Dallas is losing all of its dockless e-scooters later this week following an announcement by the City of Dallas Monday evening. The move comes just after new e-scooter regulations were passed in the city and some operators were beginning to bring back their gear to the region, after pulling some scooters during the height pandemic,
On Monday evening, the city put out a release stating it is halting its scooter program starting on Friday. The move calls for scooter operators to cease operations by Wednesday and have all of its scooters off the streets by close of business on Friday.
“We have received complaints about scooters and would like to make substantial changes to the scooter program,” said Dallas Transportation Director Mike Rogers in a statement. “The changes will include public safety considerations so that the city may have safe modes of alternative transportation.”
The announcement came with little warning. It comes in the wake of a shooting in Deep Ellum, that left six people injured over the weekend, prompting City Council member Adam Medrano to call for the removal of e-scooters. Medrano also said the e-scooters are contributing to late night gatherings. City council member haven’t been the only ones complaining, the city has also received complaints about riders not adhering to Dallas’ dockless vehicle ordinance – which includes things like not riding on a sidewalk – and other public safety concerns.
"We're seeing that Covid-19 is causing people to rethink how they get around, and that scooters are a socially distant, open air alternative to transit and driving," Nico Probst, director of government relations at Lime, told NTX Inno via email. "We hope this pause in service is as brief as possible so that Dallas residents can continue relying on our services."
Dallas first began allowing e-scooters on its streets about two years ago, attracting companies like Bird, Lime, Ojo and Uber to bring up to 15,000 dockless vehicles to the region, according to the Dallas Morning News. However, by March that number was declining amid pandemic health concerns, with companies like Lime suspending services.
That month, the Dallas City Council voted to tighten regulations on e-scooters. In a 14-1 vote, the council approved new rules that added new permitting and operating fees for micro mobility companies. It also included strengthened rules for riders, including speed limit bans, restricted hours of operation and heftier fines for sidewalk riding violations.
“In close partnership with the city of Dallas, Bird is temporarily pausing our service starting Tuesday at midnight. We apologize to riders for the disruption in the service they have come to rely on. We are continuing our dialog with the city and hope to provide our service again in the near future," a spokesperson for Bird told Inno via email.
