The return of motorized scooters and bikes to Dallas continues to be a thorn in residents’ sides.
The City has received nearly 700 complaints to 311 regarding the renaissance of this particular form of shared transportation in May.
After a two-year hiatus, officials announced the return of electric scooters and bikes in March. Bird, Lime, and Superpedestrian companies provided the scooters and bikes, which officially hit the streets two months later, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
The City issued several rules for parking and operating the vehicles, such as a mandate that they be parked in designated corrals, in bike racks, or upright in the buffer zone between the street and the sidewalk.
However, issues regarding use have persisted since motor-assisted scooters and electric bikes once again became an option. Despite the City’s safety and parking guidelines, reports of improper parking and injuries from collisions have begun cropping up across the area, as covered by The Dallas Express.
On Friday, the Dallas City Council issued a memo to answer some recurring questions it had received since the relaunch, one of which was the frequency of 311 reports.
“Between the scooter relaunch on May 24 and July 17, there have been 674 submissions to 311,” the council said in the memo. “The number of 311 submissions is reflective of the work done to actively advertise and promote 311 as the optimal method to address parking and riding issues for data-driven compliance management.”
Jessica Scott, a transportation planner with the Dallas Transportation Department, told NBC 5 DFW that most of the reports were due to improper parking and were forwarded to providers to remedy.
“We’re extremely satisfied with the response that the operators are showing. They’re improving rapidly. And for now, we’re satisfied with that response and really just allowing some time for these growing pains to resolve,” Scott said, according to NBC 5.
Violations of the rules of operation can include fines. So far, Scott said, none have been levied.
Another of the rules governing the scooters is that they must adhere to specific hours of operation. Locals have suggested this rule is also not being properly followed.
“The scooters are not all shutting off at 9 p.m. like they are supposed to. There’s still changes that need to be made in the program,” said Stephanie Keller Hudiburg, executive director of the Deep Ellum Foundation, according to NBC 5. “So far in Deep Ellum, our stakeholders are not pleased to see [that] the firms are not always abiding by the rules the city has … worked for a year to set.”
City officials plan to meet with appropriate parties to determine whether they should amend any rules.
“As the program is to be reevaluated every three months, a meeting with the operators and Micromobility Working Group will be scheduled for late August to review the program metrics and discuss any recommended changes to the rules,” the City said in the memo.
According to the memo, citizens can also provide comments and suggest possible changes via a form the City said it would add to the Shared Dockless Vehicle Program website this week.
