‘We should have binned dockless bikes earlier,’ admits Dallas transit boss

Micromobility innovations such as dockless bikes have been welcomed by users – but in many cases have been dreaded in the cities where they have been launched, as abandoned bicycles and scooters have caused problems for local residents.
March 22, 2019 Read time: 1 min

It is not just that the mess is unsightly - pavement clutter has already been the subject of lawsuits from disability rights groups.

Speaking at ITS International’s MaaS Market conference in London this week, Gary C Thomas, executive director, Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART), was asked to highlight initiatives which have been unsuccessful on his watch. “We should have jettisoned dockless bicycles before we did,” he admitted.

While the authorities are keen to create an open culture in Dallas to innovation, it was proof that not everything can work unchecked.

“It was really that free market approach,” Thomas told delegates. “Within a matter of months there were five companies and 25,000 dockless bikes. They were in front of our trains and littering platforms. In a year they were totally gone. You can’t find them now.”

Mass Transit & MaaS

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Trust is the key, says Cubic’s Crissy Ditmore
    August 7, 2019
    Trust is the key to encouraging people to take up shared mobility and MaaS services, thinks Cubic Transportation Systems’ Crissy Ditmore. She tells Adam Hill why sharing must be the way forward Crissy Ditmore is on the move. Director of strategy at Cubic Transportation Systems since September last year, she lives in Boise, Idaho, but doesn’t see a great deal of the city as she is “90% of the time on the road”. This is appropriate for someone whose business is working out how to get people from place to p
    Read More
  • Advanced booking: what are transportation leaders reading?
    August 21, 2023
    There’s never been more information available to us via online platforms, rolling TV news and social media channels. In this environment, does the old-fashioned book still have something to offer? We asked a few transportation leaders what they were reading…
    Read More
  • Carol Schweiger: "I never looked back"
    January 14, 2025
    Carol Schweiger is a legend of the ITS industry. She talks to Adam Hill about her career, real train sets, equity, AI, quantum computing – and the difficulty of behaviour change
    Read More
  • Congestion pricing - no such thing as a free ride
    October 2, 2018
    The widespread adoption of autonomous vehicles is likely to increase congestion, many experts believe. But Wes Guckert of Traffic Group believes that tolling could provide the answer. While it is still hard to wrap your head around the idea of getting into a vehicle without a driver, the industry is now used to hearing, reading, participating in the advancement of autonomous vehicles (AVs). Those in the industry have heard about Uber delivering a shipment of Budweiser, or the convoy of driverless trucks
    Read More

Highlighted Content