I am going hard in the local neighbourhood fb group. I fucking love hyper local politics. It’s just gossip, but with some random facts and more talk about waste management.
Really annoyed by the rental bikes all over the place?
Even people who love bike are cracking the shits.
But don’t get angry at bikes (not all bikes!)
The people to blame are the NSW Government and the private bike hire companies. Bike hire schemes are a great idea, and other cities have done it well.
Because I am obsessed with urban waste management, public transport and other hippy stuff, I have read up on this issue.
So why do bike hire schemes suck in Sydney?
The NSW government passed a new bit of law, where they get the $$ from bike hire companies, but the local councils have to pay for it, administer it and…. well, the NSW gov hasn’t actually given everyone all the details.
Boo, NSW gov, boo.
Each council is responding in a different way. So far City of Sydney is rocking out by looking at the new law, coming up with a good list of suggestions, telling all the residents about it, and sending the list to the NSW Gov saying “Ok, we love bikes, we want this, but mate, your plan is not complete. And also it sucks.”
But because it’s City of Sydney, the wording is better.
Yay, City of Sydney, yay.
Our council, the Inner West Council have posted a couple of things on social media saying “What do you think about bike hire schemes? (oh yeah leave this app and go log in to some random council page waaaaay over there. No, don’t tell us in the comments… ok someone moderate this mess please.)”
(I started reading it, and omg it is a hot mess of word salad and what the actual xialongbao does all that mean?)
Boo, Inner West Council, boo.
Ok, explain it to me.
The NSW gov passed a ‘Road Transport and Other Legislation Amendment (Micromobility Vehicles and Smartcards) Bill’ in 2025 (here’s a link: https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/…/43f839d8-8cb1-4c97… )
Transport for NSW released its proposed sharing scheme reform for comment in February 2026.
City of Sydney council published their response here in May 2026:
I read it – it’s great. They also have clear documents about where to park hire bikes, etc on their website. And they told their residents about all this, etc. Good work, CofS.
Our Inner West Council has just has just done its usual dodgy crowdsourcing ‘policy’ instead of researching and producing solid policy led by data, and people who specialise in transport laws and urban transport planning.
Look, I love data and research and having my say. But I’m not a lawyer specialising in transport law, I’m not an urban planner, and I’m not a designer who specialises in microtransport and community development.
The big problems with the NSW gov’s scheme are (as taken from the City of Sydney’s response document):
• Who’s the boss? The plan doesn’t say who the overall boss of the system is.
• The councils have no power to enforce parking rules.
• The NSW gov gets the income, the local governments have to cover the costs.
• Where are the details? The NSW gov hasn’t given us the facts: the fleet numbers, how the rules will be enforced, and the actual standard conditions.
In other words, the state gov is getting heaps of $$ from the private bike hire companies, but the local councils have to run it, pay for parking, and have no recourse for negotiating with the bike hire companies.
So we have those stupid bikes dumped everywhere, but our local councils can’t give the bike hire companies a kick up the bum because the NSW gov did the deal with the companies.
Oh, and what about escooters? Nobody knows, my friend. The NSW gov didn’t say, and no one is answering the phone.