Council swoops on damaged and obstructive share bikes
INNER West Council has started impounding share bikes, throwing down the gauntlet to operators who have continued to litter local streets and parks.
Inner West
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INNER WEST COUNCIL has started impounding share bikes, throwing down the gauntlet to operators who have continued to litter local streets and parks.
An enforcement ranger even climbed a tree near Hawthorne Canal in Leichhardt to retrieve an oBike before it was added to a pile of bikes on a council truck, used to round up 13 damaged, abandoned or obstructive bikes last Wednesday morning.
The Inner West Courier watched on as an employee of Ofo — one of the four key operators who all had bikes seized during the blitz — jumped out of a white van on Australia St, Camperdown and collected a seat-less bike just as the rangers were preparing to add it to the stash.
It comes after The Saturday Telegraph reported State Cabinet had signed off on a plan to allocate land and funding for docking stations as well as giving councils the power to issue fines of up to $2500 per dumped bike.
Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne said operators hadn’t “stepped up to the plate” during a trial of bike share guidelines released by inner Sydney councils on December 22.
“We still want to see State Government regulation come in but we’re not going to sit around and wait for that,” Cr Byrne said.
“We’ve got to take action so footpaths are accessible for people in wheelchairs, for parents with prams and pedestrians.”
“We’re not going to go and pick up every bike but we need to make it clear to them that we’re not going to cop them operating as though they’re above the law.”
Reddy Go and Mobikes were also impounded and bikes were also collected from Marrickville, Victoria and Enmore Rds as well as Railway Pde.
While staff would continue to monitor and pick up obstructive bikes, he called on the Government to implement the new measures immediately so the costs of collecting and storing them were not borne by ratepayers.
“Hopefully the operators will see we’re taking action and will lift their game so we won’t have to do this often.”
Cr Byrne said it would cost the council more to deal with the scourge than the $80 it will cost the companies to retrieve their property.
“That’s why we need the $2500 fine — so there’s a genuine incentive for the operators to do the right thing.
“If they don’t come to pick up bikes within in a month, they forfeit their right to and rather than take them to landfill, we’re going to look to repurpose them and give them away to disadvantaged people.”
He also called for a permit system.
Waverley Council became the first NSW council to start impounding share bikes in March.
A Transport for NSW spokesman said councils would be given enhanced powers to deal with abandoned share bikes through an enforceable code of practice under new legislation which would set minimum standards around safety, bike parking, user education, data sharing and complaints management.
Mobike general manager Mina Nada said they were looking forward to working with state and local governments to develop the detail and policy around the new regulations.
Ms Nada said they would continue working with councils in Sydney to create “dockless parking hubs”, as they had in the Gold Coast.
“As a global provider, we are experience at operating within markets where permits or licences are required,” she said.
“Mobike has been successful in securing permits and exclusive provider status in a number of locations globally, including the Gold Coast where we are the single provider.”
Mobike worked with the six Sydney councils, including Inner West Council, to develop the guidelines for sharebike operators and is a signatory to them.
“Mobike works to maintain our fleet of bikes in accordance with the council-set guidelines and we avoid issues that will lead to impounding in the first instance,” she said.
“As a responsible operator we have a very low number of bikes that have been impounded by the local Government areas and we will work with government to keep it this way.”
Ofo communications manager Mitchell Price also welcomed the Government’s support for improving the industry.
“We’re happy to see the NSW Government taking action to address bike accumulation and vandalism in suburbs that we offer bike share services,” Mr Price said.
“We are very pleased to see the issue of vandalism being pursued by the authorities with the government’s proposed fines, as well as recent court convictions that acknowledge the seriousness of damaging bike share services.”
Ofo has mapped out more than 50 preferred parking zones across the city and welcome the opportunity to grow these numbers with councils in the future, he said.
The company has submitted an eight-page plan containing a self-regulating framework to local, metropolitan NSW councils.
In addition to having the ability to report damaged or abandoned bikes via their app, ofo have also partnered with Snap Send Solve, an app which allows users to take a photograph of a damaged or vandalised bike and send it directly to ofo for collection and repair.
“Sydneysiders love bike-sharing,” Mr Price said.
“Since launching in the city on October 26, there have been over 420,000 trips and well over 100,000 registered users.”