After testing electric scooters on city streets during two pilot programs, Chicago now finally has a long-term plan for e-scooters.
The Chicago City Council passed an electric scooter ordinance Thursday, paving the way for a permanent scooter presence in Chicago. Starting next spring, Chicago will put 6,000 e-scooters on city streets, and could increase that number to 12,500 depending on demand. The ordinance allows three firms to receive two-year licenses from the city.
For the first time in Chicago scooters will be allowed Downtown and on the 606 Trail, although riders will remain barred from using them along the lakefront. The scooters will be required to lock to a structure when not in use as to avoid cluttering the streets and sidewalks, which was a common complaint during the city's earlier pilot program.
But there's a new wrinkle to the latest scooter ordinance that's aimed at further satisfying those who want scooters out of public walkways: the devices aren't allowed on any city sidewalks. Scooters must be equipped with an alarm that sounds when ridden on Chicago sidewalks, the city said.
Scooter company Bird said Friday that it has developed what it calls Smart Sidewalk Protection technology, which uses geofencing and "hyper-accurate location" sensors to identify when a scooter is ridden on a sidewalk. Riders will receive an audible alert as well as a mobile notification, and the scooter will eventually be slowed to a stop if ridden on a sidewalk, Bird said. That feature is currently being tested in San Diego and Milwaukee.
Lime says it also has a similar sidewalk detection technology, as does Ford-owned scooter company Spin.
E-scooters first landed in Chicago in 2019 during a pilot program that ran for about four months. The 2020 pilot, which ran from August to December, was operated by Bird, Lime and Spin. City data showed a 75% decrease in complaints-per-day-per-device during the 2020 pilot compared to the 2019 pilot.
