>The most convenient aspect of this service is that you can drop off the scooter anywhere you want, there are no designated drop off zones, which is a true solution to the last mile problem.
In Dallas, there are 6 different bikeshare companies that all operate with this model of "leave the bike where ever you want when done", and it's resulted in most of the city reviling all of the bikeshare companies. The bikes end up left in the most inconvenient places: knocked over in the middle of the sidewalk, stashed in bushes, knocked into fountains, blocking accessibility ramps, on the side of a road where they can be hit by cars, blocking train tracks, and just in general littered everywhere. You literally can't walk a single block in downtown without seeing at least 50 bikes strewn across the bushes/sidewalks/etc. The city is actually exploring ways to restrict this type of "dockless" bike sharing because it's become such a nuisance.
This seems like such an easy thing to prevent. Make people lock the bikes to something, a fence, a sign, whatever. If a bike ends up in a tree, the last person to borrow it is responsible. Give customer support some flexibility to avoid this being to harsh. Biggest downside is that it won't work with the locks currently installed on those bikes.
Yes, this is a problem with the scooters too. I think there is some volume limit to the device, smaller is better for the reasons you state, which is why I think the scooter it ideal to the bike in this regard.
I wonder if this could be explained as a culture difference - speaking as a native Texan turned San Francisco resident, it is my feeling (unbacked by any other data) that here the community is more communal - compliance with recycling/compost is greater, shared resources seem cleaner / more respected (I don't see dockless bikes or Scoots left strewn around), and even in traffic people generally defer to letting someone in to the lane or waiting for a pedestrian (in Houston it's more typical to see people skipping exit lines and trying to cut in at the last second, or aggressively cutting off pedestrians).
No I think the tragedy of the commons would still take hold in SF without some kind of penalty in place (either by the company or by the government, or both) for leaving the bike in a bad spot. Of course this will require a method of enforcement as well.
In Dallas, there are 6 different bikeshare companies that all operate with this model of "leave the bike where ever you want when done", and it's resulted in most of the city reviling all of the bikeshare companies. The bikes end up left in the most inconvenient places: knocked over in the middle of the sidewalk, stashed in bushes, knocked into fountains, blocking accessibility ramps, on the side of a road where they can be hit by cars, blocking train tracks, and just in general littered everywhere. You literally can't walk a single block in downtown without seeing at least 50 bikes strewn across the bushes/sidewalks/etc. The city is actually exploring ways to restrict this type of "dockless" bike sharing because it's become such a nuisance.
See some pics here: http://www.dallasobserver.com/news/dallas-bike-share-mess-ph...