good and the generator hub is good on this kind of bike. My trips would not work for these, I often travel up and down Highland Park Way and go from West Seattle to Fremont and the U district. I often do a big circle of garage sales and yard sales. The only time I do short rides, is from my house to the grocery store so I don’t think it would work for West Seattle.
Rode it up to Capitol Hill tonight from Downtown. The gearing is low enough to be comfortable going up Pine, but it’s a bit slow (that’s totally ok, just have to take it into account when planning a trip). My only other quibble is with the (ostensibly power-saving?) feature that makes the Dynamo light go into strobe mode when accelerating from a stop. I really don’t like flashing front lights, and I don’t like imposing them on others. Is there any way to change the settings?
I don’t believe that’s an intentionally flashing headlight (which would be illegal as well as annoying), it’s just that at low speeds, the pulses from the dynamo are slow enough that the light switches between standlight mode and full power with each pulse. That’s a common annoyance with lower-end dynamo headlights, but should only be an issue at very low speeds.
Higher-end dynamo lights often have more reserve capacity so they’ll switch to full power on the first pulse and maintain full power off battery while you get up to speed.
I was out of town for the launch, but today, my first day back, I decided to take my usual bus to the station at Aloha and Dexter and bike from there to the station at Sixth and Westlake. The station on Dexter is actually most of the block north of Aloha, but I did find it. As others have noted, with my key it was seconds before I had a bike out of the rack.
I’m an older guy and a slow rider, so I didn’t find most of the comments on the equipment germane; it felt just fine to me. I’d brought my own helmet, but was in street clothes with no gloves and it was fine. The ride felt fairly cushioned given the state of the pavement, particularly on Dexter between Mercer and Denny, and while the gears, particularly in fifth gear, slipped a bit (I’d just been riding with my own Sturmey-Archer internal derailleure in Florida and nothing slipped), it didn’t stop the drive train from moving the bike. Visibility is good, though I’d kill for a side view mirror.
I’d like to see the downtown hotels all fighting to get stations at their front doors. “Can I get you a cab or are you interested in a bike?” would be a great change for the doormen. It would make our former mayor smile.
I had the same issue with 5th on one (of two) rides I’ve taken. Fortunately, 4th and 6th are close enough, so no big deal.
I forgot to mark it as “fix me!” when I returned it. Would be good to get this gremlin sorted before the next batch of bikes is ordered.
I took one out for the first time this morning and also experienced the problem with 5th slipping. It was apparent in 6th and 7th as well, but 5th was the worst. I marked it for repair. I wonder if this is an issue with nexus hubs in general, one of my personal bikes has a nexus-8 and 5th gear is pretty well toast on that one too. Though it does have a couple years and a lot lot of miles on it, I wouldn’t expect a bike that’s been in the wild for four days to have this trouble.
I suspect that’s an adjustment issue. My commuter has a Nexus 8, something over 30,000 miles on it and still slip-free.
If they’re slipping after a week, something is definitely wrong.
Another possibility, some users may be shifting under full load and causing premature wear?
I’ve ridden a few times and will ride again today. I had a meeting in SLU Tuesday morning and grabbed a bike from REI to ride to the station at 6th South and South King. I miss my helmet mirror, that was the biggest bother. I felt unsure of myself without it. As a member, I picked up a helmet at Back Alley Bike Repair (http://www.backalleybikerepair.com/) and will probably put a mirror on that.
These bikes are for cruising; not for speed or hard work. When going down a hill, I stop trying to pedal b/c the highest gear didn’t do me any good. That’s okay. I don’t always have to hurry while pedaling.
It’s good to have a paper towel or rag on hand to wipe off seats that have been rained on.
I have long legs, and so on the highest seat setting, I’m scrunched over some. I blame my parents for this, not Pronto.
Mostly, it’s just damned fun to have them so handy for riding around. I love having a membership and being able to hop on a bike.
