A number of bike-share companies now operate in D.C., and people are finding those bikes everywhere -- including underwater in Rock Creek Park.
The Rock Creek Conservancy held a park cleanup event on Saturday and found five bikes and a scooter in the water: three Mobikes, one Capital Bikeshare bike, one Limebike and one Lime-S Electric Scooter. Those bikes all were at the mouth of Rock Creek, where it empties into the Potomac River. A few other bikes were found in the brunch along the creek bank.
Every year, volunteers pull out thousands of pounds of trash from the watershed. Although they have found bikes in the past, this is the first time the majority of those bikes were bike-share bikes, spokeswoman Katy Cain told News4.
"It’s clear to us; the new dockless bike-shares are finding their way into Rock Creek more often than the fully dockable Capital Bikeshares," the Rock Creek Conservancy said in a statement. "We’re generally pro-biking here at Rock Creek Conservancy. So, we find ourselves faced with a tricky question. Could dockless bikes [be] bad for our favorite lands and waters?"
The Conservancy is not against dockless bikes, but the dumping of the bikes in the watershed needs to be discussed, Cain said.
The blog PoPville was first to share information on the cleanup of the park.
The Conservancy is still trying to figure out what to do with the bikes, Cain said. Staff members are trying to get them returned and restored properly.
