“Terrible.”
That’s all Mayor Mike Rawlings had to say on Twitter Sunday about a photo of hundreds of bright yellow bicycles piled high at a Dallas recycling plant.
The bikes belong to Beijing-based Ofo. It’s one of three bike-share companies that have left Dallas since late June, when City Council approved regulations that require companies to get permits and pay the city per bike or scooter.
The photo drew criticism after it was posted on Facebook Friday and then shared on Twitter Sunday.
Terrible. -MR https://t.co/puYnMuAjSV
— Mike Rawlings (@Mike_Rawlings) August 5, 2018
Ofo told KXAS-TV it’s working with CMC Recycling to recycle the aluminum. Many, including the mayor, called it wasteful and said the bikes should be donated for further use.
The company told the TV news station that it has donated bikes that are in “good working condition” to local community organizations.
The recycling center "purchased the irreparable bikes as scrap metal," CMC's Public and Investor Relations Manager Susan Gerber said in a statement to NPR.
Along with Ofo, another Chinese company, Mobike, and San Francisco-based Spin are on their way out of Dallas. That leaves Garland's VBikes and Lime out of California operating bike-share in the city.
This summer, City Council also approved a six-month pilot program legalizing motorized scooters. Lime was quick to add them to its fleet. And Bird, another California-based company, launched its dockless, electric scooters in late June.
At its peak, city officials estimated 20,000 bikes were scattered throughout the city. Now, that number’s fewer than 3,500 bikes between Lime and VBikes, according to The Dallas Morning News.
Bike-share revived in Dallas last summer when VBikes quietly placed its bikes around the city.
