Dallas Bike Share: City Manager Addresses Litter Problem

DALLAS, TX — Dallas' five bike-share companies offer commuters in Dallas an opportunity to save money, protect the environment and add exercise to their daily travels, but the city's transition to a bike-share system has not come without some figurative bumps in the road.

The City of Dallas is working to curb its bike problem, although the success of its efforts remains in question. But in a recent move, City Manager T.C. Broadnax issued a statement to LimeBike, Ofo, VBikes, Spin and Mobike, warning the city would be "left with no choice but to begin removing bicycles in its rights of way, sidewalks, trails and/or trailheads that are identified as obstructions or hazards" if a list of demands is not met by Feb. 9.

The bike-share companies are tasked with relocating bicycles that are:

• Located on sidewalks narrower than 10 feet in width
• Located on turf, landscaping or other unimproved surfaces
• blocking access locations to public or private property and transit stops (including bus and rail transit)
• Blocking sidewalk curb ramps
• Located on multi-use trails to their respective trailheads

According to Broadnax's statement, a meeting will be held in the upcoming week to address and discuss the issues moving forward.

In the statement, Broadnax referenced a Dec. 7, 2017, meeting between the city and the bike share companies, in which he said: "City of Dallas staff met with all bike share companies operating in Dallas at that time to discuss operational expectations, and all participants expressed understanding and agreement... Since that time, however, the City has not seen much improvement in bicycle fleet management, and the situation continues to deteriorate."

Residents of Dallas seem to agree with Broadnax's sentiment that the condition is progressively deteriorating. One citizen, Josh Miller, has even gained recent media attention for an Instagram account titled "DallasBikeMess," in which he photographs disabled and discarded bikes, Central Track reported.

Even superstar Katy Perry noticed the bike problem, and she wasn't shy about mentioning the mess during a recent concert at American Airlines Center. Dallas Observer covered Perry's pithy comments.

“Dallas, what in the heck is y’all’s problem? We’re going to have a real come-to-Jesus … about all the bicycles that have been left on the freeway,” Perry said. “I played a drinking game yesterday with water. And I almost died from drinking too much water every time I saw a deserted bicycle."

Even Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings has joined in on the action, saying in a radio interview on The Ticket's morning show, "Dunham and Miller," that he believes local government should play a role in managing the bicycle litter, The Dallas Morning News reported.

"We're going through a stage of innovation here," Rawlings said. "The key is, can we learn from it quick enough and kinda get it back to a manageable number? I think citizens want more walkability, they want more bikeability, more bike lanes. We need to do that. But there is a role for government in here."

LimeBike, one of the city's three bike-share organizations, came under fire on Jan. 15 for a now-deleted tweet which seemed to suggest Dallas residents were to blame for the bike-based litter.

The Tweet read: "Are the bikes making it look like a dump? Or are your fellow citizens, who are turning over the bikes, and abusing the property we provide for our thousands of riders in Dallas a week... making it look like a dump? Dallas can do better. We send a team to @KatyTrail everyday."

Katy Trail did not hesitate to reply, writing: "Perhaps your team could take some of those bikes away on their ‘daily’ rounds to the Trail. We have an average of 13 total bikes ridden each hour so there will never be a need for your 100+ LimeBike on our Trail. We’ve asked nicely several times. Let’s keep Dallas beautiful!"

In a subsequent Tweet, Katy Trail praised Dallas' other bike-share organizations: "PS @Spin_Dallas and @VBikesTech you’re doing it right Thank you for being so great to work with and limiting your number of bikes on the Katy Trail!"

In a statement to FOX 4, a LimeBike spokesman said that the “tweet was originally intended to acknowledge that it is every one of our own, personal responsibilities to take care of the shared bikes that are serving our community. However, we removed the tweet after it was taken out of context to avoid any further misunderstanding."

Highland Park led the pack in the fight against urban litter when they approved an ordinance allowing city officials to impound bikes left overnight in the area.

According to a Dallas Morning News report, the price to recover impounded bikes begins at $30 for the first bike, and goes up to $100 for the fourth and beyond.

Dallas Morning News dug deeper, even publishing a photo series focusing on urban litter caused by discarded and broken bikes. What their staff photographer found was bikes that had been discarded in White Rock Lake, run over by cars and even somehow positioned atop billboards.

But it's not all bad news for bike share companies in Dallas. A data report from LimeBike released in December shows cyclists use the program often and to great environmental reward. Here's what LimeBike had to say about its service:

• 105,000 cumulative miles have been ridden on LimeBikes in Dallas.
• 3,150,000 calories have been burned on LimeBikes in Dallas.
• 57,000 pounds of CO2 have been saved in Dallas alone.
• 2,300 trees have been saved by cyclists in Dallas.

Dallas Maverick JJ Barea, who is Puerto Rican, also recently partnered with OFO to send 600 bikes to Puerto Rico, where transportation is limited and difficult in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.

It's too early to say if the negative attention from the public and press, as well as crackdowns from local government, is enough to make a change, but citizens can help control the urban litter by calling 3-1-1 or engaging with the companies themselves on social media.

In a statement to Patch, Spin's Dallas Manager, Luke Pettyjohn, said the organization applauds the City of Dallas' efforts to improve bike share programs.

"I’m thrilled that Spin successfully brought its eco-friendly and affordable transportation alternative to Dallas residents," Pettyjohn wrote. "The introduction of dockless bikeshare into Dallas has been exciting but still presents challenges, so Spin applauds the city and its leadership for taking corrective steps to make this technology work better for its residents. The letter from the Dallas City Manager's team presents improvements to the regulatory framework but might still lack enforcement mechanisms. One method that has worked in other cities is implementing a cap on the number bikes per vendor. We’re happy to continue to work with the city to determine the best actions and look forward to continuing providing residents with a safe, affordable mode of transportation."

LimeBikes also provided Patch with a statement regarding Broadnax's letter, saying the company has stayed in constant communication with the City of Dallas during the integration of the bike share program into Dallas' culture.

"...We applaud and respect Dallas for welcoming innovative, technology-based transportation, paving the way as a leader for other cities to follow. We welcome the letter as an opportunity to examine both the successes and the challenges of dockless bike-share experiencing such rapid growth.
"By doubling down on our operations efforts and enhancing our rider education on responsible parking habits, we strive to provide an affordable, accessible ride option, while also ensuring bikes are always maintained and parked responsibly. With more than 50 employees already managing our bikeshare system, we plan to double this number to 100 by the end of next month as we continue to scale our local operations team as fast as possible..."

OFO echoed the sentiments expressed in statements from LimeBike and Spin, stating, "ofo continues to work closely with City officials in building the best bikeshare program for Dallas. We’re proud to be part of the solution, with our extensive local operations team working daily to ensure ofo bikes are parked in accordance with local laws and redistributed away from wheelchair ramps, building entrances and landscaped areas. While we cannot stop vandalism and bad actors, we do our best to respond immediately to any issues and ensure it goes unseen, and are regularly educating our riders on how and where to properly park."

Requests for comments to Mobike and VBikes were not immediately answered. This story could be updated with new information.

Getty Images file photo: Chinese commuters take ride shares bicycles from Ofo at a distribution area during rush hour on April 11, 2017 in Beijing, China. Dallas City Manager, T.C. Broadnax, issued a warning Friday to Dallas' many bike share companies, demanding a more serious approach to cleanup. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)