Sydney to get parking zones for shared ebikes in bid to stop ‘wild west scenes’ of blocked footpaths | Ebikes
Shared e-bikes cluttering Sydney footpaths will be kicked off the curb in the coming months as part of funding to create marked parking spaces, the New South Wales government has said.
On Tuesday the state government announced $6.6 million in funding for Sydney local councils to designate and paint dedicated parkland. Each council will receive up to $200,000.
Operators pay a 60-cent fee on each shared e-bike ride for the Sharing Plan Grant Program. When the scheme was first announced last year, operators including Lime suggested the tax would likely be integrated into existing administration fees for e-bike users.
The number of shared e-bikes in Australia has quadrupled in less than two years, with the majority in Sydney. The city’s e-bike fleet grew from 13,000 in January to more than 20,000 in May, according to Transport for NSW.
More than a million NSW residents now use shared e-bikes each month, roughly twice as many as in October, NSW transport secretary Josh Murray said on Tuesday.
NSW transport minister John Graham said while the expansion of joint plans was a positive development, “we are not willing to stand by and allow wild west scenes to continue any longer”.
“Pedestrians are crying out for the return of order and footpaths.”
The government says the funding is for the 16 municipalities currently hosting joint e-bike programmes, and is to create marked bays on streets and curbs “in areas with the most conflict and grievances”.
The plan was announced last year alongside expanded powers for LGAs, which Graham said would be phased in over the coming months.
Municipalities can create “slow” and “slow” zones for shared and private e-bikes and penalize shared e-bike operators for non-use of parking areas with a maximum penalty of $55,000 plus a $5,500 fine for each day the offense continues.
Graham said municipalities will designate parking zones and operators will enforce compliance by geo-tracking bikes and requesting customers send photos of properly parked bikes.
Graham said the government is moving towards requiring e-bike riders to park in a bay or be unable to end their ride, which would leave their meters running.
Thirteen NSW councils now host shared cycling schemes and some, including the City of Sydney, North Sydney and Waverley, have already trialled shared parking schemes. Transport for NSW has trialled parking spaces that can accommodate about 190 e-bikes at nine train and tube stations around Sydney.
Murray said the agency is ramping up bay distribution at other transportation hubs and stations.
“We aim to have 250 bays available by the end of this year, with 62 already delivered,” he said. The government said the trial pointed to marked bays reducing overturned bikes and halving footpaths.
Graham said the government expects councils to install thousands of additional parking spaces by the end of the year.
“We have to change the culture,” Graham said. “We will see an improvement here”
The changes are part of safety measures for shared and private e-bikes due to a rise in injuries.
The government has given authorities the power to seize and crush private e-bikes operating at speeds above 25 kilometers per hour, but has not yet decided on a minimum age limit to ride an e-bike.
