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news
Mobikes (copyright Simon MacMichael).jpgLondon Assembly report calls for tighter regulation of dockless bike-share schemes
A new report from the London Assembly’s transport committee says that dockless bike-sharing schemes should be subject to tougher regulation.
Published today, the report, called Future Transport: How is London responding to technological innovation?, addresses emerging trends in transport such as personal drones, droids and autonomous vehicles.
It warns that that the capital’s transport planners are failing to keep pace with innovations in transport, citing the city’s lack of preparedness for the launch of Uber as well as the introduction of dockless bike-sharing schemes.
While Transport for London (TfL) introduced a code of practise for dockless bike-share operators last year, the committee says there should be a stricter licensing regime.
Currently, operators in London include China’s Ofo, which is active in Islington and neighbouring Hackney, and Singapore-based Mobike, which also operates in Islington as well as in Ealing.
In each case, the operators have partnered with the boroughs concerned, unlike another Chinese business, oBike, whose bikes were impounded by Wandsworth Council when they appeared without warning on the borough’s streets last year.
The committee says that considerations should be given to allowing a limited number of such schemes to operate across London as a whole, including in Outer London.
Among the report’s recommendations were that “TfL and boroughs should consider whether to introduce a London-wide licensing regime for dockless cycle hire.
“This could involve a small number of operators being granted permission to operate across London. Licensing requirements could specify commitments to provide services in outer London boroughs, and adherence to the terms of TfL’s code of practice for operators.
“We ask the Mayor and TfL to confirm by the end of May 2018 that discussions on this proposal are underway.”
Other recommendations of the report highlighted the need to:
Develop the principles of a new regulatory regime for demand-responsive bus services
Ensure data produced by apps powered by underlying TfL data is shared with TfL
Consider an integrated control system for ground-based autonomous vehicles and airborne drones.
The committee’s chair, Keith Prince, said: “Autonomous vehicles could make roads safer.
“Dockless bikes could spread the benefits of cycling to the whole city and demand-responsive buses could give people a public transport service tailored to their needs.
“The opportunity to improve mobility for millions of Londoners is here but it will require proper planning, transparency and accountability, as well as co-operation with government, boroughs and development companies,” he continued.
“TfL have been caught napping on the technology front and it’s time to wake up. Uber, then oBike are two examples of a poorly prepared regulator which seems to be making it up as they go along.
“Go back to 2014,” he added. “In its Future Proof report, this committee warned that ‘TfL needs to be prepared for the inevitable consequences of a transport environment in which technology is evolving faster than the legislation that is needed to govern its use.’
“It’s clear that warning was ignored – let’s hope this warning won’t be.”
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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11 comments
I think the answer is to have a hybrid scheme so you can choose whether or not to dock your bike.
Combine that with dynamic pricing to encourage people to use available docks and you'll get a far better system.
Dockless bikes scheme = another form of litter
Docked bike scheme = another form of not being able to find a park
Dockless bike schemes are really a product of failure, failure to have integrated transport, failure to provide safe routes, failure to encourage people to change both as transport options and those in charge of our society as whole.
IF there were better facilities for cycling as a whole, more proper and secure parking, , more safe routes into cities from the burbs then there would be less need for bike hire schemes. Indeed dockless operations create and exacerbate their own set of problems, people discarding bikes wherever they want and with less care for the bike itself not to mention the other effects of redistributing and collecting broken down vehicles.
Yes for leisure purposes they can be great but I think most people would prefer static/fixed docking stations as much as possible.
Let's hope authorities can remove loads of car parking in towns and cities across the country (it should be law to have a minimum % set for bikes) and use the space for bike parking/docking stations.
The problem with fixed docking stations in a city like London is that certain docking-stations are hot-spots and end up being full so you can't dock your bike - you then have to go out of your way to another some distance from where you wanted to be, and then walk back again.
When I tried them going A to B, I ended up with an additonal 5 mins cycle to point C and 15 minutes walk from C back to B - my original A to B journey on the bike was only 15 minutes.
This is an issue that I found particularly acute whenever there is a tube strike and people look for alternative means to get to work.
When I lived in London, I generally cycled my own bike to my office near Fleet Street but there were times when I had to turn up in a suit near Green Park and found Boris Bikes (or Saqid Cycles...) to be the best option. However, as Cygnus says, the docking stations nearby were too often full meaning that you had to faff around with trying to find another one which, inevitably, led to a longer commute than necessary.
The problem of bikes ending up in the same places wouldn't be solved by going dockless but at least the faffing around looking for a docking station would be eliminated.
I own 20 bikes; I still use dockless bikes. And docked. There are just times when they're great.
I'm sorry... did you just say you own 20 bikes!
Do you live in an aircraft hangar?
Just one more bike and then that’s it...
And if you'd read properly you'd have seen that I DID in fact say that, I never said there would be no need for them just less need than what people imagine/project.
I notice you never rebuffed any of my other points though.
I guess you have done a survey on who uses them and why plus have nice graphs?
I've noticed the Islington dockless bikes aren't used that much as being borough wide they are a bit useless for most people who cycle simply as most people go across boroughs.
I know plenty of cyclists who use Boris bikes mainly because they split their journey and you can't take bikes on trains in London in peak hours due to overcrowding.
I imagine that 'transpotr' is slow transport, when you're just pottering around.