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RALEIGH (WTVD) –
New traffic rules for the city of Raleigh?
The city is preparing its plan to regulate hundreds of scooters already crossing roads and sidewalks.
At present, Raleigh has approximately 1,300 scooters, including Bird and Lime. In July, the city started with fewer than 200 people.
On Tuesday, municipal leaders will discuss the question of whether they should stay or not. And if they stay, how should they be regulated?
Chad Bryant lives in the downtown area and says his daily routine now uses Bird's electric scooters.
Bryant and riders like him ask the city council to express their desire to ride without limits.
"I sent an e-mail to each of them," said Bryant.
But not everyone believes that scooters should be installed without regulation.
"As a driver, I think it's a bit dangerous," said Scott Conklin. "They're fun to drive in. They're inexpensive, but on the other hand, to have a working downtown that's not everywhere, you need rules in place."
Here are the regulations proposed by the city:
- No more than 1,500 electric scooters (including Bird and Lime) in the city, 20% of them must be stationed in low-income neighborhoods.
- Scooters must be moved and rebalanced daily, and a 24-hour customer service line to report safety issues, maintenance issues or complaints.
- Loading areas, bus stops and pedestrian crossings are among the restrictions, including four maximum scooters parked in one block.
- All scooters should be removed from the public hold before 10pm.
- And more kids on scooters. Under the proposed regulation, users must be 18 years old.
Scooters should clearly display the message "No riding on the sidewalk" and respect local, regional and federal safety and registration standards.
Bird says he's going to work with the city to develop a policy that works for everyone.
His statement said in part:
"We believe that people should have more access to affordable and environmentally friendly means of transportation, not less."
The meeting will take place on Tuesday at 11:30.
The board could vote to approve regulations that would last one year or until scooter companies can develop self-discipline measures.
Or the board might decide to ban these devices until further review.
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