The San Diego City Council voted Tuesday to approve new regulations for shared electric scooters and bikes with the goal of cracking down on unsafe riding and parking.
Among the new rules is a requirement to park the devices off the sidewalk in designated areas, except bikes that can be locked to regular bike racks. Companies will be forbidden from staging more than four of their own devices in each parking area, and will have one hour to move illegally parked devices or risk them being impounded.
Councilmember Joe LaCava said he was especially pleased with a requirement that scooter companies automatically slow their devices down when they are ridden on the sidewalk.
"Shared mobility devices can be an effective and efficient part of our city's mobility options," LaCava said. "(But) we have all seen too many abuses by individuals using the scooters under the old framework — underage riders, multiple riders on a single scooter, scooters dumped anywhere and everywhere."
Some on the council expressed concern that the new rules would not be adequately enforced, or that the cost of enforcement would fall on taxpayers. City staffers said that is part of why they're transitioning to a new system that will force the companies to compete for the right to do business in San Diego.
Previously scooter companies needed only a simple permit to operate legally in the city. By July officials hope to conclude a selection process that will shrink the number of authorized scooter companies from six to four.
"We have detailed steps for issuing of citations and notifications of the operators up to contract termination, if needed," said Ahmad Erikat of the city's Sustainability and Mobility Department. "We will make sure we will be up to date and what's expected from the operators is actually done."
In April, the city chose Lime, Lyft, Link and Spin as the four approved operators. That would exclude current operators Bird, Veo and Wheels. At least one of those companies protested the city's selection, and that protest is still pending.
