The state government has new legislation governing the way shared e-bikes are managed in public spaces. Picture by Jim Gainsford.

Georges River Council will lobby for funding for infrastructure to cope with the expansion of shared e-bike services in the local government area.

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Shared e-bike operator Lime was given permission to operate in the Georges River local government area from May 4.

The decision was made at a state level. The council has no right to refuse entry or control the number of shared e-bikes coming into the area.

But councils will have to manage the local impact of shared e-bike schemes in terms of the infrastructure and compliance

There is no budget or funding for managing any required infrastructure.

In a Mayoral Minute presented at the May 25 council meeting, Mayor Elise Borg outlined the council's plan in response to the expansion of e-bike services across the LGA including advocating for an equitable funding arrangement to support the management of micromobility services.

"The council will continue to work collaboratively with Lime to monitor service levels, including parking compliance and operation responsiveness and improve outcomes for the Georges River community, Cr Borg said.

And there will be a community awareness campaign outlining the responsibilities of the operator and riders and promoting safe riding and proper parking.

Part of that will be informing the community that if there are issues around where the e-bikes are left, the best way to report that is directly to Lime.

The bill amends the Road Transport Act 2013 to regulate operators of micromobility vehicle sharing services.

Transport for NSW is now preparing draft regulations to give guidelines for the management of shared e-bikes.

While the state government handles the high-level licensing of operators, councils have specific powers:

• to decide where government-approved shared schemes can operate in their area;
• to set dedicated parking areas;
• to establish go-slow and no-go zones;
• and establish on-street and kerbside e-bike parking bays in town centres, and near train and metro stations.

A new fee per trip will be levied by the state government, with a portion being passed on to councils to assist with the cost of regulating e-bikes.

"This legislation enables the state government to approve and regulate which operators such as Lime may operate within local government areas. Approved operators must comply with minimum standards set at the state level," Cr Borg said.

"The framework limits the ability of local councils to refuse entry to an approved operator. The councils are responsible for managing the local impact of the services.

"We have no authority over whether an operator enters the market or the number of bikes introduced into our local government area," Cr Borg said.

"While we do not control the market entry, we retain the power to manage how shared e-bikes operate within our LGA including things like where they may park e-bikes and establishing dedicated parking zones on public land.

"The funding framework is still being finalised. There have been early proposals that each e-bike trip will incur an 80 cent fee by the operator as a levy. Early proposals are that 80 per cent of that would go to the state government and 20 per cent would go to local government.

"This motion is calling for that to be a fair and equitable split of funding as local governments will be the ones faced with managing the impact of the Lime bikes in terms of the infrastructure and compliance.

"We are working closely with Lime. Since they commenced operations on May 4 Lime has advised there have been 7,500 trips in Georges River.

"In terms of complaints so far Georges River has only received a service request relating to Lime bikes and that relates to things like some bikes being left on footpaths in pedestrian areas and creating obstruction.

"We will continue working collaboratively with Lime to get the best outcome for our residents in Georges River.

"We are also calling for enforcement to be fit for purpose for these types of devices. At present the only legislation to manage them is the Public Spaces Unattended Act which is probably not ideal for these bikes,

"We do acknowledge that shared e-bikes present a valuable opportunity and have a valuable role to play in Georges River in terms of that last mile trip to get home from train stations and getting cars off the road."

Cr Peter Mahoney asked who is responsible for training e-bike riders and what is the question of public liability.

Council staff said the operator has taken on the responsibility of educating riders. As for the question of public liability, that would have to be taken on notice.

Cr Elaina Anzellotti asked under what conditions would the council refuse the approval of e-bike operators, and what infrastructure and compliance was needed for the e-bikes to operate in the LGA.

Council staff said the council may choose to run a selective tender in terms of which operator would be preferred. Regarding infrastructure and compliance, these would relate to where the bikes would be stored for at the moment they can be stored anywhere within the road reserve. Infrastructure could include markings or paved areas for the e-bikes.

Cr Borg added, "Lime already has designated parking bays at train stations but further out in the suburbs they are not designated yet and they have been left outside homes on the footpath. How we solve that we don't know yet. There is a potential for councils to limit areas within the LGA."

The council unanimously supported Cr Borg's Mayoral Minute.