Dockless Bikeshare Coming to New York, With or Without Permits

[Updated] "A California company will dump 300 dockless share bikes across the Big Apple on Monday — and they don’t have permission from the city to do it," reports Danielle Furfaro

"Spin, a San Francisco-based company, will drop 150 rigs throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn and another 150 in the Rockaways," adds Furaro.

Spin is an example of dockless bikeshare, which has gained popularity in China while also creating some less-than-desirable unintended consequences. San Francisco Public Works and the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency have taken a tough stance on unpermitted dockless bikeshare in Spin's hometown. In New York, Furfaro reports that there's at least one sympathetic politician welcoming the new bikeshare business model. City Councilman Eric Ulrich is quoted in the article saying, "Bike sharing represents the future, and I don’t believe we should be protecting Citi Bike as a monopoly."

[Update: Gothamist reported on August 12, 2017 that Spin "agreed to postpone operations in New York after getting a cease and desist letter from the Department of Transportation."]