Vandals target rental bikes left in beachside suburbs reducing them to ‘litter’, says mayor

RENTAL bikes dumped at beachside suburbs from Maroubra to Bondi are attracting vandals who destroy or steal helmets, throw bicycles in weird places or rip off the GPS devices so they are unable to be tracked.

RENTAL bikes dumped at beachside suburbs from Maroubra to Bondi are attracting vandals who destroy or steal helmets, throw bicycles in weird places or rip off the GPS devices so they are unable to be tracked.

Randwick mayor Lindsay Shurey, who lives at Maroubra beach, said almost every dockless hire bike ‒ which are operated by oBike and Reddy Go through an app and do not have specific cycle docks to be returned to ‒ she had seen in the suburb had been vandalised.

Last week, the Courier was sent a photo of an oBike thrown on top of a caravan while on Facebook, many readers said they supported the hire bike system but others felt it could be tweaked so they were not left cluttering up beachside suburbs.

Dockless bikes are being dumped in large numbers across the eastern suburbs including here at Coogee Beach

“I know that council is investigating what our options are relating to these bikes and our legal stance on what we can do about them,” Cr Shurey, a Greens councillor, said.

“My personal concerns are that a lot of them are being vandalised.

“I don’t know who is doing it, maybe bored children during the school holidays, but they are cutting off the tracker and stamping on the helmets. Then they cannot be tracked by the company and they become litter.

O-Bikes broken rear wheel lock and the sign in the basket telling riders to park in properly designated locations.

Dockless bikes abandoned at Coogee.

“I’m hesitate to be against them as anything that encourages our population to exercise is fabulous. One of the things I would like to do as mayor is increase cycleways for the community.

“I am not anti-bike. It’s the litter and I don’t think the companies are coming around often enough to check them.”

Dockless bikes dumped on the pavement at Coogee.

Cr Shurey said she thought it was a “bit of a shock” for the community to be inundated with the bikes over a short period of time.

“It happened literally over night,” she said. “Suddenly they were everywhere.”

A oBike spokesman said the company’s operations teams had been active in Maroubra and Bondi in the last few days after receiving reports of vandalism.

“Since then, the teams are on the ground on a daily basis to monitor the supply and usage of the bikes,” he said.

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“Further, we are in open discussion with Randwick Council to discuss to better work together. Our mission is to work with local community to drive awareness.

“We also have a good communication with Reddy Go for the sustainable rollout of bike-sharing.”