Having worked with public bike hires schemes since 1996 there are a lot of key lessons I can point to, and I even got kicked off the group developing OBIS because I was pointing out flaws in the way the initial Boris Bike scheme was being delivered — a costly special modified version of a product that was not operating (in Montreal) before the decision to commit to it for London. There has been some recovery but it is still an expensive and less flexible system, than those contemporary offers, and certainly needs a catch-up to deliver a wider system which can marry the original with an extended dockless operation, which I think should be deliverable in a phased way.
That said what is needed is a framework for regulation of all commercial use of public space, and I’ve had feelers out on how a licensing or concession system can be applied to bike scheme suppliers, delivery bot operators etc. This can permit more than one public bike operation to offer the service in a city, but equally can work to deliver Mobility as a Service through having a standard platform for interoperability. I’m already doing this personally as I use my Saltire Card (free bus travel, 50% discount on local trains), extended to hire Nextbikes anywhere in Europe (on my account) and access Enterprise Car Club or Co-Wheels vehicles when I need them anywhere in the UK (or beyond with Enterprise).
In Scotland though we do have the benefit of clarity in the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 which has clause 97 providing for regulation of commercial activity on principal roads — effectively making it an enforceable issue when someone dumps bikes on the street and charges for their use.
The challenge is to determine whether this might be UK primary legislation or a tweak to existing laws, or even EC transport legislation, given that this issue is Europe and World-wide
