A Guide to BBI's Twitter log

Hey pedicab watchers.

I figured I would let you all in on what the various shorthand devices I use on Twitter mean.

Usually every night before I begin I'll tweet an announcement just to confirm the fact that I'll be uptown with a cab taking fares. These usually occur right around midnight and if you don't see one then I probably have other things going on. I try to announce it if I will NOT be pedicabbing on one of my regular nights (Thursday thru Saturday) but that doesn't always happen. These announcements are usually made from my home computer so they don't need any shorthand. Therefore they should be pretty self-explanatory.

Once I'm out and about and I collect a fare, I will drop them off and as soon as possible send a tweet from my smartphone with some basic details about that fare, and possibly some extra details about what happened with the customers. The most generic tweet will go something like this:

CSD to Milliron 1m 1f $

So that sums up the starting location where I picked up the passengers (in this case, CSD for Court Street Diner), the destination where I dropped them off (Milliron), the number and gender of the passengers on board (one male, one female), and the tip rating (one dollar sign for cumulative tip of less than $5). Note that the tip rating disregards the amount of work performed to earn that tip and simply reflects the amount of money collected. Sometimes I will take a single passenger less than a block and receive a few dollars. While it gets the lowest tip rating, it is still a good payment for the amount of effort put in. So don't get miffed if your ride was tweeted with one dollar sign, it shows you actually paid something, which is more than some passengers do.

Now for a more intricate situation:

( Bp to grovesnor 2m 1f $$ cc to palmer 1m fb* @somebodyontwitter @somebodyelse

The opening parenthesis at the start of a tweet means that I was called by the customer to make a pick-up. (The google voice number for BBI is 740-229-9719). Then we have 2 males and 1 female being carried from BP to grovesnor street, where one of the gents and the lady got out and paid an average tip ($5 to $9) via credit card using my Square up card swiper. From there, the remaining passenger was carried to palmer street, where his tip came in the form of some non-monetary donations. The "f" means food, the "b" means a beverage, and the "*" means a different sort of consumable (if you know what I mean). At the end of the tweet (though sometimes at the beginning) are some of my passenger's twitter handles if they consented to being tagged.

How about this one:

USD to Howies 1m 1d helpin out a friend

Looks like I took a dude and his dog to Hungry Howie's from the Union Street Diner and didn't get a tip. A comment after the basic details explains why: I felt like giving him a free ride 'cause he's my dude.

Here's the guide in list form:

Prefixes
(: means I got a call for that fare
@(username): tagging a twitter-using customer

Routes
f4: The front four on South Green, a pretty common destination
Mill (or any other street by itself): means the ride started and ended on that street
block: means we circled the block around whatever street or landmark mentioned
cruise: means we went back and forth somewhere just for entertainment

Payload
m: male passenger
f: female passenger
ma: mom passenger (generally some of the best tippers)
dad: dad passenger  (also some of the best tippers)
k: kid passenger (not so much, but I like carting kids around)
d: canine passenger
+: cargo carried with the passengers, like a case of beer (+case)

Tips
$: $1-$4 cash
$$: $5-$9 cash
$$$: $10-$25 cash
$$$$: anything over $25 (wow, thank you!)
cc: means the tip was paid in part or in full by credit
f: food (sometimes I can get really hungry cabbing and need it)
b: beverage (I might drink a single beer or shot if I plan to work some more and save the rest)
/: a cigarette (I don't smoke them that much anymore but I will take them, maybe re-gift em)
//: two cigarettes
///: three cigarettes
*: vapors, or something
**: a bit of stash to take home

Suffixes
(comment): a few words about interesting things that happened
"(comment)": quoting something somebody said
@(username): tagging a twitter-using customer
yuck: means somebody lost their cookies

 Note that because I'm using a smartphone when logging fares, not everything gets punched in right. (qm instead of 1m, wf instead of 2f). Also, sometimes my tweets fail to send when the network is spotty, so they might be out of order or missed entirely. My drafts folder often has a lot of tweets that got missed somehow.

That brings us to the closing statements. After I get home, I write one last tweet that starts with the total number of miles I logged that night, followed by some comments about what kind of night it was. I may even use a hashtag. (gasp!)

Well, that does it for the guide to Bikes Bring It's Twitter feed. Now you will know what it all means. Thanks for being a part of Athen's premier pedicab service and party on!

New sidecar added to the fleet

 Here's a few more teaser photos of the newest addition to the BBI fleet (who still needs a good name). I will be picking up a 22t freewheel tomorrow to reduce the gear ratio on the main drive wheel. Once that is installed and the brakes are dialed in, it should be ready for the streets of Athens!

 

Above: shortly after the frame was completed, before paint.

Here we documented the first test run with my mate on the stoker seat and all of her Paw Paw Fest gear stuffed, stacked, or hanging on the bike.

