I've gotten a couple of questions about this and as I'm neither a lawyer nor a Capital Bikeshare employee, I suspect I'm the perfect person to answer this. The basic question is, is the new Capital Bikeshare "Rental Agreement" somehow worse than the old one and the short answer is I think it's basically the same.
I think most of the concern comes from the bullet points at the top which use somewhat different language than the main text, but I think that a judge (or arbitrator) would rely on the main text and ignore the bullets.
For example one concern seems to be about this part
The Services, including the bicycles, are provided "as-is" and we make no promises that they will be in good repair or error or defect-free
Which, I mean, I've always kind of assumed. There's no guarantee. But more importantly the text below that which says the same thing is also in the old agreement
ALL OF THE SERVICES, CAPITAL BIKESHARE BICYCLES, STATIONS, BIKE DOCKS, AND RELATED INFORMATION ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” (AND YOU RELY ON THEM SOLELY AT YOUR OWN RISK). MOTIVATE AND ALL OTHER RELEASED PERSONS DO NOT REPRESENT OR WARRANT THAT ANY OF THE SERVICES, CAPITAL BIKESHARE BICYCLES, STATIONS, BIKE DOCKS, OR RELATED INFORMATION WILL BE IN GOOD REPAIR OR ERROR-FREE.
And I think that's the language the dispute would rely on.
Another concern was about the required safety inspection
You will perform a safety inspection before riding, and are competent to do so;
Well, that was also in the previous agreement
YOU further agree that, before any use of the Services, YOU will perform the safety inspection described in SECTION 8, and YOU will not use a bicycle that fails the safety inspection and will notify MOTIVATE of such failure.
Which sounds like a good idea, though I admit to not doing that Every time. (But I'm a charter member, so I can get away with that. I also get to take a shower with the CaBi bike of my choosing once a year).
The third part was about the arbitration. That also predates this update. Earlier this year there were a few posts about how to opt out of arbitration, but I'm not sure if that works or not.
Still, if these things bother you than CaBi might not be right for you. I decided they were not deal-breakers for me.
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