Tell the city what you think about dockless bike share

In July, Seattle will be one year into its experiment with dockless bike shares—part of a pilot program that technically ended in December. With months of data from the initial pilot under its belt, the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) will be crafting permanent rules to govern the bike shares going forward. Part of evaluating that program is gathering feedback from people who have interacted with the bikes.

The survey drives at a few measures of success; after going through some standard city demographic data, it asks whether you’re familiar with the bike shares, whether you’ve used them (or plan to), and whether the programs are easy to use. It also asks about how bike shares have or haven’t benefited you—like with health benefits or easier commutes—and whether they’ve been accessible to physical needs.

It also asks a couple of the stickier questions about the program: Do the bikes end up where they don’t belong too often (something that SDOT is experimenting around with a parking pilot in Ballard)? Do the companies respond to maintenance requests often enough?

Some questions get at a desire to expand the program’s accessibility. It asks if tandem bikes, cargo trikes, or recumbent or hand-powered tricycles would be useful, and whether more electric-assist bikes would increase the likelihood of using the program.

Public feedback, along with ridership data from the pilot program and other metrics, will be integrated into a report to City Council later this year—likely later in the spring.

• SDOT Bike Share General Survey [SDOT]
• What’s next for the city’s bike-share pilot? [CS]