Abandoned cycles and dockless cycles
Decision:
In respect of dockless bikes, Tyler Linton from Street Scene, took the Committee through the current procedures and powers and what the next steps were. The Committee had agreed at a special meeting on 2 October 2019 to recommend a bye law to Full Council for adoption which Full Council did at its meeting on 30 October 2019. This bye law would be going to London Councils for adoption and should come on stream in the autumn which would give the Council greater powers to remove the bikes.
Until this bye law came into force, the Council did not have many powers to remove bikes but under the 1980 Highways Act, the Council did have the power to move obstructions and Street Scene were working with Enforcement to remove bikes that were causing obstructions. Bikes were being removed but not to a huge extent. The Council did want to be able to issue a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) and a policy, based on the A Boards policy was being drafted to enable this. The policy was scheduled to be taken to Cabinet for approval in May.
Hackney Council was the first local authority in the country to have bays for dockless bikes. However, people were still leaving them on the pavement.
Councillor Stops gave the service 8 out of 10 on bikes. He suggested that the users should photograph where they left them and if they constantly left them inappropriately, the user should be removed from the app.
Councillor Hanson said that users would see the £2 fine for leaving them inappropriately as a cost rather than a penalty so it would not be a deterrent. She suggested that a higher fine would deter users from leaving them on the pavements.
Councillor Snell asked where the telephone number was for reporting bikes left on pavements. Tyler Linton said that the contact details for Beryl and Jump, the two companies the Council had contracts with for these bikes, had gone out in a press release. He would check the details were available on the Council's website.
Tyler Linton said that there were 8,000 Jump users and increasing the fine was a fair point. The Council also needed to ensure that the dockless bike bays were kept clear of vehicles and the car shaped bike parks would be introduced in them shortly. In respect of users photographing where they had left the bikes, the Council had no powers to force the other 4 bike companies to remove the bikes. The Council could ask Jump and Beryl to put more staff on the ground to patrol where the bikes were left. 27,000 journeys had been made in January alone which would mean a huge number of photos would need to be stored. Tyler Linton said the Council could ask Jump and Beryl about the repeat offenders
Councillor Stops asked what was being done about abandoned bikes as there were lots of rusty dumped bikes in the borough. Gerry McCarthy said that if the bikes were dangerous then the Council could remove them without putting signage up to say that bikes would be removed. If they were not dangerous then the Council had to put signage up and give a 7 days' Notice of removal.
Councillor Fajana-Thomas said that she had raised a bike removal as one of her casework matters and it had taken 2 months to remove the bike. Gerry McCarthy said that whether the bike was deemed dangerous or not was at the discretion of the Enforcement Officer. If it was not deemed dangerous then as said previously, it required signage and Notice of removal to be given.
Minutes:
In respect of dockless bikes, Tyler Linton from Street Scene, took the Committee through the current procedures and powers and what the next steps were. The Committee had agreed at a special meeting on 2 October 2019 to recommend a bye law to Full Council for adoption which Full Council did at its meeting on 30 October 2019. This bye law would be going to London Councils for adoption and should come on stream in the autumn which would give the Council greater powers to remove the bikes.
Until this bye law came into force, the Council did not have many powers to remove bikes but under the 1980 Highways Act, the Council did have the power to move obstructions and Street Scene were working with Enforcement to remove bikes that were causing obstructions. Bikes were being removed but not to a huge extent. The Council did want to be able to issue a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) and a policy, based on the A Boards policy was being drafted to enable this. The policy was scheduled to be taken to Cabinet for approval in May.
Hackney Council was the first local authority in the country to have bays for dockless bikes. However, people were still leaving them on the pavement.
Councillor Stops gave the service 8 out of 10 on bikes. He suggested that the users should photograph where they left them and if they constantly left them inappropriately, the user should be removed from the app.
Councillor Hanson said that users would see the £2 fine for leaving them inappropriately as a cost rather than a penalty so it would not be a deterrent. She suggested that a higher fine would deter users from leaving them on the pavements.
Councillor Snell asked where the telephone number was for reporting bikes left on pavements. Tyler Linton said that the contact details for Beryl and Jump, the two companies the Council had contracts with for these bikes, had gone out in a press release. He would check the details were available on the Council's website.
Tyler Linton said that there were 8,000 Jump users and increasing the fine was a fair point. The Council also needed to ensure that the dockless bike bays were kept clear of vehicles and the car shaped bike parks would be introduced in them shortly. In respect of users photographing where they had left the bikes, the Council had no powers to force the other 4 bike companies to remove the bikes. The Council could ask Jump and Beryl to put more staff on the ground to patrol where the bikes were left. 27,000 journeys had been made in January alone which would mean a huge number of photos would need to be stored. Tyler Linton said the Council could ask Jump and Beryl about the repeat offenders
Councillor Stops asked what was being done about abandoned bikes as there were lots of rusty dumped bikes in the borough. Gerry McCarthy said that if the bikes were dangerous then the Council could remove them without putting signage up to say that bikes would be removed. If they were not dangerous then the Council had to put signage up and give a 7 days' Notice of removal.
Councillor Fajana-Thomas said that she had raised a bike removal as one of her casework matters and it had taken 2 months to remove the bike. Gerry McCarthy said that whether the bike was deemed dangerous or not was at the discretion of the Enforcement Officer. If it was not deemed dangerous then as said previously, it required signage and Notice of removal to be given.