FordGoBikes and Past Vandalism in San Francisco Bike Share

Ford GoBikes and Past Vandalism
Our second brand updated discusses the backlash the Ford GoBike received earlier this summer.

In recent months not everything for Ford’s Bike sharing program has gone well. For some locals, the new bike program has become the embodiment of gentrification. Communities in the bay have seen rapid change in the last few years. The large tech companies in the area push many to move further out of the city and in some cases on to the street.

The bikes are seen as a symbol for what’s pushing communities and heritage out of the Bay. Since the launch, there have been a number of vandalisms to the bikes.

In Oakland, a Ford GoBike was through into Lake Merritt. Elsewhere, the tires at GoBike dock were slashed.

  

In Dolores Park in San Francisco, tires were also gashed. In the Mission, a GoBike was hung in a tree as if it were being lynched.


Most vandalism has occurred around San Francisco and what interesting is Motivate expected the Ford GoBike to be vandalized after first being rolled out.

According to Otis R. Tayor’s Article Bike-share program resented as a sign of gentrification Dani Simons, a spokesperson for Motivate (Motivate is running the Ford GoBike) said “What we’re really trying to do is we’re trying to provide an affordable transportation to people that runs 24 hours a day, that’s reliable and safe” she went on to say “Bike share becomes something that people can point at”. In New York, the same thing happened the first few weeks after the company had launch bikes. This died down after a few months and has mostly stopped. In the bay area Motivate expected it to be a bit worse for a longer period of time.

Since August the number of stories about vandalized bikes has dropped off. If it keeps up Motivates prediction about the Bay Area will be proven correct. The company is still planning to keep pace with the initial plans of releasing GoBikes. To learn more about Ford GoBikes see our other post Update #1 .