LR board at crossroads on regulation of scooters
Members of the Little Rock Board of Directors sounded dismayed during Tuesday’s agenda meeting about the dockless electric scooters from transportation-technology company Lime as they considered an ordinance that would rewrite city rules for such devices.
Board members on Tuesday raised concerns about the electric scooters from the standpoint of public safety and questioned whether the city could put additional restrictions on the devices.
Little Rock is one of many cities across the globe grappling with what regulations should govern the suddenly ubiquitous scooters.
Board members deferred action on the ordinance during a Nov. 17 meeting, and are scheduled to take up the issue again in a meeting Tuesday.
Mayor Frank Scott Jr. emphasized that the ordinance will enable the city to collect revenue from Lime — plus other dockless-scooter and bicycle-share companies — through an annual franchise fee and license fees for each device, imposed as a condition for the companies doing business in the city.
“We’re not getting anything right now,” Scott told board members. “We’re getting zero. And so every scooter that you see on our streets right now, your city is
not getting anything.”
Joan Adcock, an at-large representative, requested that a member of the River Market police patrol speak to the city board at next week’s meeting about the problems related to the scooters operating downtown.
She also referred to several Texas cities where she said scooters had been barred. The municipal transportation department of Dallas on Aug. 31 suspended the use of electric scooters, according to The Dallas Morning News.
“Other cities are asking them to leave their cities, and I’d like to make sure that we understand those reports before we pass this,” Adcock said.
The proposed ordinance would change the rules of the road for the scooters, requiring riders to travel in the roadway, not on the sidewalk, except in areas where riding on the sidewalk is specifically permitted. Currently, riders must travel on the sidewalk.
Under the proposal, riders also would be required to use a designated bicycle lane where one is available.
During Tuesday’s meeting, Little Rock officials noted that the city’s ability to act is limited because of a recent law passed by the Arkansas Legislature.
State lawmakers approved legislation in 2019 that allowed scooter companies to operate in localities statewide, but the measure also allowed local governments to regulate the scooters with an eye to public safety or public property.
Although he acknowledged the city cannot ignore the Legislature, at-large City Director Dean Kumpuris raised the idea that board members could think of health or safety regulations that he would be comfortable voting for.
The majority of the board may want the scooters, Kumpuris said, but he described them as “unsightly in many
ways.”
“And they are certainly a safety issue with putting them on the street, riding them, and I think young people riding them is even more dangerous,” Kumpuris added.
In response to Kumpuris’ comments, Scott told the board that the purpose of the ordinance “is to obtain revenue, revenue that we’re not currently receiving.”
Under the ordinance, the city would collect a $75 fee per scooter operating in the city, as well as a $10,000 annual franchise fee charged to each company operating one or more scooters.
With approximately 500 scooters in the city at the moment and the fee set at $75 each, plus the $10,000 registration fee, if the board approves the ordinance the city will receive close to $50,000 for the general fund shortly thereafter, according to Scott.
He said he was not disputing Kumpuris on the safety issues, nor Adcock on the potential for conflict with law enforcement agencies.
“However, our hands are tied to a certain extent based on the state Legislature,” Scott said.
The limited number of large cities that do not have dockless-mobility options like
scooters or bike-share programs have a greater responsibility for how the programs operate in consultation with their legislators, Scott said.
The mayor also cautioned the board that the average age in the city is 36.
“We don’t want to put on so much restrictions where we can be seen as an entertainment police, policing-city,” Scott said.
Responding to a question from Ward 6 City Director Doris Wright as to whether the city could confine the scooters to the entertainment district, City Attorney Tom Carpenter suggested the city had that ability because of its authority to regulate the scooters based on safety.
Officials would have to gather information justifying the regulation as enhancing safety, he said.
“I think all you need is a rational basis for it, so it’s not like it’s a hard burden to meet,” Carpenter said.
Ward 2 representative Ken Richardson pointed out that although board members had expressed concerns about the scooters, he had not heard anyone cite “objective data, at all, that supports any of the fears that some of my colleagues have, so I’m singing out of tune with the choir on this one.”
“We don’t want to put on so much restrictions where we can be seen as an entertainment police, policing-city.” —Mayor Frank Scott Jr., noting that the average age in Little Rock is 36