A week after the city of Santa Barbara impounded about 100 rental scooters, officials are scrambling to pass an emergency ordinance to regulate the devices.
Limebike unleashed more than 100 bikes on State Street on June 8 without permission.
Rob Dayton, the city’s transportation and parking manager, called the practice a “rogue launch” perpetrated on communities by scooter companies, which have conducted unapproved launches in San Francisco, Santa Monica and Portland.
Placing scooters on the sidewalks for people to share without regulations poses a safety hazard for residents and tourists, Dayton said.
“We think there’s a transportation benefit and even an economic benefit, but the challenge has been that Limebike and other companies have done these rogue launches without any oversight,” Dayton said.
Dayton said these companies aren’t considering the safety of the citizens.
One of the problems of putting the scooters on the street is that these companies don’t offer helmets with the bikes. Patrons typically have to bring their own helmets or pay an additional fee to rent a helmet that is stored at a different spot than the bicycle.
“It’s not available with the scooter,” Dayton said.
Dayton said offering scooters without a helmet is also bad for the city’s tourism business.
“What would be a real bummer is if you have these people in the city and the police give them a ticket,” Dayton said. “That’s not a very good welcome.”
Once the council approves an ordinance, it will be able to evaluate applications and choose a company that works for Santa Barbara.
“We are going to consider all applications with the city and see where they land,” Dayton said.
Companies must submit a proposed service area plan and ensure that customers comply with the rules of road, and know how to properly ride and park the scooters.
Staff recommends a permit application fee of $5,000 and permit fees of $10,000 plus $100 per scooter to offset the administrative costs of implementation and enforcement.
Staff is recommending a $100 impoundment fee for bikes that are mismanaged. Typically, electric scooters are placed on the sidewalk with onboard indicators to use a phone app to pay for and use them.
When done with a ride, the user leaves the scooter and it becomes ready for the next user. The phone app lets users know where to find a scooter, among other information, according to the city.
Jack Ucciferri, an alternative transportation activist, said scooter sharing can benefit Santa Barbara.
“Scooter sharing is a very young mode of transportation that offers an accessible way for virtually anyone to move around an urban environment without relying on a car,” Ucciferri told Noozhawk. “Unlike bicycles, electric scooters require only the most minimal of physical abilities, and are not awkward for people wearing skirts and dresses.”
He said scooters have a much smaller physical footprint mode than any other form of transportation, other than skateboarding.
“There is a certain number of scooters that these companies need to be able to deploy in a given area for the business model to pencil out and for citizens to have the necessary confidence that they find one when they need one,” Ucciferri said. “I don’t know what that number is, but I am hopeful we won’t regulate this business out of existence.”
Emma Green, a communications coordinator for Limebike, said the recent scooter “pop-up” was designed to showcase a new mobility option for the community.
“Lime is currently operating legally under applicable law, and we plan to share ridership and trip data with the city to help them understand the benefits of this new transportation option and how they are being used,” Green said in a statement.
“Lime is fully committed to ensuring we are good citizens and stewards of Santa Barbara, and we are excited to provide residents and visitors with our newest model of scooters and a mobility solution that we hope will transform the streets of Santa Barbara for the better.”
The council will tackle the issue at its 2 p.m. meeting at Santa Barbara City Hall.
— Noozhawk staff writer Joshua Molina can be reached at jmolina@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
