“ELECTRIC SCOOTERS ARE LEAVING DENVER SIDEWALKS” blares the headline in 5280 Magazine. A new city ordinance will “bring clarity” to scooter riders who are confused about where to operate their scooter. That article appeared 6 years ago and we all know that there’s been no apparent improvement since then in Downtown Denver. Nonetheless, Denver’s City Council and the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure are going to take another whack at the problem this year.
IN THIS ISSUE:
- Denver City Council discusses upcoming law-making re: scooters
- Dept. of Transportation and Infrastructure develops new education materials
- Scooter Survey: The results are in
- Another major city wants to ban scooters in their central business districts
- Scooter Tidbits
- Things we’d like to see change
Denver City Council Discusses Upcoming Legislation: Downtown Denver’s City Councilman Chris Hinds presented his proposals – in their early stages — to the rest of City Council. He emphasized the dangers of scooters illegally left on sidewalks and scooters continuing to operate on downtown’s sidewalk. His presentation is loaded with useful information, including rider-education efforts, reporting systems, and statistics regarding accidents. Review the presentation HERE. The task for the City Council is to draft an ordinance with new general rules governing the operation of scooters within city limits. From that, administrative rules will be developed to fine-tune the ordinance’s requirements. That sounds great. What about enforcement of the new ordinance and rules? That was actually asked during Councilmember Hines’ presentation. From the ensuing discussion, it appears that enforcement will not be done by the Denver Police Department and nor will enforcement be done by the city’s Right-of-Way enforcement team (formerly, meter-maids). It was implied that enforcement would be the job of the scooter vendors like Lime and Bird. City Council is expected to vote on a new ordinance in Summer 2025.
Denver’s Department of Transportation and Infrastructure’s (DOTI) Education Materials: Scooter rider education is one of the critical components of any plan to improve the mess that scooters have created downtown. To that end, DOTI has developed new educational materials to be distributed to downtown hotels and the convention center in hopes of reaching out-of-towners most of whom have never operated a scooter.
This is an example of the educational materials that have been developed by DOTI this Spring. UpDoNA has volunteered to assist in these efforts by recruiting volunteers to serve as the ‘boots on the ground’ to distribute these materials throughout Downtown Denver. Other examples of DOTI’s education efforts in their “Ride With Respect” campaign can be found at their new dedicated website HERE.
To put this campaign in context, as a matter of policy, DOTI wants scooter ridership to continue – and increase – city-wide, including here in Downtown Denver. However it is receiving pressure from the City Council and downtown’s neighborhood associations and even public health officials to return our sidewalks to pedestrians. If these education efforts fail to fix the problems, scooters might one day be banned in Downtown Denver, as other cities around the world have done. When asked directly about other cities banning scooters in their central business districts, DOTI representatives failed to answer. Which major city may be next to ban scooters downtown? It just might be Prague, where “[Scooters] pose a direct threat to pedestrians. The situation has become unbearable. We are ready to defend public space and the safety of our residents.” Read about it HERE.
DOTI’s Big Scooter Survey:
Here are the highlights (read the fuller version HERE):
- 2,567 responses
- 26% regular scooter riders, 35% occasional scooter riders, & 39% never ride scooters
- 51% use to get around when public transit was not available
- 43% use to connect to/from public transit
- Key Survey Findings (from handout)
- “Scooters are more than a fun ride; they are an important mode of transportation.”
- “Scooters provide a reliable and low-cost transportation option for diverse communities.”
- “Scooters replace car trips, likely because they can be a more convenient form of transportation.”
- “Non-riders are interested in policies and enforcement that address unsafe scooter behavior and parking.”
- “Addressing safety concerns would encourage more people to ride scooters.”
- “Expanding and lowering the cost of the scooter share program would encourage more people to ride.”
SCOOTER TIDBITS:
- The average medical bill for a rider injured while using a scooter is a whopping $20,000 per Denver Health
- The average age of a person injured on a scooter is a surprising 34.4 years old, per Denver Health
- You can report an illegally-parked scooter to the City of Denver HERE. There’s no such form for reporting scooters that are being illegally operated on our downtown sidewalks
- DOTI still has not fixed the Bike Lane signs and there’s apparently no hope in sight that the signs will be revised to indicate that scooters also belong in the bike lanes
THINGS WE’D LIKE TO SEE CHANGE
The next meeting of UpDoNA’s Scooter Subcommittee will be held June 3, 2025 at Spire 10th floor. Reach out to David Kurth if you want to be added to the mailing list. David_Kurth@msn.com
Thumbnail attribution: David Kurth
