This week is the deadline for the five dockless bike share companies in Dallas to clean up their act before the city begins to confiscate their bicycles.
Last month City Manager T.C. Broadnax wrote a letter to the rental bike companies operating in Dallas – LimeBike, Ofo, VBikes, Spin and Mobike – which informed them that as of Friday Feb. 9, the city "may be left with no choice but to begin removing bicycles in its rights of way, sidewalks, trails and/or trail heads that are identified as obstructions or hazards."
Four of those companies, excluding Mobike, have already formally replied to the city manager’s request for better behavior with their bikes, which are often found knocked down, blocking sidewalks, grouped by the dozens or tossed into trees, bodies of water or in various states of disrepair.
“The City is continuing to work with the bike share companies to improve compliance with City guidelines regarding the placement of their bikes,” said Jared White, senior transportation manager with the City of Dallas. “If the City continues to receive complaints, and the bike share companies do not comply and address that issue, the City will then remove the bikes identified as causing an obstruction or hazard.”
A bicycle will be deemed as an “obstruction or hazard” if it is blocking a sidewalk, a handicap ramp, access to a building, if it is located in a street or if it is blocking a trail, according to White.
