What should Ben do about this lonely share bike?
Dockless bikes are wreaking absolute havoc across Sydney streets, being abandoned just about everywhere.
Ben Fordham found one bike dumbed outside his front gate, over 10 days ago.
Taking a selfie with it over the course of a week, he raises the question, what are our rights when it comes to these abandoned bikes?
Ben: “Can I take it? Can I grab an angle grinder, cut the lock off and keep it?”
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The Sydney Live team reached out to Transport Minister Andrew Constance for an update.
His department has come back with the following response:
“Deployment and monitoring of share bike fleets is a matter for the operators.
“We are looking at improvements to the way bikes are currently being parked at transport hubs.
“Councils are responsible for footpaths and local roads including and cycling and bike-parking infrastructure.”
Professor Joe-Ellen Riley, Dean at the Sydney University Law School, says playing finders keepers with the bikes is complex.
“If it really had just been left outside your house… you’d be a finder and you’d be able to pick that up.
“The problem with that analysis from a legal perspective is that we know that there’s a sign on them saying if you want to use them you need to log into a particular app.
“So it’s pretty clear someone is claiming ownership of that.”
Listen to the full interview below
Have you got photos of dockless bikes left in odd places? Send them here.