@liamvhogan everywhere these bikes are they are a problem. It speaks to the capture of councils by capital that they are permitted to operate like this.

@Kels_316 it’s a typical verticality problem: the obvious solution is for *some* level of government to say, you want to operate, sure, you need to plan for dedicated parking and storage (like every bus company does). But is it Councils or the State government? Both think it’s the other one because there’s no ‘private hire electric bicycle’ powers set out in legislation yet

@Kels_316 [making the companies spend on parking infrastructure would seriously, seriously affect their bottom line]

@liamvhogan yes this is where the rubber meets the road. Cities should be responsible for this stuff, but they're run by the worst people in those cities.

@Kels_316 @liamvhogan the stupid thing is that this is all avoidable: in Montreal they have a municipally-owned bikeshare system called Bixi. They have actual parking stations, located in on-street parking bays. When you ride, you have to go from one Bixi station to another, otherwise you lose your deposit (which you make when you sign up for the system). You don’t need an app to use them.
Crucially, no private hire scooter or bike company is permitted to compete with them, so those companies can’t clutter up the footpaths.
It is so well-loved in Montreal that people write books about how much they love Bixi.

@ThermiteBeGiants @liamvhogan yes but I refer to my earlier comments about who runs cities, at least in this country.

@Kels_316 @liamvhogan I agree. Melbourne had an “official” docked bike share system but cancelled it just before e-bikes took off. Really silly stuff imo