The city’s transportation department announced Monday that it would be “halting” its scooter program after discussing residents’ public-safety concerns with police.
Scooter companies must stop their operations in Dallas by Wednesday and remove their scooters by Friday.
City Council member Adam Medrano, whose district includes areas in and near downtown Dallas where scooters are most popular, called Saturday for enforcement efforts that included removing the vehicles after a Deep Ellum shooting left five people wounded, among them a 15-year-old in critical condition. He also requested extra police presence in the Central Business District and Deep Ellum and a review of the city’s teen curfew ordinance to stop late-night gatherings.
According to the city, the complaints from residents included that the scooter vendors and riders weren’t following the city’s ordinance on dockless vehicles.
“We have received complaints about scooters and would like to make substantial changes to the scooter program,” Mike Rogers, Dallas’ transportation director, said in a written statement. “The changes will include public safety considerations so that the city may have safe modes of alternative transportation.”
Police and the transportation department will meet with Dallas residents, businesses and scooter vendors to discuss potential changes to how the companies operate.
Bird, Lime, Ojo, Spin and Uber, which are among those vendors, could not be reached for comment Monday after the city distributed an email about 5:30 p.m. announcing the decision.
The City Council lifted a ban on motorized scooters in June 2018 to encourage residents to use alternative forms of transportation. A number of scooter companies moved in, and last year there were perhaps 15,000 of the two-wheeled vehicles scattered across the city.
The scooters, which can travel up to 20 mph, raised safety concerns from the start, and the city struggled to prevent riders from breaking traffic laws and taking the electric vehicles into forbidden areas — major roads, trails, parks and sidewalks in certain neighborhoods. Police stepped up enforcement of the rules last summer.
The city’s ordinance required minors — but not adults — to wear helmets, and Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas said last year that brain injuries made up more than one-third of scooter-related emergency-room visits in the first few months of the vehicles’ deployment.
In March, the City Council approved larger fees and stricter rules for scooter companies and their customers, months after transportation officials were tasked with addressing safety concerns.
The new regulations included banning rides after midnight — or 9 p.m. in Deep Ellum — and the ability to fine companies that leave their scooters improperly parked. The city also prohibited riders from taking scooters on sidewalks and allowed a $200 fine for people who break the rules.
©2020 The Dallas Morning News, Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
