Hounslow Council To Launch Consultation On Mobikes

Local anger over lack of controls over the dockless bikesharing scheme

Hounslow Council is making no money out of the dockless bikesharing Mobike scheme and there have been very few fines issued to any customers, a meeting of the Chiswick Area Forum heard last night ( February 5th).

The Council is to launch a public consultation to get feed back on the 12-month trial period which expires in February.

The scheme has been controversial as Chiswick traders and residents are unhappy with the fact that the mobikes can be parked anywhere, leading to street clutter and reports of bikes left uncollected for weeks from residential areas.

Duncan Robertson, Head of Government Affairs, Mobike, said that there were about 600 bikes trips taken per day with trips averaging 15 minutes. He said there was a £20 fine if the bikes were taken out of the geofence area. After questioning, it transpired the geofence area was the whole of Hounslow, so in reality very few fines had been issued.

Cllr Gabriella Giles (in the chair) asked why if the bikes had GPS tracking, there were so many left abandoned, some with stickers left on which remained uncollected. She had counted about twenty bikes from the Business Park along the High Street to Devonshire Road.

Mr. Robertson said sometimes the technology could not locate the bikes, if a battery had run down.

Cllr Jo Biddolph said the bikes had been left outside businesses and were obstructing resident's front entrances. Mobike as a company also had not responded to complaints and needed to improve its customer service.

Cllr Ranjit Gill said it was amazing that Hounslow Council was not making any money from the Mobike scheme. The Council was missing something here. He also wondered why the GPS tracking system was not working to collect the bikes.

Cllr John Todd said there were about twenty bikes at Chiswick roundabout. "If people litter or dump rubbish they are fined. Yet you dump with impunity," he commented.

David Lesniak of Outsider Tart said local people paid business rates or Council tax and if they needed support from the Council it was unavailable due to cut backs. Yet Mobike were allowed to operate for free. The Council made no money from the scheme.

A member of the public said that as Mobikes carelessly abandoned could be deemed to be causing an obstruction on the public highway, people could complain to Hounslow Highways who would remove them.

Mark Frost, Head of Transport at Hounslow Council said that the Council had decided not to follow Hammersmith & Fulham,. who had paid about £2m towards a bikesharing scheme with docking bikes. They felt the Mobike scheme warranted a trial period. The Council was now consulting on the trial and welcomed local feedback.

The bikesharing industry was a new one and was not regulated or subject to legislation. Hounslow Council was working with TfL and London councils to come up with some form of regulation- this could involve a system of marked out locations to park the bikes.

Hounslow Council admitted last December that the orange Mobikes trial had been a disappointment, and that "the Mobike service to date has not consistently met with aspirations" for a dockless cycle scheme. It promised an immediate review of the scheme before the end of the 12 month trial period which is due to end in February 2019.

The Council says in its consultation page: "As we approach the end of the trial period, we wish to hear more residents' views to help us determine our next steps.

"Bikeshare is a fast-changing addition to the urban landscape, and has presented a challenge to councils in many cities."

February 6, 2019