This has been something I've been wanting to do with my daughter, to ride around Delaware Park together. Yesterday, I had this opportunity so I took it.
When we walked up to the bikes, there were about 6 bikes there (locked up). I learned that I had to download an app and register first before I could unlock any of the bikes. The app downloaded pretty quickly, and the registration process wasn't too bad as it only took me a couple of minutes to complete. As you are registering, you'll have to select which plan you'd like, whether it's annual, hourly or group pass. Since I wanted 3 bikes, I selected the group pass which costed $20 + tax (just for the plan itself).
After that the next step was to unlock the bikes, which in my opinion, was EXTREMELY DIFFICULT and took way too long. The keypads on the bikes simply did not work very well at all. After registering, you'd have to put in your account number (or your phone number), and then your pin. Well, it took SEVERAL tries to punch in each number, and the keypads just did not take. For example, I'd press the "4" about 8-15 times each, and nothing would happen. Then press "4" again, then it would take, then press the next number and it wouldn't take. One time, it shut down on me as I was punching in the numbers, and I had to start over. Another time, I was able to punch in the account number (finally), and found that the bike was unavailable and "down for maintenance". I tried, and tried (and kept trying) to unlock those bikes. It took me about 5-7 minutes to unlock my first 2 bikes (not bad I guess), but about 20 minutes to unlock my 3rd bike.
Once I got on the bike (finally), the bikes were heavier and bulkier than expected. We went around Delaware Park once, and decided we were done. Locking the bikes back up were a breeze.
Overall, I had a very difficult time unlocking the bikes. It turned out to be too difficult of a process, for something that SHOULD have been super simple. I was extremely frustrated and probably would not do this again. read more