Bike share parking complaints can now be routed through the city’s Find It Fix It app and website as well as by calling 684-ROAD, SDOT’s work order hotline. Basically, reporting a bike share parking issue now goes through the same system as reporting a pothole.
This isn’t a big deal right now in Seattle since we only have one company operating: Jump. But when/if more bike and scooter (and who knows what else) services start operating, it will be very handy to have a one-stop shop for reporting issues. People shouldn’t have to search the bikes and scooters for that company’s name, then scour their websites for contact info in order to report a problem that may never be logged in an official city record.
So while this change isn’t really a big deal right now (especially in the context of the outbreak and everything), it is a good improvement that will be necessary for any long-term free-floating micromobility services in the city.
Next time you see a bike blocking the way, report it on our Find it Fix it app.
Since Seattle first welcomed a dockless bike share program in 2017, we’ve made major changes to make sure bikes are parked where they should be.
- We’ve worked with bike share companies to increase rider education on how bikes should be parked.
- Last year alone we installed 1,515 new bike parking spots.
- Starting this summer riders will need to take a photo of their properly parked bike after their ride.
We’ve seen a huge improvement in how people park their bikes, but there are still some bikes blocking sidewalks, curb ramps, and building entrances.
Bike share companies are responsible for moving their misparked bikes, but many times they don’t know that a bike has fallen down or is blocking a sidewalk.
Here’s where you come in – you can now report poorly parked bike share bikes on our Find it Fix it smart phone app, by calling 684-ROAD, or online.
Our Find it Fix it app and 684 – ROAD number are ways you can be the eyes and ears of our city and alert us when something needs to be fixed – be it a pot hole, damaged sign, fallen tree, or now a poorly parked bike share bike.
Here’s how it works:
- Open the Find it Fix it app on your phone
- Take a photo of the poorly parked bike
- List the location
- Indicate the bike share company name
- Press submit
Or you can call 684 – ROAD (206-684-7623) and report the bike share company name and bike location or fill out the online form.
It’s that easy!
When we receive the report, it’ll be routed directly to the bike share company who will send someone out to investigate the issue. They will then close-out the report with how they resolved the issue – which can range from “bike moved to appropriate parking location” to “bike not able to be found”, depending on the circumstances.
Our ultimate goal is to not receive any reports of badly parked bikes – because we want them all to be parked properly
But in the meantime, we hope that this new reporting method will help give you the tools to report something you see.
Comments
5 responses to “You can now report bike share parking issues with the city’s Find It Fix It app”
“Starting this summer riders will need to take a photo of their properly parked bike after their ride.”
What does this mean if your phone’s battery dies in the middle of your ride. Does the bill keep running up indefinitely until you get somewhere where you can charge your phone? If so,This a 15 minute ride could end up costing over $50. This is not just a hypothetical and I have several times used my last once of battery power to begin a bike share trip.
Should users just avoid bike share altogether when their phone’s battery dips below around 15%?
They’ll still see that you ended your ride. I’m guessing they’ll give warnings to people who can’t seem to keep their phone charged. The only time you might get in trouble is if your phone dies, you park your bike properly and end the trip, then someone, without renting, moves that bike to be improperly parked. Then you’ll have some ‘splainin’ to do, especially if Jump gets a fine.
On the other hand, I think this is great and what needed to be implemented into Find it-Fix it since day 1 of bike rentals. Lack of personal and corporate responsibility really did not give good press for these rental companies.
Where I think there should be concern is with users that don’t have the ability to take pictures, not because of a dead phone battery, but for low-income or other users that do not have the ability to take a photo.
Great question. The photo isn’t required to submit a request. The only required field is the vendor so SDOT knows where to route the request.
I have a problem with this, In my neighborhood that are at least 3 bike parking spots that SDOT created on streets in Ballard that nobody would ever park a bike in but they are there? How much did we pay for these parking spots and two of them are on streets that are used by neighborhood residents for parking their cars. I have NEVER seen a share bike parked in any of them except for the ones that I moved into the spots because they were on the sidewalk near the parking spot. Very few people that use the one remaining share bike service JUMP seem to care about where they leave the bike they used. How much did it cost us to install all these bike parking spots on Seattle streets? I am a bike rider and I support bike riding more than driving cars but this is a waste of our tax money. I am I the only person that has questions about these bike parking spaces that seem to have appeared at random locations around that city and are not being used?
This is worth reading and thinking about:
https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-rise-and-fall-of-china-s-cycling-empires?utm_source=pocket-newtab
I am still pissed off about the many bike parking spots in my neighborhood that nobody uses and will probably never be used but they are taking up a car parking spots in a residential neighborhood that needs parking?
What a waste of money that could have been used to support the actual real biking infrastructure in the city.