| Trip |
September 27, 2018
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| On this day, he took a day off. He was going to a city that was bigger than his city. He went there on business sometimes before he changed his job. There was a bar in the city. When he went to the city, he often stopped by the bar. The owner was a middle-aged woman. She sometimes emailed him, even after he quit his former job. This time she emailed him, writing that the bar would have a 15 year anniversary party. He decided to go. It would be for the first time in several years. On the day of the trip, he got up early and started to search about rental bike services. He thought it was a good idea to use a bike, rather than buses or subway, in the city because riding in this size of a city seemed to be more convenient. He got information that the city had an electric assist bike rental service. There were more than 50 pools (the places where that the electric bikes were kept were called 'pools'), and at any pool you could start and stop your bike ride. It seemed attractive. He registered for it from his PC. Soon an email was sent to his smartphone. He could rent a bike using his smartphone. He looked forward to it. He got to the city at around 10:30. While riding the bullet train, he checked the nearest 'pool' from the station. It was  located in an open space beside a big commercial building. He was able to find it easily. There were 7 cute same model red bikes there. Each bike had a steel meshed basket on the front, a black battery at the rear, and a monitor with a number key panel on the tail cover. The wheels were 20 inches or so. He took a manual booklet from the transparent box on the sign board and started to read it. It was not complicated. On his smart phone he went to the bike service web and inserted his user name and password and the number that was on the tail cover. He chose a newer looking bike. Soon he received an email with a 4 digit number. He inserted the number on the panel, and pushed the 'ENTER' button. The bike's lock was unlocked. He was amazed. He adjusted the saddle higher, and turned on the switch on the handle. Soon the full charge light lit up. He started to pedal. It was a smooth start. The pedaling was light. Looking at a city map that he had got from the tourism counter at the station, he aimed for the downtown area. The road and sidewalk were wide, and soon the sidewalk became separated to walkers and cyclists. He was positive that he had made a good choice. After pedaling a couple of minutes, he realized there was some noise and a subtle rattling. It was from the axis of the rear tire, but he couldn't see it because of the cover. He ignored it, expecting it would get well soon. The city had many trees and the weather was good. It was not too hot, and it was not cold. It was refreshing. Each road had a broad sidewalk, so riding was safe. He didn't feel any stress about riding. But, on the other hand, there seemed too few parking spaces for bikes. Or rather, he didn't know where he should park his bike, because he couldn't see any parked bikes. He wanted to stop for some coffee and a rest, but he couldn't find any suitable spaces to park. Eventually, he gave up and drank a can of coffee from a vending machine. After an hour or so, he remembered that there was a service station which was on the map in the booklet with many pools. It was not so far from where he was now. He wanted the noise to stop, it was spoiling his good mood. The center was located on a big road. It was not big but there were more than a hundred red electric assist bikes in and around the building. There was a middle-aged male clerk and a young female clerk. He told the male clerk about the noise. The guy rode on the bike some distance then picked up a can of spray grease and sprayed it on various areas of the bike. Then he said that it would be ok. He didn't think that it was ok, but instinctively he just asked, "If the noise comes again, it won't be a big problem, will it?" The clerk said no. So he thanked him and left. He had expected they would change his bike to a new one. Maybe transferring bikes was troublesome for them because charging money was done for each bike by the second. Soon the noise began again. He sighed. At the shop, he saw a notice that read that the fee for the first one hour would be raised by 60 percent starting from the next month. 60 percent was a big raise. For each following 30 minutes, the fee hike would only be raised by five percent. At first he thought that he would rent this bike until he returned to the station to go back home. It would be about 9 PM. It meant another 8 hours. 8 hours meant 16 dollars, not cheap. It had already passed 2 hours. He had been looking for a parking space for lunch but couldn't find one easily. And this noise. And the treatment of the guy in the service center. After a while, he saw a pool where more than 30 red bikes were parked beside a big building. He read on the booklet how to end the bike rental. It was simple. He locked the lock of the rear wheel and pushed the ENTER button. Soon the 'RETURN' light lit on the panel. Maybe this pool had some radio relay system and it received his bike's signal and sent the information to the computer. And the fee would be added to his credit card. He took a late lunch and went to some book stores and an art gallery, and then went to the bar in the evening. The bar madam was happy to see him and he was happy, too. There was another customer. He told them about his bike experience. He said that this was a good system but finding parking spaces were a problem. The other guy agreed with him. He said that he heard from many people who used the bikes for commuting, from the pools near the station to the pools nearest to their job place. He made a quick figure. In this case, he or she would only pay 2 dollars per day. If this usage was main, maybe it was hard to get money to continue to run this system, and so the organizer decided to raise the first hour's fee by 60 percent. This city had a bus service and taxi services, of course, and some subways. He started to think about some more. So if it was raining, people could easily change to other modes of transportation. And if it started to rain in the evening, bikes that were kept at the pools that were near the people's job would probably remain there. So when people needed them in the morning there would be fewer bikes near the stations. Maybe in that case, people gave up to use the bikes, and they might use only when returning home. He wanted to learn more about this system. Plus, it would be a good chance to come to this bar more often to see the madam. |
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*axis :軸
*hike :値上げ
*figure :計算