Six councils across Sydney have established a uniform set of rules for bike share companies in a bid to improve public safety and ensure that bike usage continues to increase.
Randwick Council, along with Inner West, City of Sydney, Waverley, Woollahra and Canada Bay councils, met with the dockless bike hire companies to develop the guidelines following community outcry at the number of bikes left dumped or vandalised at beaches, parks and on footpaths.
The guidelines set out minimum standards and expectations for dockless bike share operations in Sydney, and focus on issues of customer safety, bike placement, distribution of bikes, dealing with faulty and dumped bikes and data sharing.
“I know that many visitors and residents love the opportunity to use a bike instead of a car to get around our beaches and town centres,” said Randwick Council Deputy Mayor, Alexandra Luxford.
“I especially encourage any actions that reduce traffic and its impact on our environment, so I’m pleased that we have been able to work with bike share companies to devise these guidelines.
“There were very specific issues around how, and within what timeframe, companies would deal with dumped and damaged bikes and we’ve been able to come to a reasonable agreement on this.
“Operators have also agreed to implement geo-fencing, which encourages users to leave bikes in preferred parking zones. We all want to see a reduction in piles of bikes littering our landscape and I believe that these guidelines will help to shape a better outcome for both residents and bike hire companies.”
The guidelines allow bike hire companies three months to comply and will be revisited and revised if need be.
