Originally Posted by
Machka
People pay to ride docked bicycles.
People don't pay anything to ride dockless bicycles.
And you can be charged large amounts of money if you keep a docked bike too long or do damage to it.
The Melbourne Bike Share site says this:
If you fail to return your bike to a dock within 24 hours of hiring you are liable for a $500 charge.
Whereas you can hurl a dockless bike into the nearest swamp if you want and no one will find you or charge you or anything.
That's not what I've read. I read that you unlock the dockless bike with an app and the bikes are tracked by GPS. So I guess someone could trash the bike or throw it in a swamp if it's already been locked by the previous user, but I thought the users pay and are responsible for where they leave them as long as the company holds them accountable.
Imo, the police should do more to enforce laws against vandalism if these bikes are getting trashed. It should be possible to place some in spots with a security camera to catch the vandal, the same way security cameras are used in stores to catch shoplifters. You wouldn't have to monitor every share-bike like this, but if you placed a few security cameras here and there and people didn't know where they are and where they aren't, you could catch and prosecute the vandals and then put stickers on the bikes saying that they are monitored for security and vandalism will be prosecuted.