DC recently issued new proposed regulations for dockless bikeshare in DC. A positive way to look at it is that if they didn't want bikeshare, they'd just ban it. But as many, including myself, have pointed out the regulations are more limiting than needed. The problems I see with the regulations are namely:
- The 600 bikes initial cap is too low. If we want dockless bikeshare to succeed, we need to let it be big enough that people can reliably find a bike and we need it to be big enough for the network effect to benefit customers. There's no good policy reason for this, it's just a way to placate non-customers who are all aflutter about the bikes. We just had an election, if now is not the time to show a little political courage, then I don't know when is. Last year we had over 2500 dockless bikes on the street. We could at least start there. And we could speed up the raising of the cap. If we did we wouldn't need to require 6 bikes per ward if we didn't have it. All of this also applies to scooters. This is one of the biggest barriers to bikeshare right now.
- The second biggest barrier is the "lock-to" requirement. I get that the goal is to get bikes out of the way of pedestrians and in the place they belong. But instead of prescribing a solution, we should tell dockless bikeshare companies what the goal is and let them figure out how to get there. We can track this (complaints, surveys, tip-over sensor data) and if a company is failing then we can penalize them. I personally don't think this is as big a problem as people make it out to be - at least based on complaints - but I'm willing to work on fixing it.
- The 10mph speed limit for scooters is inconsistent and poorly thought out. It's there because scooters are considered Personal Mobility Devices (PMDs) and the speed limit for PMDs is 10mph. But the PMD classification was set up for electric wheelchairs, and then expanded to include segways. Clearly we need to rethink our vehicle definitions in light of all the new vehicles on the road - and I think that's especially true for scooters. But on top of that, we don't treat other vehicles like this. The segways that tourists rent are required to top out at 10mph. Zipcars aren't required to top out at 65mph, so why limit scooters like this (though forcing Zipcars to top out at 65mph might be a great idea)?
- The requirement that operators give every member a free helmet if they ask for it seems like something someone would propose if they don't know a lot about bikes. Most people can afford to buy their own helmet if they'd like one. If we want to provide members who are in need a free or discounted helmet, DC should just do that (and I think they already have a program for that). Maybe the $5 per bike fee can help fund it - and there would be more money for it if we had more bikes. It's odd since we don't require people to wear helmets and we aren't even sure they work all that well. Why not require them to give out free gloves, eye protection and pads? CaBi, BTW, does not give out free helmets to any member who asks for one, so there's a fairness/monopoly issue there too.
- The regulation requiring operators to "offer a low-income customer plan that waives any applicable vehicle deposit and....unlimited trips under 30 mins to any customer with income <= 200% of the fed poverty guide" is coming from a good place, but it's onerous. If DC wants to subsidize transportation for those in need, then THEY should do it, just as they do with Metro or CaBi - again with the fee money they're already charging. Are Lyft, Zipcar and others should be required to do this too?
Even with these regulations, I think dockless is going to survive, but I worry about whether it will thrive the way we want it to.
In May, COG hosted a Dockless Bikeshare Workshop with presentation by DDOT, MCDOT, Alexandria and NPS. At the time, there were still 7 companies operating in DC instead of just 1.
DDOT - which called dockless vehicles DoVe - pointed out how the law, as currently written, doesn't give good guidance to them. For example the section below makes it seem like dockless is illegal.
Title 24 Section 24-111.1 - No person shall leave any goods, wares, or merchandise either in or upon any street, avenue, alley, highway, footway, sidewalk, parking, or other public space in the District for a period longer than two (2) hours
They also noted that they like what their seeing so far. Like 25% of users report biking more. Lots of trips go across boundaries.
MCDOT reported on their pilot in Silver Spring. They designated bike parking areas, required operators to remove improperly parked bikes within an hour and charged operators if the city had to move the bike. Nonetheless, and unlike in DC, most of the 77 comments they got were negative. People complained they were an eyesore, that bikes are left in the wrong places, that they took up valuable rack space, that the batteries died in the winter or that the county shouldn't pay for this (they don't. It neither costs money nor makes money). But others thought they did a good job of filling the gaps in CaBi and makes neighborhoods more transit friendly. And others thought they made the city prettier.
To deal with complaints, MCDOT reduced the number of bikes in the pilot area, adding more bike parking and tried to do more outreach.
Bike use peaked in February and then started to drop off. The main areas of defects were the solar panels, back light and rear reflector. Surveys they carried out showed that about 8% of bikes were obstructions and nearly 90% were upright.
NPS - Their main concerns are how the dockless bikes impact the user experience and the regulatory approval of dockless bikes to operate on parkland. They've met with operators and are working with DDOT on how permit dockless on some NPS property, but not near the monuments.
In October, COG had another workshop - this one on bikes and scooters - and this time DC, Arlington, Baltimore and Montgomery County presented.
DDOT stated that we're in Phase II of a three phase project that will end in 2020. Then -??? There are 5 permitted scooter companies and 2 permitted bike companies, but only 4 and 1 of them are operating. In order to meet the new demand for bike parking, they've added 300 bike racks as part of their on-going "rack attack". Interestingly, Skip has way more inactive vehicles outside of they city. They literally skipped town. They're still working on how to enforce the rules, how to work across the region and how to deal with data.
MoCo reports 18,000 trips in the first 6 months, with only 7% of bikes blocking access. 84% of people want the program to continue, it has expanded bike use, and they need more bike racks. They're looking to expand the program to Bethesda, Wheaton, Viers Mill and other areas.
Arlington has had dockless scooters since June and approved Lime and Bird in October. but I think they're just scooters so far.
So, the future looks good for dockless, but not great and there is a danger of overregulating them. On the upside there are plans to expand both the number of bikes and the area they can operate in. It would great to see PG County get in on this, at least in the close in areas.
I would kill for Jump in Hyattsville, Mt. Rainier, and the Port Towns.
Posted by: Adam | November 09, 2018 at 06:15 PM