Theft and destruction of dockless bikes a growing problem [Washington Post]

It's already happening.  Vandalism and theft taking place with these scooters. It's like a repeat of the China problem where millions of bicycles went missing and reappeared everywhere in the city.

The GPS was supposed to be the answer, but it didn't help.  No surprise.

"Less than a year after dockless bike-share systems arrived in the District, the colorful bikes are being stolen and vandalized in growing numbers, with one city official saying that some companies have lost up to 50 percent of their fleets.

The companies acknowledge that some users have figured out how to cheat their systems, such as using prepaid credit cards or taking bicycles that haven’t been properly locked by paying riders, but they contend the losses are not as high as 50 percent. Some of the companies say they are taking extra measures to improve their locking and GPS tracking systems.

“They have lost a lot of their bikes,” Kimberly Lucas, the city’s bike program specialist told a group of regional transportation officials at a dockless-bike-share workshop sponsored by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments in May. She said companies have told city transportation officials that they have lost up to half of their fleets, which is significant because each company is allowed to operate a maximum of 400 bikes in the city.

“They are being left unlocked, and somebody wants it, they need it, they take it, they drop it off, and they are just not ending the trip because they maybe weren’t required to put in a credit card on file,” Lucas told the group.

Theft and destruction of dockless bikes a growing problem