Dockless scooters: Love ‘em or hate ‘em, they’re here!
It seems like only yesterday that we were arguing about the future of Uber and Lyft in Austin. As you may recall, the companies left in 2016 after a majority of Austinites voted that drivers should be required to get fingerprint background checks—only to return in 2017 when new legislation superseded the city’s regulations. Now, an equally polarizing issue has hit the streets (and sidewalks): dockless scooters.
The first wave of scooters was released in Austin last April, and these transportation devices have been massively popular with riders ever since, providing a new option for people looking to get around in a city with its fair share of transportation and traffic woes. But like any big change, there have been growing pains since the scooters appeared seemingly overnight, and the city has been working feverishly to figure out how to manage this new form of transportation. According to the city’s Mobility Committee, there are currently seven licensed operators and more than 11,000 authorized scooters on the road today, with two more companies licensed to operate in Austin that have not yet deployed their devices.
For those unfamiliar with how these companies do business: Riders download an app to their smartphone for their scooter company of choice and then use a map to find a nearby scooter. They enter a credit card and scan a barcode to unlock the scooter, go for a ride, and then park the scooter and end the ride on the app. The city, in turn, charges licensed operators a daily fee per vehicle and limits providers’ allowable number of vehicles.
Both Bird and LimeBike say riders must be over 18, have a drivers license and follow traffic rules. Only one rider is allowed at a time, and a helmet is required. When dropping the scooter off, riders are asked to leave it in a public spot that’s out of the way of pedestrians but easy to access. But at least some riders are turning a blind eye to these rules—and they’re not the only guilty parties.
In November, Lime was ordered to pull 1,000 scooters from its fleet for violating the terms of the city’s agreement by rolling out more than 500 scooters in the downtown area. That same month, the Austin Transportation Department filed Final Director Rules for Deployment and Operation of Shared Small Vehicle Mobility Systems with updated rules to ensure that they do not cause an unsafe obstruction to the public. And recently, the city has suspended licensing for the rentable bikes and electric scooters in the run-up to SXSW.
Then there are the safety issues related to scooters. While Austin isn’t the only place where the scooter phenomenon has taken hold, it is the city chosen as the testing ground for the National Center for Disease Control’s first study of dockless scooter safety. The study will look at the 37 EMS calls and 68 scooter injuries reported over a two-month period last fall. The results will be used to better educate riders and will likely inform a future safety ordinance for scooters.
In the hotly debated scooter issue, one thing seems certain: The scooters are here to stay. Riders, pedestrians, drivers, and city regulators just need to figure out a way to co-exist in a way that is safe for all.