College Season Opens

Hey all. It's been a few weeks since the semester begun and demand for pedicabs in Athens has risen indeed. Hopefully I will have a new sidecar operational by the Paw Paw fest nest week. (Note: no pedicab service in uptown Athens September 13-15) Here's a pic of the new rig coming along:

Anyhow, once this bike is completed it will be available for rent from Bikes Bring It to any plucky pilot who pleases to perform as a professional pedaller.

Bikes at the Starwood Festival

Starwood is another festival held at Wisteria down in Meigs county, only about 25 miles from my house. I took advantage of the proximity and packed two trips. One for the tents and bikes, and another for all my accoutrements and some more bikes.

I was there with some new bike innovations I had been working on (see upcyclebikes.com) to either sell or rent, or at the very least just to inspire and spread joy. These four new bikes were completed in about 6 days just before the week-long festival began.

And of course, I had the ever-dependable Rasta Buggy out (after the rains dried a little) to cart people (sometimes things) around and make a few tips.

I had a super stellar time at Starwood. This festival is dripping with pure awesome sauce. If you need some reassurance of that fact, check out the bonfire:

Coming home, I somehow managed to pack it all into one trip. My purchases from vendors at the fest include 2 new sarongs, a really inexpensive pair of brown leather pants, 3 old hats, and a grey short-pile tight-fitting fur vest.

Summer Solstice 2013 at Wisteria

NMF

Upgrades and Summer Festivals

Upgrades:

Heavy Duty rims with 12 gauge spokes
Kenda Kiniption 24" x 2.3" tires
Shimano Megarange 34 tooth cassette
replacement stem
replacement cranks/chainrings
replacement chain
replacement seat (not pictured)
(2) 5 LED taillights (not pictured)


Festivals:

Nelsonville Music Fest (I'll be outside the fest working the campground and parking lot since the Fest organizers don't care enough to make room for pedicabs to enter the festival)

Wisteria Summer Solstice

Spring Festival Season

 Howdy-ho BBI fans! How's business been lately, you ask? I'd say it's doing splendidly. I've just passed the $2,000 mark in earnings for this year, and have been setting records here and there for most earnings in a single night ($183 on Mom's weekend) and most earnings for a three-day weekend period ($345 on Mom's weekend and then $347 this weekend at Palmer Fest.)

I also have been appreciating what a formidable reputation I've made among the OU student body. I get more people calling me by name all the time, more great regular customers, hear myself being mentioned on OU Crushes, have been recorded for Vine and Snapchat, and get lots of gratitude from people who have seen me working or have ridden on the pedicab before. Thanks everyone for sharing the joy of human-powered transportation with me and your friends!


 Here are some pics of Palmer Fest. Thanks Sarah Tilotta for taking the first pic for me!

2013

Ahoy thar lead lubbers! Yer Cap'm here is lookin' forward to another exciting season of human-powered deliveries. Cold though it may be, operations are currently underway and looking ship-shape. The Cap'm would like to remind you that with snow and ice on the deck, a pair of sea legs can be treacherous, but a trio of tires will be smooth sailing. In other news...

The video log from last October has been put by the wayside. I like being able to post video logs and hope to do more of them in 2013, but they are tricky to film and time-consuming to put together. Lighting the subjects (you guys) is the hardest part, and so I've got plenty of footage with nothing but darkness and assorted noise. (maybe I could make an audio podcast, but it would probably be lame) Anyhow, for these reasons I haven't gotten around to completing the last video log.

As an alternative, however, I do plan to start producing slice of life comics based on events that occur during my adventures as a pedicab operator. (Bike Man: the Anachronous Chronicles is my other comic project, but it's more of a historical fiction sci-fi steampunk graphic novel that also tends to fall by the wayside because it demands more time in order for it to become what I want it to be) Anyhow, the new series is simply called "Bikes Bring It Illustrated" or BBII for short. I will take my favorite memorable moment from each night and create a 1-page comic of what transpired. Comics will be posted to this blog- just click "BBI Illustrated" up on the header or follow this link: BBII . Producing BBII takes a lot less time and tech so I hope to stick with it throughout the year. The stories write themselves, and I'll keep my drawing skills in use so that I have better output by the time I complete the narrative for "Bike Man".

Cabs are still available for rent, although the Rasta Buggy is out of commission at the moment. When I have enough to buy a quality wheelset it will be back in business.

On the manufacturing end, I'm currently working on a new produce cart. Once the Upcycle page gets updated I'll point it out to y'all. After that project is finished I would like to build some more 20" sidecars this year.

As we prepare to disembark from this particular blog post, the Cap'm would like to thank all of his lively, brave, and wonderful passengers who have come aboard so far this year! Drink hearty, mateys!

Thanks for tuning in to the Bikes Bring It blog! See you out in the streets.