I signed up yesterday for an annual membership, and picked up my key at the Pronto kiosk in Occidental Park. Anyone else have their new key flung out of the machine onto the ground? :) Took me a second to realize that the key had actually fallen out and bounced two feet behind me rather than landing in the key receptacle.
Two rides later, I’m very impressed. Checkout is near immediate (since these stations are hardwired, I imagined, they’re much quicker to verify your account than Car2Go), as is return. I have a huge head, but short hair, and found the helmets fit fine on their largest setting. The chin strap did need to be adjusted to full length, and the head band opened up to the maximum setting. I could see how this would be a problem if you have a big head AND big hair, but hey, one size should fit most.
I didn’t notice problems with the internal gear hub, but did spend the majority of my time in 7th gear. The brakes worked fine. Bike fit was also fine, at 6’1″ w/ a 32-34″ inseam. The only unintuitive aspect of the ride was the new-to-me bell design, which took several test rings to figure out how to reliably ring it.
I hope that Pronto may add suggested routes to an app or their site, with a shortest trip/least effort choice, between their various stations. This would be great for more casual riders who are unsure as to the safest way to go, or how to avoid the very steepest hills or road construction. Because of the short rental duration and lack of included lock, I imagine most riders will be riding straight between two stations without a stop.
I did notice quite a few curious looks while riding through downtown, and am hoping more people join in and take a spin.
I am really enjoying the new bike share. Took it to meet a friend for lunch today. Had several pedestrians ask me about it when undocking and docking. Three police in Occidental Park had several questions about the 30 minute time limit before a fee, what happens if docking stations are full, etc.
I picked up the free helmet for annual members. The helmet seems so round. It is easy to feel a lot of pressure front to back but it wobbles side to side because there are large gaps. I have this problem on many skateboarder style helmets but it seemed worse than others. I had two other women try the helmet on and the side of head gap was significant for them too. Weird shape and unlikely to stay in place if you do fall off onto your head. Will use my own extra helmet most of the time and leave the Pronto one in the office for others with wider heads.
I saw a number of Pronto bikes being ridden today (Saturday). Except for several on Monday, I had only seen 1 other during the week. Though oddly, one evening I did see a docking station where two taillights were still lit, and today, one station with 5! taillights still lit (but no riders in sight), how long do those things stay on?
I saw a couple of riders at the Fremont bridge, but as they were wearing helmets that did not have the Pronto logo, I assume they were experience cyclists riding Pronto for a lark. UW to SLU in 30 minutes is certainly plausible. More surprising, I saw someone riding rather slowly west bound on the ship cannel trail at about the Foss shipyard! , according to Goggle maps, that is about 15 minutes from SLU and 25 from the Pronto station at pier 69. But really, if one wanted to take an extended ride, for $20 (8+2+2*5) one could have a bike for a continuous two hours and have far more choice where one picks it up and returns it, than conventional rental. A lot of things one might do on a Saturday afternoon could cost $20 or more.
While the bike share pricing is intended to keep bikes in circulation, based on Melbourne’s* experience, one ride per bike per day will be doing pretty good, and Pronto could no doubt use the money. The maximum overtime charge of $5 per 1/2 hour is interesting, for Citybike (NY) it is $12, but then there is generally someone else who wants to use those bikes.
* Tom has said we shouldn’t compare Pronto the Melbourne bike share:
“But lest you point to Melbourne’s mostly failed system as evidence that it cannot work,”
But why not?
“Pronto is going well above and beyond Melbourne’s efforts by installing a helmet vending machine at all 50 stations.”
This seems like a good time to backpedal on my (multiple) previous predictions that Seattle would not have bike share this year, but in my defense, my reasoning was the vaporware helmet vending machines. Since many cities have bike share I didn’t much doubt that Pronto could get the bikes and docks (though Bixi’s demise was a potential worry). But I was right about the helmet machines!
