Rental scooters, bikes rolling toward Austin
Companies question some of city’s new rules on dockless vehicles.
Keep an eye out. The rentable electric scooters that briefly zipped through downtown are on their way back. And they’re bringing dockless rental bicycles with them.
Dockless mobility companies were able to begin applying this week for permits to operate in Austin, after a meeting last Fri- day that drew interest from about 20 companies, said Marissa Monroy, a spokeswoman for Austin’s Transportation Department. Zagster, which operates Pace bike rental, and scooter rental company Bird submitted applications Friday, Monroy said.
Those could be approved within days, after an inspection of the two companies’ vehicles. Lime, Ofo and Spin said they were working on filing the needed paperwork.
Last month, Austin city staffers scrambled to complete rules and regulations for dockless rental bikes and scooters as companies anticipated a pilot program, and two companies, Bird and Lime, took advantage of a loophole to introduce electric rental scooters without the city’s permission. City Council members put a stop to that with an April 27 vote.
Applications for permits to operate legally, which also outline how Austin will enforce some control over the shareable, graband-leave-anywhere vehicles, became available Monday.
The rush to place rental bikes and scooters on Austin’s streets comes amid some backlash from companies to the city rules. In
particular, most complain about the requirement that by Aug. 1, all such bikes and scooters must be capable of being locked to a bike rack or be equipped with haptic technology that indicates whether they’re inside a designated area.
Several companies grumbled that such a provision is unnecessary and shows favoritism to the only companies that include locks on their products: Zagster and Jump.
Some representatives said they hoped to change Austin’s mind about that provision before August. While some company officials had heard of haptic technology, none knew of any dockless mobility companies using it.
“No cities have ever used haptic technology, and we are unclear whether it is even possible to create and add this,” said Mary Caroline Pruitt, communications manager at Lime.
Some company representatives said the per-unit fees, coupled with the need for available bike racks, would make it difficult to operate in some parts of Austin. Some also objected to a rule requiring each bike or scooter to average at least twice-per-day ridership or risk removal.
“It’s the weirdest requirement,” said Brian Kyuhoon No, director of public policy for Spin. “It’s like the city telling a car rental company that if you don’t rent out your car two times per day you’re not a legal business. I’m pretty sure Austin doesn’t impose any ridership requirements on (cityowned) B-Cycle.”
In recent months, Spin has operated a pilot bike rental program on the St. Edward’s University campus, which is outside of the city’s purview.
From the city’s perspective, the new rules will cut down on potential chaos — keeping companies from swamping the streets with too many bikes and scooters while also keeping them parked clear of sidewalks.
Dallas launched a particularly liberal dockless bike program last year. It has famously led to internet pictures of bikes thrown into trees, tossed over telephone poles, piled into ad hoc sidewalk sculpture art or herded onto home lawns as a 2018 version of toilet-papering.
That’s a primary example of why representatives of Zagster, one of the companies with bike locks, said they support Austin’s more stringent requirements, including the need for locks and the requirement that units be used twice per day.
“Oversaturating a city with bikes is a recipe for failed bike-share,” said Tim Alborg, the company’s director of public policy.