How to get this *$^%^*-ing e-bike out of my front yard

[Alcova cyclist]

So some idiot locked a dockless CaBi e-bike to a tree in my front yard. (Seriously, who does this?). The bike looks like crap (besides being pretty ugly in its own right, it’s also tagged by graffiti), is possibly damaging my small tree, and is preventing me from being able to mow the lawn because of how it’s positioned.

I’ve complained to Capital Bikeshare (which is apparently run by Lyft now ???), but while they surprisingly respond to emails pretty quickly, they don’t actually solve problems in the real world at all. They also keep comically telling me to “make sure the bike isn’t on private property” when A) I have no way to move it or I wouldn’t be contacting them in the first place and The fundamental problem is that it IS on private property… MY private property.

I suppose I could register for CaBi, ride the bike to a proper locking point, park it, and then walk home, but it seems unreasonable for me to have to go to that much hassle to fix their problem (and as a bonus, I’d actually have to pay Lyft for the pleasure).

I really hate dockless bikes and scooters. While they’re great in concept, there are enough terrible people in the world that as a society we basically can’t have nice things. The number of dockless bikes and scooters I see scattered around blocking sidewalks, cluttering up our national monuments and just generally being a nuisance leaves me thinking the problems they cause to the many far outweigh the benefits they provide to the few.

/rant

Topic

[peterw_diy]

I’d call the police who I expect have experience removing bicycles that are improperly located. Good luck.

[Alcova cyclist]

I wound up renting the bike myself and riding to the nearest CaBi station & walked back home.

I also sent Lyft an invoice for storage fees, a relocation fee, and reimbursement for the cost of the rental itself. Not that I think I’ll see a dime, but it would seem fair to me that at a minimum they charge the original renter their prescribed $25 fee for parking the bike on private property and pass that to me, along with a waiver of my trip cost to relocate the bike off my property. I ain’t holding my breath on even the “reasonable” approach. If I get the $3 back for the ride I’ll be amazed.

I still don’t understand how the county allows a company to operate with a business model that is basically, “we will have our customers abandon our equipment on private property or blocking public rights-of-way all the time and not do anything about it.”

[peterw_diy]

@Alcova cyclist 211213 wrote:

I still don’t understand how the county allows a company to operate with a business model that is basically, “we will have our customers abandon our equipment on private property or blocking public rights-of-way all the time and not do anything about it.”

Well, the county is a co-owner of Capital Bikeshare; Motivate/Lyft is just the management company. Your tax dollars at work.

[Author]

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