My first experience with a Lyft bike (in a time crunch) and it was everything I expected it would be.
Down to the Wire
Have you ever been in a situation where you are running a little behind schedule, and are forced to make a decision that could potentially make up for lost time if everything goes right? However, if it goes wrong, it goes terribly wrong and can make matters ever worse. This is what happened to me last week. After a meeting that ran late, one thing lead to another and before I knew it, I had 23 minutes to get from the Design District to the Ferry Building. Due to the time of day, rush hour traffic would make a traditional Lyft ride a gamble, so I decided to try my luck on foot. I hadn't taken my weekly jog yet so I figured I would knock out two tasks in one shot.
Passing by Oracle Stadium with 12 minutes to go, I really knew I was pushing my luck. That's when I remembered seeing so many people taking Lyft bikes around town lately. So I became one of those people who are jogging while buried in their phones, while I pulled up my Lyft app. I saw a docking station was not too far ahead and I hustled there with everything I had in me.
Redeeming a Previously Bad Experience
Last year when I tried to use a rental bike, when they were owned by Ford, I found the interface to be difficult to navigate. On top of time consuming steps to get set up, I was asked to take a picture of my driver's license and send it back before I could ride. After all that, I thought it was too complicated to fool with and I deleted the app.
This time, all I did was open up the Lyft app and follow the prompts:
Tap on the bike icon at the bottom menu
Scan QR code on bike's rear fender
Bike is unlocked and ready to ride
And I was on my way, faster than a cat chasing a mouse across a marble floor!
With that, I made it to the Ferry Building, turned in the bike (also very easy: just push it into the dock until it clicks & chimes) and I was the last one to board the boat. It's safe to say that those were dollars well spent!
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