After the Chicago Department of Transportation announced last Friday that they were modifying the permit regulations for Chicago’s dockless bike-share pilot, reps from LimeBike and Ofo, the two participating companies that use wheel-lock-only bikes, expressed frustration with the new rules. While the revised guidelines meant that they wouldn’t have to remove their fleets of 50 bikes each from the streets by July 1, as previously stipulated, they weren’t allowed to add any more cycles either. Meanwhile, competing DoBi firms Pace and Jump, which use “lock-to” bikes with built-in cable locks and U-locks, respectively, are now permitted to deploy up to 350 cycles.
Recently LimeBike launched a back-door strategy to pressure CDOT to grant them more access. In an email sent to their Chicago customers, the company states, “We are working with Chicago city officials to expand the dockless bikeshare pilot program and make it easy to find a bike when you need it.” It urges residents to “Sign our petition today to let Mayor Emanuel and the Chicago Department of Transportation know you want more Lime bikes in Chicago.”
The petition itself is rather vague. Presumably LimeBike wants CDOT to allow wheel-lock-only companies to deploy as many bikes as the lock-to firms, raise that cap above 350, and expand the service area to include the entire city, that's not explicitly stated:
We are working with Chicago city officials to expand this dockless bikeshare program, putting more bikes on the road and expanding the area we serve. City leaders need to know that citizens like you want that too. Sign our petition asking the Chicago Department of Transportation to bring more bikes to the city!
Perhaps because the petition doesn’t make it clear exactly what LimeBike is trying to accomplish here, it doesn’t seem to be getting much traction. As of 2:30 p.m. today, only a few dozen people had signed.
LimeBike spokespeople and CDOT officials didn't immediately respond for a request for comment about the petition.
