Overview
Sydney can prepare to see a few less dockless share bikes around, as one council makes good on its promise to start impounding those that are left lying around damaged or abandoned.
Waverley Council — which covers Bondi, Bronte, Vaucluse, Dover Heights, Bondi Junction, Waverley and parts of Rose Bay — last week backed a motion by Mayor John Wakefield to start clearing wayward bikes from the streets, with Business Insider Australia reporting as many as 60 were impounded on Monday alone. Currently, it costs operators $70 to get each bike back, though the council says it's looking into charging as much as $500 a pop under environmental legislation. There are plans to recycle any unclaimed bikes after one month.
Waverley is one of the six councils that teamed up last December to write a new set of share bike guidelines, giving operators three months to step up their game and fix the many problems their bikes appear to have created.
Later this month, there'll be a review of the companies' responses to the new guidelines, which call for bikes to be removed from dangerous spots within three hours, require bikes to be unlocked for council staff upon request and state that any damaged bikes must be deactivated immediately.
Right now, there's an estimated 2000 share bikes around Sydney, though who knows how much longer that will be the case if their owners don't lift their game.
Via Business Insider.