NYC’s dockless bike share pilot will lose one of its key players in the Rockaways

Another one of New York City’s partners for the Department of Transportation’s dockless bike share pilot is pulling out of the program. On Thursday, Pace, one of the two companies that rolled out bikes in the Rockaways as part of the program, made an announcement via Twitter that it will remove its bikes from the neighborhood earlier than anticipated, reports Streetsblog.

According to the company’s announcement, the Pace bikes is exiting the pilot program due to a decline in ridership as temperatures cool down. “Although we have seen some riders using Pace bikes for transportation, connecting to and from the subway and ferry, the decrease in tourists and beachgoers have caused our ridership numbers to drop over the last couple weeks,” said the statement. “As such, Zagster will not continue operating through the fall and winter months, and will remove Pace bikes from the area by September 30, 2018.”

The Department of Transportation has already found a solution to the loss of Pace dockless bikes in the Rockaways, announcing on Twitter that Lime bike will increase its number of dockless bikes in the neighborhood for the duration of the pilot. The agency also stated that “such announcement can be made nimbly” as part of the ongoing pilot. “DOT continues to work closely with the remaining dockless companies– all part of a rapidly changing, consolidating industry.”

Back in July, China-based dockless bike share company ofo dropped its plans to bring 200 dockless bikes to the Bronx under the program, citing its desire to want to “focus on the most mature and promising markets.”

Shortly after its rollout, NYC’s dockless bike share pilot encountered problems that included a severe lack of functioning bikes and bikes that weren’t being returned to appropriate locations. NYC’s dockless bike share pilot is operated by several providers, including Jump, Lime, and Citi Bike, of whom the latter is facing problems of its own with its fleet of docked bikes.

• Rockaway Dockless Bike Share Pilot Suffers Blow as Pace Pulls Out [Streetsblog]