Are you seeing green?

Have you noticed an unusually high amount of green on the Walnut Creek streets? No, it’s not St. Patrick’s Day – it’s the LimeBikes taking over downtown! This is Walnut Creek’s new bike share program, which can be accessed through an app, and is an interesting idea.

This will only be a one-year pilot program for the dockless bike share provider, so make sure you take a spin on one while the weather is nice this summer! LimeBike is a Bay Area-based startup that has advanced the bike share program to be dockless, so all you have to do is lock the bike in place where you finish riding, and let the next user unlock it with their phones.

Of course, the bike share program isn’t entirely free. The app on your smartphone will give you access for 30 minutes for $1, and 1 hour for $2. You can find a bike on the map and unlock it from there too. It’s completely built-in to our everyday lives, since everyone knows how to use their maps app (or Pokemon Go, for that matter!).

So, you’re probably wondering how safe the LimeBikes are? Each bike has an anti-theft alarm, double kickstand, and a headlight. It’s a law for anyone under age 18 to have a helmet on, but LimeBike does not require anyone over that age to wear one.

I think this is a pretty cool idea. A lot of different cities in the Bay Area use bike share programs, and I’ve even heard of some places doing dockless scooter shares! It still makes me laugh as I am driving around town seeing all these bikes in random places – once you see one, you keep seeing them. The Bay Area is a center for healthy-living, so another human-powered vehicle option can’t hurt. Have you tried LimeBikes yet? We would love to hear what you think!

Amazon goes brick-and-mortar in Walnut Creek

Everyone knows Amazon for being the world’s foremost e-retail giant. In fact, you probably ordered – or at least looked through – Amazon items for gifts this holiday season!  As I mentioned in an earlier blog, they started building some brick-and-mortar bookstores, including one in downtown Walnut Creek.

I recently bought a gift at the store located in Broadway Plaza between Kate Spade New York and Aritzia. It was like any other bookstore, except for a few Amazon-specific twists. For example, you can pay with the Amazon app at the register as long as you are a prime member and you get the Prime discount. As a Prime user myself, I really liked that perk!

The books all have Amazon user ratings and reviews posted underneath them, which nicely combines the convenience of shopping on Amazon.com with the classic, enjoyable feeling of being at a real bookstore. I have to say, since Barnes & Noble was replaced, it’s felt like there weren’t any good places to browse or buy physical books downtown.

Now, you can go to the future of books – Amazon’s bookstore – right in the heart of the shopping district. You can buy a cup of Peet’s coffee right in the store and peruse books like the good old days or just take a break from the hecticness of shopping.  Wait, isn’t that what you are doing at the Amazon bookstore? Maybe not? The concept is to have top sellers, a kids area, and, of course, a place to sell Amazon technology like Alexa.