BART Has Had Enough of Dockless Bikes

The Bay Area is currently facing what seems to be the inevitable result of dockless bikeshares: lots of them, and in great piles around transit stations and other popular destinations. 

Before it starts to look like China, BART is aiming to make the companies accountable for the mess left by their product. 

From the San Jose Mercury News: 

"The transit agency is cracking down on the growing phenomenon, said Steve Beroldo, BART’s bike program manager, by forcing LimeBike and similar companies to remove recklessly discarded or broken bikes, paint bike parking areas at stations so it’s clear where users should leave them and ensure the companies have enough insurance in case someone trips over a bike and wants to sue BART." 

A variety of dockless bikeshare companies, permitted or otherwise, have set up in cities across the county, and set off debates about how to prevent the mounds of discarded bicycles that seem to go with them, even if the piles themselves are evidence of how popular the bikes have been. 

Last week, the CEO of Bird—a dockless scooter company that just launched in the Bay Area—wrote a public letter to several other companies suggesting they take a "Save Our Sidewalks" pledge to “build more bike lanes, promote safe riding, and maintain our shared infrastructure.”