In China, dockless bike-sharing programs (DBSPs) play a significant role in promoting the goals of sustainable urban travel and carbon emissions reduction. However, the sustainability of DBSPs is increasingly being challenged as various issues associated with different stakeholders emerge. While numerous studies have focused on the barriers to traditional bike-sharing programs, the sustainability performance of new-generation DBSPs is largely overlooked. It is accordingly imperative to understand the primary challenges that impede the sustainability of DBSPs and to consider what stimulative measures can be taken. In this study, we investigate the factors that are critical to DBSPs' sustainability from a network perspective. Stakeholder-associated factors and their interrelations were identified via literature analysis and interviews, and the social network analysis (SNA) method was employed to recognize the critical factors and links in DBSPs. As a result, 10 critical factors and 10 major interactions were identified and further classified into six challenges. Sharing transport schemes, legislative perfection, public private partnership (PPP), and product lifecycle management (PLM) were proposed to govern these challenges. This paper contributes to the existing body of knowledge of bike-sharing programs via a network approach that integrates the key influencing factors with those factors' associated stakeholders. Furthermore, these findings provide the government and operators with implications for mitigating the tough challenges and facilitating the sustainability of DBSPs.uncontrolled parking and waste accumulation are gradually surfacing. These issues are increasingly impeding the future development of DBSPs. Local governments in Beijing, Shanghai and other Chinese cities have forced operators to discontinue the bike-sharing supply programs. In this context, the promise of DBSPs being a means to facilitate sustainable urban travel and reduce carbon emissions is seen as a paradox [5]. How to address these problems is critical to achieve dockless bike-sharing sustainability.In order to address the market failure of DBSPs, the central government of China launched a policy in August 2017. The aim of the policy is to strengthen bicycle-parking management (e.g., the construction of bike lanes and parking spots), implement the real-name system for users registration, and encourage social supervision and public opinion, thus forming a coordinated governance situation among governments, operators, social organizations and the public [6]. Social media and experts have repeatedly called on DBSPs operators to address the bike-sharing issues of waste recycling, deposit refunds and so on. Nevertheless, because dockless bike-sharing programs involve a complex social network, a variety of stakeholders have been influenced, and the interrelationships between them are also complex [7,8]. At this time, there are still no effective measures in place to make the development of DBSPs more sustainable [4].Numerous studies have inves...