Brakes tapped on electric scooters
Rental company considering S.F.; city councilor wants pilot program, rules in place first
As one of the largest electric scooter rental companies in the nation considers expanding into Santa Fe, a council member first wants to find out whether an enterprise that has run into problems elsewhere would work in the City Different.
District 2 City Councilor Carol Romero-Wirth is spearheading a proposal to prohibit the use of rented electric scooters in Santa Fe’s public rights of way until the community has an opportunity to weigh the pros and cons.
“We don’t have any rules about scoot
ers and where they can operate and where they can’t operate, just anything that talks about who can use them and how they’re used,” she said. “Lots of cities across the country are struggling to hit the right note with regard to rules to regulate electric scooters. We’re just the latest city to have this proposed to us.”
Romero-Wirth said the Californiabased scooter-share company Bird reached out to city officials last spring to express interest in bringing its business to Santa Fe. Its inquiry prompted Romero-Wirth to introduce legislation calling on the city manager to evaluate the suitability of shared electric scooters in Santa Fe before they hit the road.
“If everything is looking good and we think this is something we want to have be a part of our community, the next step is to go to a pilot program and try it out,” she said, describing her proposal. “If the pilot program goes well, then we’ll have more experience on which to base rules to incorporate them as a regular course of our transportation.”
Mackenzie Long, a spokeswoman for Bird, said the company believes Santa Fe would be a great city to provide “our environmentally friendly option.”
“The city’s commitment to sustainability and shared infrastructure compliments the growing movement to replace short car trips with e-scooter rides,” she said in an email. “We hope to work with local leaders to bring e-scooters to the city in the near future, and help them advance their climate and traffic reduction goals.”
While electric scooters have been a hit in some cities, others have experienced a wide range of problems.
The scooters, which are dockless, are sometimes abandoned in the middle of sidewalks or wheelchair ramps, blocking public access. Faulty scooters have led to accidents and injuries, and irresponsible riders are violating traffic laws. The Los Angeles Times reported last year that the rapid proliferation of electric scooters in some California cities led fed-up residents to vandalize the vehicles — some of which have been burned, thrown off balconies and tossed into the ocean.
In some cities, scooter rental companies have moved in overnight, setting up legal battles with municipalities.
“They were 24 hours away from that in Albuquerque,” said Albuquerque City Councilor Pat Davis, who later introduced legislation to make e-scooters legal there. “They had a warehouse full of scooters in Albuquerque, and they were hiring people to drop them off the next day.”
The city of Albuquerque imposed a moratorium while it developed rules governing rented electronic scooters. A couple of rental companies called the rules onerous and said they would make it impossible to do business in Albuquerque. But Davis said the city is still working with the companies to figure out the right balance.
“I think we’re still going to see them,” he said.
Davis advised Santa Fe city officials to meet with the companies, look at best practices and understand the business model that makes electric scooter services effective.
“In our research, every city that proactively reached out to these companies … has had a successful program,” he said. “I think we missed the boat on that. I think we did do the early work, but we didn’t include them throughout the final rulemaking, and that would be my advice in Santa Fe.”
The city of Santa Fe is taking a slower approach.
Romero-Wirth’s proposal, which sailed through the Public Works Committee on Monday, gives the city manager up to a year to evaluate rented electric scooters and issue a recommendation to the governing body. The proposal, which includes a public engagement effort, also calls for the city manager to roll out a pilot program before making any recommendations on electric scooters in Santa Fe on a permanent basis.
Privately owned scooters would continue to be allowed to operate in Santa Fe under Romero-Wirth’s proposal.
“It’s going to be a continuing conversation for a bit,” Romero-Wirth said. “All I’m trying to do is make sure we don’t get a ‘rogue drop’ where one day we wake up with them and we have no rules about them.”
Romero-Wirth said she has rented electric scooters in Washington, D.C., and Arizona. She said they’re fun and “fairly easy to ride.”
“They’re really fun, but there’s a danger element here,” she said. “We want to make sure that if we have them, we’re putting them in our community in safe ways.”