SDOT cuts Jump, Lime fleets by 1,000 for misreporting poorly parked bikes
Jun 17, 2019, 8:14 AM | Updated: 10:10 am
Improperly parked bikeshares have become a prevalent issue in Seattle. (SDOT)
(SDOT)
The Seattle Department of Transportation recently announced that it’s reduced the fleet maximum for Lime and Jump by 1,000 bikes each. The move was made as “enforcement action” against the two companies due to “incomplete and inaccurate reports of parking complaints” in April.
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Jump and Lime received 157 and 168 reports of improperly parked bikes respectively in May, as detailed in a monthly status report on Seattle’s free-floating bikeshare programs. That’s over double what the companies were reporting in January and February of this year.
It’s unclear at this point whether it’s a correction in Lime and Jump’s improper reporting that led to the May increase, or simply a rash of reckless parkers. Either way, a campaign to encourage better bikeshare parking habits is currently in full effect in Seattle.
SDOT and non-profit Rooted in Rights released an instructional video in early June, imploring riders to “use common sense” when parking bikes. The concerns it points out relate to problems caused for the differently-abled, when bikes are left in the middle of sidewalks and curb ramps.
“Bike blocking is good for no one,” Dorian Taylor, who uses a wheelchair, says in the video.
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SDOT has labeled the issue a “top priority.” A Seattle Times report details a recent policy from SDOT in 2019, where it will cut Jump and Lime’s fleets by 20 bikes for each obstruction that violates ADA requirements.
The city plans to build 1,500 additional spaces for bikes across the city, “taking advantage of space that isn’t currently used.” It is also adding 160 new parking spaces for bikes along Alki Beach and Seacrest Marina, including “a new corral … that will be the largest in Seattle.”
