Transportation
What People Mean When They Call Dockless Bikeshare a 'Nuisance'
In Washington, D.C., some residents are not enthusiastic about the free-range rent-a-bikes.
Washington, D.C., is now four months into its dockless bikeshare experiment, which extends through April. This is long enough for the meddlesome neighborly gripes of D.C. residents who object to these free-range rentable bicycles to reach full bloom. It’s the response that often greets minor improvements to the way things work, and it’s currently having its high-modernist moment, its uproarious third season, its Fifth Symphony.
The meddlesome neighborly gripe starts with a root-chord complaint about how bikeshare leads to a lot of sidewalk “clutter.” While there is some truth to that, a proper listserv riposte would never stop there. Beyond lay greater rhetorical heights.