Scooters continue to be in the news in Colorado and elsewhere:
The Colorado Court of Appeals recently ruled that scooter companies cannot be held liable for injuries caused by their riders (9news article: electric scooter crash lawsuit). The plaintiff in the case said the scooter rider who hit her appeared to be intoxicated (see Council Member Hinds legislation, below).
Seoul, South Korea is implementing “scooter-free zones” on streets with high accident risks and immediate towing of illegally parked e-scooters (Seoul to ban e-scooters from high risk streets).
Lime has reported an exponential increase in e-bike rentals in Melbourne, Australia after the city banned e-scooters in the Central Business District (Melbourne e-bike rentals skyrocket).
And, Toronto, which has banned e-scooter rentals, recently ran a two-week safety campaign cracking down on dangerous drivers operating their personal e-scooters on city roads (Toronto E-vehicle Safety Campaign).
Thanks to UpDoNA scooter subcommittee member Joe Capello for forwarding the links to the above articles.
As reported in the October newsletter, Council Member Hinds anticipates introducing legislation to the City Council to address sidewalk riding and scooter clutter including requirements such as requiring scooter companies to use sidewalk detection technology, requiring scooters to be docked in the downtown area, and sobriety tests for riders at night.
Nathan Pope from the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DOTI) presented information on Denver’s Micromobility Program in our October meeting. Mr. Pope is managing the development of the request for proposals (RFPs) for the next e-scooter and e-bike provider license agreements that start in May 2026. He is meeting with different groups including the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, UpDoNA, LoDoNA and other Registered Neighborhood Organizations, the Downtown Denver Partnership, Visit Denver, the convention center, RTD, and 16th Street Mall “champions” regarding the contents of the next RFP. DOTI also requested input from citizens through an on-line survey (DOTI Scooter Survey). While it is not clear how long the survey will be open, if you have not yet responded to this survey, please make your voice heard. Several changes that the UpDoNA scooter subcommittee have been encouraging are:
- Better signage instructing scooter users that they, too, should use bike lanes,
- Sidewalk detection technology to prevent scooter users from riding on sidewalks, and
- Required docking of scooters in corrals at the end of trips in the downtown area.
Our next meeting is Tuesday, February 4th, at 4:00 PM in the Brooks Towers.
Thumbnail attribution – David Kurth
