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Department for Transport to host meeting between dockless bike share operators and local authorities

Issues to be discussed will include drawing up national standards for the schemes as they expand throughout UK

The Department for Transport (DfT) will next month host a meeting between dockless bike share scheme operators and local authorities.

The news was given in a written parliamentary answer by transport minister Jesse Norman to Brigg and Goole MP Andrew Percy regarding meetings “to discuss the introduction of a consistent national standard for bike-share schemes.”

Norman said: "Department for Transport officials have met representatives from most of the major dockless bike-share companies operating in the UK, as well as from some local authorities and boroughs where they are trading.

"The question of a possible national standard has been raised at several of these meetings. The Department is also inviting various stakeholders to a workshop in January where this matter will be discussed further."

London, where China’s Ofo and Mobike as well as the Singapore-based Obike launched this year in certain boroughs, has already drawn up a code of practice for dockless bike hire scheme operators, which was published in October.

With those businesses, as well as start-ups such as Pony Bikes, which is active in Oxford – as are Ofo and Mobike – expanding into an increasing number of cities nationwide, it has been acknowledged within the industry that a national standard is needed, reports BikeBiz.

Speaking to the Financial Times, Joseph Seal-Driver, general manager of Ofo UK, said: “It’s a bit of a grey area in the UK.

“There’s no straight primary legislation from the government that says local authorities can regulate this type of bike-sharing service.”

As many as 100 dockless bike hire businesses were set up in China in the past couple of years as entrepreneurs tried to grab aa slice of the market in a feverish wave of activity that the South China Morning Post likens to the dot.com bubble.

Many of those companies have fallen by the wayside and according to the newspaper only three – Ofo, Mobike and Hellobike – are seen as having sufficient size and resources to survive in the long term.

Among the casualties are Bluegogo, which was once the third largest operator in China but which went out of business earlier this month, leaving users out of pocket as they lost the money they had paid as a deposit to use the scheme.

This year has seen several operators – notably, Ofo and Mobike – start to expand internationally and their bikes are fast becoming a familiar sight in cities around the world.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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4 comments

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Redvee | 6 years ago
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Don't know if you saw the pics of the problem in China with dockless bikes, SkyNews did a report on the issue recently.

 

https://news.sky.com/story/in-china-rental-bikes-have-become-a-social-me...

 

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BehindTheBikesheds | 6 years ago
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I don't agree with dockless bike systems, far better to ensure there's a full city/town wide coverage(of docked) and 3.5metre wide cycle lanes on all roads to ensure high take up. If that means making roads one way only for motors then bike hiring will be a great success.

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brooksby | 6 years ago
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As soon as DfT comes out with regulations to govern them, won't they all just do an Uber and change their structure or definition so as to stay outside the regulatory framework...?

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burtthebike | 6 years ago
3 likes

Well, I for one am amazed that the DfT can move so quickly when it's something to do with cycling; this must be some kind of record.  If only they moved this quickly when it's anything else about cycling.

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