Dockless bike share's growing pains
NEW YORK (FOX5NY.COM) - The concept is simple: open an app, find a bike, and ride. When you're done, you can leave the bike anywhere.
The Rockaways was the first neighborhood in New York City to have dockless bikes. And as the area approaches the one-month mark of the pilot, most of the people we spoke to love this bike-share program.
Lime and Pace are the operators on the peninsula. They have 400 bikes—a mix of regular and pedal-assist two-wheelers.
When we searched on their respective apps Monday night, the bikes seemed to be plentiful but they weren't always easy to locate. And riders said that even when they stumbled upon a bike it wasn't always operable.
One resident was looking to rent one of Lime's e-bikes for the first time. While the one he found was dead, Lime was soon on site to replace the battery. The bike teams are dispatched throughout the area to retrieve bikes and return them to service.
For the most part, the bikes we saw were left in normal bike locations—not blocking pedestrians or traffic. But bikes left where they shouldn't be as well damaged or stolen bikes are still a cause for concern, like in most cities that have dockless programs.
Fox 5 reached out to the DOT for comment.
"We are currently in the evaluation period of the pilot program and based on company performances, we will make a determination on future steps," DOT said, "including the possibility of not moving forward, or an expanded pilot."