One problem with comparing Pronto to Melbourne bike share is that Melbourne bike share seems to be financed by the bottomless pockets of the state:
” Melbourne Bike Share is part of the Department of Transport’s focus on delivering transport improvements to Victoria”
(of course the state is now trying to pawn it off onto a private investor, with limited success)
So, while they may be”mostly failed” they haven’t turned out the lights yet.
While Pronto has received some government grants, I wonder where their continuous funding is going to come from? Based on the experience of a “successful” bike share (Citybike) annual subscriptions are money losers. Maybe the (relatively) low overtime charge is intended to “encourage” people to go overtime and help fund the system? the 30 to 60 minute period costs less than either the meter drop in a taxi or Metro fare (Or 0.1% of a well equipped Brompton, which I was recommending as an alternate when I was predicting Pronto would miss its launch date. BTW, one of the Seattle Bike Blog’s advertisers sells Bromptons, just saying…) So if you find yourself getting close to the 30 minutes, just relax, you are supporting a good cause!
Aurora was shut down today and all the buses were on Dexter and backed up. I took a Pronto from right in front of where I was in a meeting at the Grand Hyatt, headed down Sixth to Seventh and then Dexter, where I passed my bus 26 at Dexter and Denny The cars were backed up incredibly at Mercer and Dexter and the bus was behind it, but I sped through on the bike lane. Then I parked the bike at Dexter and Aloha and waited at the bus stop for my bus. This is EXACTLY what I got my Pronto membership for. Btw, I carry my helmet in my backpack at all times, so I’m not dependent on the machines.
I took our out of town guests up to 15th Ave on launch day, about 3pm. We all used our credit cards to check out the bikes and found that a pretty fast process. We toodled around the hill, staying on the flats. We did try out the hill in Volunteer park. Bike is heavy but no-one walked and pushed. The next morning, while still on the original reservation we took bikes again from 15th Ave, rode to downhill stations only and checked in our last bikes at Eastlake and Allison, then walked 1-1/2 miles as our 24 hour reservation had run out. The bikes are jaunty, minty and fun. Lots of conversations with strangers about the bikes.
I’ll be getting my year membership.
I signed up early on as an avid cyclist wanting to support the effort but not expecting to use it much since I already walk everywhere. Surprise! I now realize it was designed for me!! I love not having to carry a lock; free, convenient parking at all my key errand locations; I’ll go out at night more often knowing I won’t have to wait at a sketchy bus stop or pay for a car ride to get home.
The gears are a bit skippy (5th gear?) and the headsets already seem a bit loose on a few bikes, but overall, it’s worked great. I’ve given out all of my free passes to friends to try it out & hopefully sign up.
I would love a station in Ballard – I’m willing to pay for anything more than 30 minutes for being able to ride from the waterfront to Ballard and vice versa.
Only challenge has been that the bike racks don’t always register the return – I’ve had to use more force than I think should be necessary sometimes or move to a different slot to get the return to record.
Oh, and the calculations for carbon savings — I would have been walking if not riding, so this isn’t really applicable for my usage.
So far, so good! Rode up to Capitol Hill from downtown on Saturday. No problems with the hill but one or two of the middle gears kept “clicking” until I switched away from them. Was able to zip down 12th to the Saigon Vietnam Deli to pick up a sandwich after my CH appointment and comfortably make it back downtown within the 30 minute rental period. Convenient!!!
Not a fan. My first time using it and I’m charged 84. We’ll see if I ever ride those bikes again.
Very disappointed. We were enjoying a Sunday as tourists in Seattle. We were excited to see the Pronto bikes available and for only $8 a day per bike. So you can imagine our surprise when we got our bill the following day for $176 for two bikes because we did not dock the bikes every 30 minutes. This was NOT made readily apparent anywhere on the kiosk (it should be communicated under the daily rate). We are not from Seattle and were not aware that the bikes are considered commuter bikes. We will never use this service again and will file a complaint with the City of Seattle–it’s a rip off for anyone not familiar with the bike service.
You should call the customer service number. They are usually understanding of first time confusion.
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