The City Council recently approved moving orward with a 12-month pilot program that will allow electric scooters on the city’s Shoreline Pedestrian Bike Path. The city anticipates launching the pilot program by Memorial Day weekend.
The beach pike path – a 3.1-mile paved route that offers walkers, runners and bicyclists a path from Alamitos Bay to Shoreline Village – is currently off limits to e-scooters, including Lime and Bird scooters. This pilot program, though, will amend the municipal code to allow e-scooters on the path, which some councilmembers said is a way to increase public safety and connect Long Beach’s east-side and downtown areas.
“Micromobility is really, really important to a lot of people in the city,” Councilmember Cindy Allen during a recent meeting, “because not everybody owns a car or is privileged enough to own a car.”
In June, the council requested that the Public Works Department conduct a 12-month study for e-scooters on the path to determine the long-term viability using the vehicles there. City staffers were also asked to establish a speed limit on the path for both bicycles and scooters alike.
More than 450,000 riders in Long Beach have taken more than 1.7 million trips on e-scooters since the city launched its micromobility program in 2018, according to a Lime representative during last week’s council meeting.
During the meeting, city staffers provided updates on the pilot program, such as its progress on developing speed limits, signage programs and legislative recommendations.
Long Beach’s Engineering Bureau recommended a speed limit of 20 mph on the beach bike path, in accordance with the California Vehicle Code for e-scooters. The 20 mph speed limit would apply to the entire path, but further reductions would be required in areas of higher pedestrian activity, said Public Works Director Eric Lopez; those areas include the Junipero and Alamitos Beach concession areas, parking lots, the Shoreline Marine, Belmont Pier, and Rosie’s Dog Beach. In those areas, path users would be required to slow to 5 mph when pedestrians are present.
The Public Works Department will also post 20 mph, 15 mph and 5 mph speed limit signs, as well as warning signs in these areas with the City Council’s approval and related amendments to the municipal code, Lopez said. The cost for materials and installing the proposed speed limit and warning signs is estimated to be $10,000, according to the staff report.
Areas surrounding bathrooms, concessions and the pier will be geofenced to limit electric scooter speeds to 5 mph at all times. Geofencing is digital technology that uses GPS to remotely track and control vehicle movements and collect data, and internal mapping systems within the scooters will govern the motors to prevent speeding through pedestrian areas, according to the staff report.
Public Works will also coordinate with the Police and Fire de=epartments for periodic enforcement, Lopez said. The cost of enforcement during the pilot has not yet been determined; however, the recommended frequency of enforcement will be studied during the pilot.
With council approval of the changes to the ordinance, the pilot will take an education-first approach during the first few months, during which existing staffers and permitted e-scooter operators will help inform the public of the new rules and requirements – especially related to the new speed limits.
Violations of speed limits on the path will initially be focused on warnings and educational materials, officials said. Public Works staffers also anticipate periodic enforcement activities in partnership with the Police Department and other partners during the summer, when the path is most in use.
“I think this is the right thing to do to do for our tourism, for our residents, and for people to be able to move safely down that bike path,” Allen said during the April 1 council meeting. “It’s the safe way for people to get from the east side to downtown and so I look forward to this pilot study.”
With a recommendation from Councilmember Joni Ricks-Oddie, city staffers will report back to the council through a memo six months into the pilot program to assess the feasibility of having e-scooters on the beach bike path. Information such as the number of e-scooters that are on the path, complaints and violations of scooters, and other data will be provided, Lopez said.
The City Council approved moving forward with the 12-month pilot program with a 6-1 vote. Councilmembers Daryl Supernaw and Tunua Thrash-Ntuk were absent.
Councilmember Kristina Duggan was the lone vote opposing the pilot program, saying many of the community members in District 3, which she represents on the east side of Long Beach, don’t agree with allowing e-scooters on the path. One of the concerns is not having enough community input before the city goes ahead with the pilot program, Duggan said.
But, Lopez said, there will be community outreach along the bikepath once the program is underway.
The updates to the ordinance will require a first reading on April 15 and a second reading on April 22, Lopez said, with an expected start date for the pilot program by May 22 at the earliest.
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