Dallas City Council delays vote on bike share ordinance

The city of Dallas will have to wait a little longer for bike share regulations to take effect.

City officials have been meeting with bike share companies since February to try and get an ordinance written and passed, but some council members feel they still don’t have enough information to move forward in crafting an effective law to regulate these bikes. On Wednesday, they decided that the proposed law needs more revisions before it can be passed.

The current proposed ordinance would charge bike share companies a fee to operate based on the number of bikes they have. It would also give companies a time limit to pick up bikes parked incorrectly. It would also force companies to move bikes that haven't been ridden every seven days, or 48 hours if they are in a residential area.

But council members are concerned with other issues regarding the bikes: what to do about parking enforcement, theft and vandalism of the bikes.

“How can you guys address the hacked bikes that people are actually commandeering?” said Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Adam Medrano. “I see them, they sleep with them, they have them next to them on the streets and the sidewalks. Is there a way you guys can get them back and take them away?”

Carter Stern, the head of external affairs at Ofo, stated that the company’s policy is not to call the police when bikes are stolen.

“We're mindful the city has limited resources and so we don't want to be deluging them with stolen bikes and we recover a lot of them as well,” Stern said.  

The council also talked about repealing an ordinance which would allow electric scooters in the city. But some members have said they do not want to move forward on any potential changes until they pass an ordinance on bikes.

The council plans to revisit the issue in late June.