Dockless bike sharing to take centre stage at bike share conference

It’s likely that the Bike Share Conference, to be staged in Manchester at the end of the month, will be dominated by discussion of dockless bikes. And this domination won’t be just because the conference is sponsored by dockless bike share companies Ofo of China and Urbo of Ireland. 

Dockless bike sharing has the "potential to reshape cities", said the CEO of Urbo last year, and former cycling world champion and Manchester’s first walking and cycling commissioner Chris Boardman told The Guardian that dockless bike sharing is the "most scarily innovative scheme I’ve seen in many years."

(Dockless bike-share schemes are attracting billions in cash injections not because of mobility but because of data-mining – the bikes are much used by smartphone-wielding millennials.)

Show attendees will "have the opportunity to gain a wider understanding of important issues in the sector from bike share procurement and accreditation to the latest innovations in operations, financing and tech," says a blurb from the organisers, Bikeplus.

The event – the second annual conference from Bikeplus – will be staged September 27-28th at the Friends Meeting House in Manchester.

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Full disclosure: I will be chairing the conference.