The City of Philadelphia held a public hearing with regard to dockless bike sharing regulations on Tuesday, and the Bicycle Coalition attended to better understand the policies the city is considering as dockless bike sharing moves closer to reality.
The City has previously stated that they would like to begin a dockless bike sharing pilot, and would like that pilot to take place within certain boundaries, likely where Indego Bike Share does not currently reach.
At Tuesday’s hearing, officials noted there had been public comments submitted, and several changes had been considered in response to those comments.
First, the city is considering lowering the price for companies to operate in Philadelphia’s dockless bike sharing pilot. The model, it was said, would be changed to a per-bike-fee of $35 with a minimum operator fee of $17,500.
Second, they are considering changing the number of operators working on the dockless bike sharing program from two to more than that—though a specific number wasn’t mentioned.
Third, they are considering changing the timeline for starting the pilot to October 2019.
When there’s more information to share about dockless bike share in Philadelphia, we’ll share it. For now, though, it looks like there will be a fall start date.