Is it time to teach Jump bike riders some manners?

It’s become a common sight in central Sacramento — solitary red Jump bikes perched on a sidewalk or in a mow strip, sometimes locked to a pole, sometimes locked to nothing at all.

Is that a problem? City officials say yes.

With electric-assist Jump bike usage rising fast, they’ve told the Jump bike team it’s time to get the word out to users about rules of key rules of the road for two-wheelers, with a focus on these three:

1. If you ride on a sidewalk, remember that space primarily belongs to pedestrians, so go slowly and get back into the street ASAS (as soon as safe.)

2. When you ride in the street, don’t go in the wrong direction.

3. And, finally, when you park the bike, do it at a rack, not willy-nilly on the sidewalk.

Four months into Sacramento’s colorful new Jump bike experiment, city officials and Jump bike representatives say the rent-and-leave bikes are, overall, a success. Jump representative Alex Hagelin said 200,000 people have signed up for the company’s smart phone app, more than it expected when it launched e-bikes here in May.

The company has 700 bikes on the street in Sacramento, West Sacramento and Davis and will add 200 more by the end of next week. Jump also plans to expand its bike usage area soon to the American River on the north and Fruitridge Road on the south. Currently the bikes are only allowed to be left in a smaller geographic area focused on central Sacramento and some inner neighborhoods.

Hagelin said his company hasn’t received a lot of complaints about rider behavior and parking issues, but acknowledged there are some problems, and that “there is work to be done” to allay some bad feelings in the community.

Alex Amaro, a real estate broker with an office in midtown, is among those who are both excited by the bikes’ arrival and annoyed by some riders’ habits. He’s a regular Jump rider since trying one two weeks ago and finding it enjoyable and useful. Riders must pedal, but a small electric motor gives the user a boost up to 15 miles per hour. A phone app shows where the nearest available bike is parked.

“I was like a kid!” Amaro said. “It’s such fun, and such a great alternative (to his car) for those 10-block trips.”

But he’s seeing Jump bike riders going too fast on sidewalks, and this week saw a bike left just feet from a bike rack. “It was literally 10 feet from a bike rack and instead they just propped it up against a tree, locked to nothing.”

The hefty 60-pound bikes are self-locking, don’t roll when locked, and have a kickstand that allows them to stand up on their own.

City transportation Commissioner Jim Houpt, another Jump fan, says he saw a bike this week lying on its side on Front Street downtown, and said he has gotten complaints from some bicyclists about poor riding by Jump bike users.

“I would very much hate to see the bicycling community turn against Jump bikes,” he said.

City rules do not require riders to park their bikes at bike racks, but the city agreement with Jump requires that company to move any of its bikes to a stand within two hours if it receives a complaint about where the bike is parked.

Also, under its permit with the city, Jump is obligated to conduct a user education program.

Jump representative Hagelin said the company approach will be multi-pronged. That likely will include getting representatives out to community event, and offering financial incentives to riders who take biking education classes.

He also said Jump could consider tougher steps, such as making it a requirement that Jump users take a picture showing how they parked the bike. That way, Jump can review people’s parking practices, and contact someone who habitually parks bikes incorrectly.

Jump may also allow riders or others to take picture of improperly parked bikes, so that Jump employees can contact the last user and talk to them about appropriate parking.

Sacramento City Councilman Steve Hansen said he suspects some Jump bike users are inexperienced riders, drawn back to biking by the ease and fun of the e-bikes. Some “haven’t figured out how to be courteous as they use the bike.”

Hansen, who has gotten the city to add bikes lanes downtown and is a Jump advocate, said it “hurts” when he sees any bicyclist riding on the sidewalk when there is a bike lane in the street.

Hansen said the city needs to push for more education, penalties and incentives, but with a goal of encouraging more bike riding, rather than “strangling it with a bunch of new rules.”

The Jump company, which was bought by Uber in May, is required to provide 1.5 racks for every bike, under its contract with the city. It recently polled riders on where they want more racks, and will be installing several hundred more by the end of the year Hagelin said.

Some officials and biking advocates question, though, if bikes should always be parked at bike racks, especially since there are many areas of the city and West Sacramento where there are no racks, notably in mainly residential neighborhoods.

Jim Brown, head of the Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates, was riding on a Jump bike in Oak Park on Tuesday and saw another Jump bike parked against a fence, just off the sidewalk. But there was no bike rack in sight, he said.

“The city policy is perhaps a little unrealistic. You’re penalizing people who live in places who don’t have nearby parking. How can I park in Tahoe Park legally if there isn’t a rack around?” he asked.

In West Sacramento, where Jump Bikes also are popular, Mayor Chris Cabaldon said that city does not require the bikes be parked at racks, mainly because there are few racks available.

The city plans prefers that riders use racks, and intends to install more, but he said it’s more important to encourage bike usage instead of cars for shorter trips around town.

“You have to give people the chance to get out there and do it,” he said. “We will grow the regulations over time as we learn.”

This story was originally published September 26, 2018 at 1:40 PM.