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Dallas Gives 5 Bike-Share Companies Deadline To Tidy Up

Krystina Martinez
/
KERA News
A LimeBike submerged in a creek at White Rock Lake.

Dallas officials are giving the five bike-share companies that have planted small armies of brightly colored bikes across the city a deadline to get them in order.  

City staff met with the companies on Dec. 7 to discuss operational expectations. Instead of improvement, Dallas officials have seen the situation “deteriorate.”

City Manager T.C. Broadnax sent a letter, directing the companies to take the following steps by Feb. 9.

1. Relocate all bicycles:

  • 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.

2. Provide the names and contact information for persons/entities managing your operational and maintenance activities.
If the companies — VBikes, ofo, Spin, LimeBike and Mobike — don’t comply, “the City may 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.” 

The bikes have gotten into some precarious places since Garland-based VBikes first brought bike-sharing to Dallas over the summer. This Instagram account is chronicling the "Dallas Bike Mess."