Despite the concerns of many, it does not seem that DDOT's dockless bikeshare and e-scooter regulations are leaving the market bare. Five companies have applied for a permit to offer dockless bikeshare. Eleven, most of them the same as those offering bikes, applied to offer scooters.
The five applicants for bikeshare are Riide, Lime, Ridecell, HOPR/CycleHop and JUMP. Riide will be the only one offering just bikes. If they're all approved and they all go to the maximum, that could add 3,000 new dockless bikes after permits are issues on New Year's Day.
This is the first time the city is implementing permanent rules and permitting for the dockless vehicles. The companies already operating in the city have been doing so under a temporary pilot program that began in 2017.
Since each of the companies was required to submit a standard application for a 2019 permit, Zimbabwe said the city can now get a better understanding of operations to determine if any changes are needed for 2020.
“We’ll be evaluating the program overall … during 2019 to figure out if we keep the same approach or how it continues to evolve into the future,” Zimbabwe said.
Comments