City and university to regulate scooters
The University of Missouri and Columbia Public Works received the green light at the city council meeting Monday night to form a one-year pilot program. The program will be a way to regulate the operation and use of scooters and other small vehicles.
It is not clear exactly what that regulation will look like because the city and university are in the preliminary stages of forming the program.
Some people are happy to see any regulation of scooters. Michelle Busby lives in Paquin Tower near the university’s campus, and uses a chair to get around. She said scooters have been an issue for her and others in the area.
“The biggest issue is that they’re left in the middle of the sidewalk for people like me and others around me cannot get around them,” she said.
She said she would be happy if the city had tighter regulations on scooters.
“Maybe just some stronger regulations about where they ride them and you know respecting disabled people and the elderly,” she said.
Ward 2 council member Mike Trapp said he wants the City to strike a balance with scooter companies.
“Electrical vehicles in general are low emissions. There are some, you know they have to be picked up by vehicles, so it’s not a perfect system, but I think it’s an important part of our transportation system,” he said.
He said by keeping these types of transportation around, it could prevent the roads in Columbia from becoming more congested.
“We built our city for a smaller city. So we have, you know, we’re bursting at the seams, and we need to take steps to do things that we call demand management, where we get less people driving, especially at rush hour. And more people using all forms of alternative transportation, and that includes scooters,” Trapp said.
He said the program could provide a way to address some of the complaints both the city and the university have received.
“I think city staff’s primary goal is to have less negative impacts on the community with scooters. I think they’re pretty agnostic about scooters but they see that we have not had great compliance with the contract that we have with Bird,” he said.
“I think if we work with the university we’re going to get a better product, both for scooter users and people who will never get on a scooter, but might have less traffic to deal with as they drive in their car or navigate other ways.”
He also said the program could invite companies other than Bird that could provide newer resources like bicycles, as well.
“So if we offer a single use franchise, there are other businesses who operate in a way that is less in defiance of law and accepted practice. So if we offer this franchise then they’re not having to compete with Bird. Bird can apply but their history of poor compliance is going to score against them, and maybe we can get a provider who’s going to do things about making sure that the sidewalks are clear for people in wheelchairs, and that they’re not riding at night,” he said.
According to a memo, the program will take proposals from companies and choose one to take part in the program.
Trapp said the program could allow the city and university to study what would address some of people’s concerns. He said one way they could do that is by considering doing things like putting in designated scooter lanes or more protected bike lanes.
The program is in the very beginning stages. The city and university will now begin discussions of what exactly they want it to look like.
