And the issue isn't just with riders carelessly leaving their bikes strewn across footpaths. Even leaning them up against a wall or a pole can be a major hazard for the vision impaired. “Many people don’t realise that leaving a bike propped up against a traffic pole, where they may consider it out of the way, can create issues for people with vision impairment," says Jennifer Moon, Community Education and Access Advisor at Guide Dogs NSW. "Guide dogs are trained to guide their handler to traffic poles to be in a position to safely cross the road. The added obstacle of a bike leaning on a pole can distract and confuse even the most experienced of guide dogs." Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video Tripping over wayward bikes can leave vision impaired pedestrians with bumps, bruises and battered toes. But guide dogs are also affected when their handler takes a fall.

"They're trained in routine, and if you bump into obstacles they think they did something wrong," Ms Purcell says. Loading Although she hasn't been seriously injured by a bike yet, Ms Purcell thinks a bad accident could easily happen if people lose their balance on to a road or down a flight of stairs. "If they are at traffic lights, particularly one section where I cross all the time, in Sussex and Druitt St which is where I come across this a lot, it's a very narrow, one-way street, and if I were to unbalance at that point and fall off the kerb, the cars are right there." Guide Dogs NSW wants riders to keep the vision impaired in mind when parking their bikes, but Ms Moon conceded it might take more than awareness raising to make a difference.

"Hopefully we can change some behaviour. But if it persists, the regulatory councils or rangers or whatever, they need to get in there and start removing them. And obviously if it still doesn't improve, we've really got to look at: is this the best option?" With the six inner-city councils' three month trial of the guidelines for share bikes concluding next week, councils and operators are being urged to consider the risk the current arrangement poses for footpath accessibility – whether it's for the vision impaired, wheelchair users or parents with prams. Ms Purcell praised recent moves by some inner-city councils to seize and impound broken bikes crowding footpaths but she wants to see designated parking areas. "I don't want to discourage people from having fun and seeing Sydney and riding bikes," she said. "You don't have to worry about them as obstacles if there are designated places for them to park. You don't walk into cars because there's designated parking spaces for cars or motorbikes. Can we not possibly do something that's a little bit more organised?"

Bike-share bikes dumped in Waverley Oval last year. Credit:Lucie Billingsley A spokesman for the City of Sydney said the council is committed to engaging people with disability in decision making, and regularly consults its Inclusion (Disability) Advisory Panel "to improve the accessibility of our services, venues and public spaces." However, he said any steps taken to address the issue at a regulatory level need to go through the state government. "Dockless bike share operators are trading right across metropolitan Sydney, including many other councils and NSW government estates such as Darling Harbour, Barangaroo and Central Station – that means we need an overarching approach from the NSW government to ensure consistency for both the public and operators." A Transport for NSW spokesperson said the current guidelines put the onus on share bike operators to educate their customers, and that it's up to the councils to review those guidelines.