A community forum at Pacific Beach Town Council on March 21 drew a packed house questioning representatives from all four dockless vehicle companies — Ofo, Mobike, LimeBike and Bird — whose products are proliferating along the beachfront.
The recent dockless “invasion” is causing consternation among some startled by the new bike technology, which is operated by a smart-phone app. Critics claim dockless, intended to get people out of cars providing a last-mile link with public transit, is unsafe, unfair and unwanted.
Dockless reps Carl Hansen of Bird, Zack Bartlett of LimeBike, Katie Stevens of Ofo and Keven Duran of Mobike briefly profiled their companies. All four defended dockless technology, arguing it fights carbon pollution and climate change, gets people out of cars and reduces traffic congestion while improving access to local business.
Conceding dockless “has some rough edges,” Hansen said Bird was created by Lyft and Uber executives “out of concern over the traffic impacts of ride-sharing. We know 40 percent of car trips are less than two miles. The solution they came up with was electric motorized scooters as an alternative.”
Bartlett said LimeBike offers five different types of vehicles costing $1 to unlock and 15 cents a minute to rent. “This mode of transport fits in well with PB and will have a positive impact on San Diego’s Climate Action Plan,” he said. “We want to ensure everyone who wants a scooter has access to them. But we don’t want them to become a nuisance.” Barlett added LimeBikes are warehoused and charged in PB overnight.
Stevens said Ofo is different in that its vehicles are not electric, and don’t require overnight charging or warehousing. “We are the oldest dockless company focusing on educating people about how to use them, and where to park,” she said. Ofo is offering dockless rides free throughout March.
Duran said Mobike wants to “grow its presence in San Diego organically,” working with local businesses to “positively impact storefronts” while facilitating the city’s Climate Action Plan. That plan calls for eliminating half of all greenhouse gas emissions in the city, while aiming for all electricity to be renewable by 2035.
Matthew Gardner, a beachfront bike-rental operator, who previously opposed Discover Bike’s boardwalk docking stations as unfair competition, surprised the crowd by saying he didn’t see dockless as a threat.
“They are going after different clientele than I have, that last-mile commute,” said Gardner, whose rentals are geared mainly toward tourists and recreationalists. Gardner added, however, he felt dockless has been “rolled out in a terrible way with no public vetting or voting.” He said it was a “classic case of technology moving faster than government’s ability to react to it.”
From the audience, Pamela Taylor of Crystal Pier Bait & Tackle, contended dockless was playing by a different set of rules shortchanging traditional small businesses like hers.
“This isn’t about reducing cars or sustainability or helping the environment — it’s about green, as in the color of money,” Taylor said. “This has only created chaos and a dangerous situation. They don’t even provide helmets at the time of rental: It’s breaking the law.”
Bicycle enthusiast Marcie Becket agreed.
“You’ve brought these motorized scooters into our community to make money and it’s created a safety hazard,” Becket said. “You have an obligation for your riders to follow the law. Your scooter riders don’t even know that it’s illegal to ride on the boardwalk or the sidewalk.”
“Do you pay sales tax on your revenue?” asked Brian Curry, former PB Plan Group chair. “Would you be wiling to take your businesses down until we get some regulations?”
PBTC president Greg Daunoras said the group’s next meeting April 18 will be a forum for candidates running for public office.
