Electric scooters, known for zooming here and there, would roll into a more restricted landscape under new rules being considered by Fort Lauderdale.
Those rules would limit where scooters can go, cap their speed at 15 mph and require riders to leave them in designated parking corrals.
The three e-scooter companies operating in the city — Lime, Bird and Bolt — can each rent up to 500 scooters. Permit fees for each company would spike substantially, from $150 for the year to $105,200.
Fort Lauderdale commissioners discussed speed caps and a slew of other recommendations Tuesday after a series of scooter-related accidents and one death in the months since scooters came to town.
Keith Siilats, chief technology officer for Bolt, took news about the speeding cap in stride, saying most cities already limit e-scooters to 15 mph.
Park them here not there
Under the new rules, scooters could be banned from some of the most popular venues: A1A, Las Olas Boulevard, Riverwalk and Galt Ocean Mile. Not all of Las Olas would be off limits, but scooters would not be welcome along the boulevard from Andrews Avenue to Southeast 17th Avenue.
That was welcome news to Bob Casullo, who lives in a condo at the beach and got used to watching the chaos down below from his balcony.
“They don’t belong down there,” he said. “When they’re on the sidewalk, they’re weaving in out between people. They’re more of a nuisance to me when I’m driving. You never know when they’re going to pop up.”
The city would create geofencing areas to restrict where scooters can go. Once in the restricted area, the power would cut off and the scooter would coast to a stop.
Commissioner Steve Glassman likes the idea of setting up scooter parking zones.
“That’s a big issue for me, how we’re corralling these,” he said. “They’re lying all over the ground. I think you should have areas where people are encouraged to park them instead of just dumping them on the sidewalk.”
The new parking garage on the east side of the Las Olas bridge could be one spot, Glassman said, but staff would have to come up with other options.
In June, Fort Lauderdale commissioners agreed to temporarily ban electric scooters and bikes from the beach to give the city time to come up with safety reforms. The ban, initially set to end on Aug. 18, was extended indefinitely while city officials iron out the details.
‘We invited scooters to town’
A new state law took effect in June, making it legal to ride e-scooters in bike lanes.
Vice Mayor Robert McKinzie argued they should be allowed everywhere within city limits, including the beach.
“The point is we invited scooters to town,” he said. “I think scooters should be allowed anywhere.”
But far fewer complaints have been coming in to City Hall since the scooters were banned on the barrier island, Mayor Dean Trantalis said.
At one point, up to 2,000 scooters were available for rent when four companies were operating in the city. That number dropped to 1,500 after Gotcha pulled out on Aug. 27.
Fort Lauderdale staff recommended cutting that number down to 1,000 scooters and two operators.
But the mayor, saying he didn’t want to create a monopoly, suggested they issue permits to three e-scooter operators and one e-Bike operator.
Under the proposal, each e-scooter company would pay an annual permit fee of $105,200, or $210.50 per scooter.
The e-Bike operator would pay $42,100 per year to rent 200 dockless bikes. Currently no dockless bike companies have a permit to operate, a city official said.
No kids please
Critics have urged the city to impose age restrictions and require riders to wear helmets.
State law prohibits city governments from mandating that riders wear helmets, City Attorney Alain Boileau said.
All three scooter rental companies operating in Fort Lauderdale require riders to be 18, but some riders younger than that get around the rule by using their parents’ accounts.
Fort Lauderdale expects to spend $252,500 a year monitoring its revised scooter program.
Costs include $90,000 on administration costs, $72,500 on enforcement, $15,000 on data analysis and software, $60,000 on infrastructure improvements and $15,000 on public education and outreach.
City Manager Chris Lagerbloom told commissioners staff would continue to work on updating the city’s ordinance. It was unclear when the safety rules would come back to the commission for a vote.
Servando Esparza, senior manager for Bird, said the company was in talks with city officials to come up with a “framework that works for everyone on speed, costs and parking corrals.”
A Lime spokesperson said in an email: “Lime supports fair and sensible regulations that allow for the safe and proper use of scooters. As we’ve done in the past, we’ll continue to work proactively with the city and elected officials to provide the highest quality scooter program to Fort Lauderdale residents and visitors.”
Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com or 954-356-4554
