Montgomery County Adds Dockless Bikes After Pilot Program

Andrew Coulibaly, Opinion Managing Editor

Montgomery County officials held a town hall Oct. 29, Oct. 30 and Nov. 1 to discuss allowing California-based Limebike’s dockless bikes to operate in Bethesda, North Bethesda, Friendship Heights, Chevy Chase, Wheaton and on parts of Veirs Mill road.

Dockless bikes are a new mode of transportation in which users install an app, create an account with the bikeshare company and rent their bikes for around a dollar per hour.

Last November, Montgomery County allowed four bike share companies–Limebike, Mobike, Ofo and Spin to operate in Silver Spring and Takoma Park as a pilot program. But,  Limebike is the only remaining bike sharing operator in the county, according to the townhall notes.

During the pilot program there were 18,000 rides in the first six months of the program and most trips began and ended within the designated test area, according to Montgomery County Department of Transportation (MCDOT).

Montgomery County is currently a part of capital bikeshare, a docked bike sharing program found in cities in the D.C. metro area.