Fremont approves scooter pilot program
The scooters are coming to Fremont.
The City Council unanimously approved a one-year pilot program Tuesday that allows Lime to deposit electric scooters, e-bikes and pedal bikes in the city beginning early next year.
The council also agreed to require other scooter or bike share companies that come in after the pilot period to obtain permits before placing their wares in the city’s public areas.
The council ordered Lime to include an age check feature in its app that requires riders to scan their identification to prove they are 18 or older.
It also asked Lime to provide quarterly updates on how its scooters and bikes are being used so that information can be factored into future permit requirements.
“There’s been a history of these just showing up,” Public Works Director Hans Larsen told the council. “We want to sort of avoid that by having some clear rules of how these systems can come into our community.”
After the one- year pilot, Larsen said the city likely begin will accepting permit applications from other companies such as Bird, Skip and Scoot, to give people more choice.
Councilman Raj Salwan said he’s on board with the program but is still concerned about the possibility of “bikes ending up on the bottom of Lake Elizabeth, or something, or some of the issues that we’ve seen in other cities.”
He was referring to the backlash some cities have seen against the unregulated rollouts of scooter and bike shares, such as in Oakland where Lime scooters have been spotted in Lake Merritt.
He said he hopes Fremont’s permit rules would become a “model for other cities” to follow.
Councilman Vinnie Bacon said the council has talked “over and over again about trying to get people out of their cars and into alternative modes of transportation, so what better idea than to give them those alternative modes of transportation to get around.”
He also said it’s good that Fremont is launching a scooter program a little later than other Bay Area cities so it can learn from their mistakes.
Larsen told the council scooters and bikes first will appear in Central Fremont, though they won’t be allowed in the Lake Elizabeth area because so many people walk and jog there.
The city chose San Francisco-based Lime over four other companies that had submitted proposals.
Larsen said the pro- gram won’t cost the city too much money because the Metropolitan Transportation Commission has given it a grant to cover staff oversight costs during the pilot period and Lime will cover any initial enforcement expenses.
After that, fees will be charged to applicants to cover city costs, he said.