AUSTIN, TX — The City of Austin's Transportation Department is holding a community forum Wednesday morning to get feedback on dockless bicycles.
Austin had it's first taste of dockless bikes last year during South by Southwest when companies offered those bikes during the festival. However, those companies were operating without city permits.
Some people weren't fans of having the bikes lying around town, but city staff wants to see if they can make the system work.
"If you think about it, it's really a different concept. With a docked bike you're really riding from point to point," said Robert Spillar, Director of the Transportation Department.
"The dockless really is 'oh there's a bike there, I'm going to use it to go to my meeting that's five blocks away' you know. And so really it's a different market."
The Transportation Department is a community forum from 7:30 a.m. - 10 a.m. at the Central Public Library Downtown, complete with breakfast tacos and coffee.
At 8 a.m. attendees can listen in on a pitch session for the bikes, then at 9 a.m., there will be a peer city panel to learn what other cities with dockless bikes are doing.
Back in February, the city council approved a pilot program to test the dockless bikes. It's expected to launch this summer.