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Chicago is the first major American city to take a strong stance on keeping its sidewalks open and accessible instead of littered with discarded bicycles.
The city begins a six-month pilot program next week in an aim to keep litter from bicycle-share programs off city streets. Any service renting out bikes that don't have bike stations — also known as "dockless" bikes — must make sure their vehicles have "lock-to" technology, which allows users to lock the bikes to a physical object, like a bike rack.
SEE ALSO:E-scooter company CEO wants to ‘Save Our Sidewalks’ from bike litterWith this pilot, which starts in the South Side area, Chicago is preemptively sparing its sidewalks from bicycles left in the way. Cities like Dallas, San Diego, and San Francisco have been dealing with unregulated bike-shares that allow riders to leave self-locking bikes strewn around those cities. Chicago currently only offers Divvy for bike rentals; those are checked out from dock stations around the city, as with Citi Bike in New York or Ford GoBike in San Francisco.
Tim Alborg, head of policy for the bike-share network Zagster whose Pace bikes will launch in Chicago on Tuesday, said in a call that Chicago is adopting early to new transportation options without outright banning the new tech.
He praised the pilot program, as it will "really keep the industry moving while also preserving the public order."
"It's really important that these dockless bike-share providers act responsibly," Alborg said, adding that regulations like Chicago's make "sure dockless bikes don’t block sidewalks and make it harder for pedestrians and people with disabilities to get around the city."
The issue for many bike-share vendors is developing a lock-to system for their bikes. The appeal for bike-shares like Ofo and LimeBike is the quick and easy access to the two-wheelers at the tap of an app. But those bikes don't have lock-to technology, yet. Ofo has applied for the permit to operate in Chicago and will be able to use 50 of its current wheel-locking bikes until July 1. Then all bikes must be able to lock to something.
An Ofo spokesperson said, "We're excited for the opportunity to serve Chicago and provide a more equitable and affordable way to get around."
LimeBike is set to launch its 50 bikes — after July 1, like Ofo's bikes, they must be able to lock to something — in Chicago's South Side on Tuesday, the company's director of strategic development Gabriel Scheer said in a call. Although it's not the 500 bikes that LimeBike brought to Seattle's pilot program, the company is still eager to expand to another city. "We're excited for people to try dockless," he said of Chicago, which has been dominated for years by the dock-based Divvy program.
Jump, which was recently acquired by Uber, already has a built-in locking system, so its e-bikes can be locked to bike racks or other objects, making them eligible and ready to operate in Chicago under the pilot. We reached out to Uber to see if Jump bikes will launch in Chicago.
Jump bikes come with locking equipment.Credit: sasha lekach/mashableOther cities, like Austin, Texas, are also examining how to regulate the influx of bike-share (and scooter-share) programs and prevent a situation seen in many Chinese cities, with bike litter, massive bicycle graves, and bikes in trees, bodies of water, and blocking major thoroughfares.
Bike mania is here, and cities are scrambling to contain it.
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