Dallas city council will consider new bike share ordinances

The Dallas City Council will look at plans on Wednesday to regulate what has been a free-for-all dockless bike-share market.

It comes as a new social experiment of sorts has popped up downtown. Downtown Dallas Inc. is installing bike corrals and parking areas. It's all part of a plan to fine tune the system that has frustrated people at times.

On one hand, downtown officials are toying with the corrals and parking zones to see if that helps keep the bikes tidy. But on the other hand, some concrete regulations could be adopted as soon as next week that could turn up the heat for bike share companies to keep it organized.

Jared White is the city's point person on bike share. Last week, he says Downtown Dallas Inc. started installing both zones and corrals as a sort of suggested areas to leave bikes.

“Over time as people become more aware of these corrals and parking areas, they'll start actually gravitating toward those and seeking them out,” he said.

Roughly a year in, bike share is still a popular program among residents and tourists. But even tourists, notice its imperfections.

“The first day we got here, we saw so many everywhere,” said visitor Grace Frederick. “So I thought they should get a better system.”

Transportation officials' plan for a better system is now out. A new ordinance that council will be briefed on Wednesday lays out dozens of guidelines. Among them are fees that go up the more bikes a company has on the streets, requirements that companies share data on usage with the city and strict rules about how much time a company has to move a bike that's in a bad spot. It gives them just two hours if it’s between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. on a weekday.

“If they get a certain number of violations if you will, we can revoke their permit or not renew it,” White said.

The city of Dallas worked with the bike share companies on crafting the ordinance. White says they didn't get any major complaints and are hopeful the new ordinances pass and will help improve the system.

If there aren't any major changes council wants during the upcoming briefing, White is hopeful there could be a vote on the ordinance next week.