An email today from Uber!

Oh, great.

Dear Joe,

Beginning Thursday, September 19th, JUMP bikes and scooters will no longer be available in San Diego, excluding a small fleet on two naval bases, Naval Base San Diego and Naval Base Point Loma.

We understand this may have a huge impact on your day-to-day commuting and we regret the fact that we can no longer provide this service to you.

Please note that if you have Ride Pass in San Diego, the JUMP benefit will go away.*

*Remember that Ride Pass holders may cancel their subscription at any time in the Ride Pass section of the app.

Uber’s business practices generally have turned me off in many ways. Pre-emptively breaking the law in places where they have not been permitted, aggressively flouting the law, inadequate care for their drivers, have had them on my shitlist for a while. I vowed not to do business with them. JUMP Bikes by contrast were pretty great. I used them in San Francisco on a trip and enjoyed them a great deal. It was disappointing when they became a wholly owned subsidiary of Uber. And now of course that they’re being held somewhat to account for their bikes in San Diego, they are being shut down by the Uber mother ship.

Uber: you suck.

I love rental bikes: dockless and docked bikes. They have been very useful for last mile commuting and for exploring cities which can tolerate bike usage. They are the future. A pity Uber sucks so much they can’t do the hard work with municipalities to get them to where they make sense.

Color me disappointed.

I recently went to Portland for XOXO Fest and used the Biketown bikes which were great. I hope some of the other players can make at least as much of a success here in San Diego as Biketown has in Portland.