BG Note | Policy - Dockless Bike Share on Austin Council Agenda
OVERVIEW: The Austin City Council convenes this Thursday, February 1, for its first regular meeting of 2018. The Council agenda features a resolution and ordinance (#58 and #59) relating to dockless bike share.
WHAT THEY DO:
- Item 58 would amend the City's current fee schedule, providing an infrastructure to monitor and enforce dockless operations (through right-of-way permit fees to the bike share firms).
- Item 59 would authorize Austin's City Manager to establish a dockless bikeshare pilot program, and requisite permit process for permanent operations.
WHY IT MATTERS: These past several months some of the larger dockless bike share firms (Ofo, Spin, and Limebike) have been communicating with Austin officials on how open the city's market. This comes at a time when the City of Dallas' dockless bike share pilot appears to be on thin ice. Additionally, these firms likely want to have a pilot in place ahead of SXSW 2018 (a little over a month away on March 9).
ALSO: Spencer Cronk, Austin's new City Manager, will be starting Monday, February 12. He will be hailing from the City of Minneapolis where he served as City Coordinator. Read More
INTERESTINGLY: Nice Ride Minnesota, the Twin Cities' public bike sharing system, recently chose a vendor, Motivate (based in Brooklyn) to launch and operate a dockless program. Read More
NO WORD YET: Austin B-Cycle, the city's public bike share system is not currently considering (at least not publicly) going dockless, or providing dockless services. But it appears as of this week its sister service, San Antonio B-Cycle, and the City of San Antonio will be. Read more.
DAY OF: We will know more following the City Council meeting, but will be posting video from the hearings on our Instagram stories, as well as short updates on Facebook and Twitter. See below to follow us on all our platforms.
MORE: See, Austin Council Agenda (2/1/18). See also, The Future of Dockless Bike Share in Austin
//The Bingham Group
The Bingham Group, LLC is an Austin-based full service lobbying firm representing and advising clients on municipal, legislative, and regulatory matters throughout Texas.
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