An early assessment of dockless bike rentals in Seattle

Written By H. Pike Oliver

Here is an early assessment of dockless bike rental programs in Seattle by Josh Cohen at Next City. Key takeaways are:

  • After six months of operation, three rental companies provided about 347 thousand rides that travel a million miles. This compares to the docked system that City shut down in January 2017, that had provided 278 thousand rides in two and a half years.
  • About 80% of the rides were in non-peak travel hours, suggesting that they were mostly recreational.
  • The biggest problem is parked bikes that block sidewalks, wheel chair curb ramps and transit access. As a way of addressing inappropriately parked bikes, the Seattle Department of Transportation is considering creating bike parking "corrals" in busier locations. 
LimeBike in Seattle (Photo by Joe Mabel)

LimeBike in Seattle (Photo by Joe Mabel)

 

 

 

 

H. Pike Oliver

Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, H. Pike Oliver has worked on real estate development strategies and master-planned communities since the early 1970s, including nearly eight years at the Irvine Company. He resided in the City of Irvine for five years in the 1980s and nine years in the 1990s.

As the founder and sole proprietor of URBANEXUS, Oliver works on advancing equitable and sustainable real estate development and natural lands management. He is also an affiliate instructor at the Runstad Department of Real Estate at the University of Washington.

Early in his career, Oliver worked for public agencies, including the California Governor’s Office of Planning and Research where he was a principal contributor to An Urban Strategy for California. Prior to relocating to Seattle in 2013, Oliver taught real estate development at Cornell University and directed the undergraduate program in urban and regional studies. He is a member of the Urban Land Institute, the American Planning Association and a founder and emeritus member of the California Planning Roundtable.

Oliver is a graduate of the urban studies and planning program at San Francisco State University and earned a master’s degree in urban planning at UCLA.

https://urbanexus.com
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The University of Washington in 2017
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