Dockless bikeshare arrives in D.C. today and it should prove to be a really interesting experiment over the next six months.
D.C. is one of the few places in the U.S. seeing increases in bike commuting, but for it to work, a certain level of good behavior will be necessary.
Riders should be conscious of where they park the bikes so as not to block doorways into businesses or access points for other people on sidewalks and streets. But it will be exciting to see how the bikes fill in the gaps where Capital Bikeshare hasn’t worked so well.
“Everything is done through the app on your mobile phone so it is a convenient experience — and seamless,” said Hu Weiwei, founder of Mobike, one of China’s top dockless bike-sharing start-ups.
The company, which has more than 7 million bikes in 180 cities — mostly in China — is entering the U.S. market via the District. It’s deploying about 200 bicycles built with smart-lock technology, starting Wednesday.
San Francisco-based Spin also is launching operations in the city this week, touting an American product that is now available in three other major U.S. cities. LimeBike, a San Mateo, Calif.-based company that has systems in eight U.S. cities and seven college campuses, says it also plans to enter the D.C. scene. D.C. transportation officials say a total of six companies have expressed interest in doing business in the city, and officials are working to get them through the permitting process.
In opening the market to dockless bikesharing, the District is once again proving itself to be a testing ground for the latest trend in the shared-transportation economy.
“D.C. is a great place to innovate,” said Greg Billing, executive director of the Washington Area Bicyclist Association. “It’s exciting that private businesses are seeing a market for bike-sharing in the District.”
The District has the second-highest share of bike commuters among U.S. cities (Portland, Ore., is No. 1), and the fascination with biking only continues to rise as the city invests in bike lanes and other infrastructure, including the subsidized Capital Bikeshare program. Nearly 5 percent of D.C. commuters make their trips on two wheels, according to census data.
The District also is among the first U.S. cities to embrace the dockless concept, which has boomed in China over the past year. San Francisco, Seattle and Dallas are experimenting with dockless bikes. Other cities are beginning to debate how to legally allow such ventures as a new generation of bike companies is eager to enter the market, competing with the traditional station-based and subsidized bike-sharing programs.