Title
Proposed Downtown Shared Electric Scooter Pilot Program (Ordinance G-6602)
Description
Request to authorize approval for the City Manager, or his designee, to implement a proposed Shared eScooter Pilot Program within the downtown area to provide additional mobility options to Phoenix residents, employees, students and visitors, and to demonstrate and evaluate the feasibility of a citywide Shared eScooter Program. Further request to amend chapters 4, 23, 24, 31, 36 and 39 of the Phoenix City Code to establish the Downtown Shared eScooter Pilot Program and update the related civil and criminal violations sections effective Aug. 1, 2019. Program costs will be recovered through the proposed pilot program fees and revocable operating permit requirements.
Report
Summary
Shared electric scooters (eScooters) are a micro-mobility service made available to the public for a fee through private vendors, and are stored and used within the public right-of-way. Users of shared eScooter services typically use a smartphone to locate and pay to use the eScooters on a short-term basis.
In January 2019, the City of Phoenix received a letter from the Phoenix Community Alliance (PCA), encouraging and supporting the implementation of a shared eScooter pilot program in the downtown area. The City has also received inquiries from the public requesting eScooters be made available in Phoenix. The City currently has existing ordinances in effect that ban the use of motorized scooters within City limits.
Proposed Pilot Program
Staff proposes a Downtown Shared eScooter Pilot Program within the downtown area to demonstrate and evaluate whether a citywide Shared eScooter Program is feasible. The proposed pilot program enables deployment of this multi-modal transportation option with requirements that help ensure order and aesthetics, minimize potential visual blight, and maintain safety for all users of the right-of-way. An ordinance change would be required as part of the proposed pilot program to allow the use of eScooters legally within the City. The proposed pilot program requires the vendor to obtain a permit to operate eScooters within the public right-of-way, as well as comply with proposed regulations for parking, operations, data sharing, and rider safety and education. At the Jan. 22, 2019 meeting, the Aviation and Transportation Subcommittee (A&T) recommended Council approval of the Shared eScooter Pilot Program for downtown Phoenix.
Based on the letter from PCA with some revisions based on community feedback, the initial boundaries of the proposed pilot program were to be from 7th Avenue to 7th Street and from Buckeye Road to McDowell Road. However, based on feedback from Council members, the proposed pilot program boundary will be modified slightly west to include the area bounded by Roosevelt Street and Grand Avenue, and a reduction of the northern boundary to Portland Street between 7th Avenue and Central Avenue. Inside the pilot program boundary area, City-identified staging/parking locations would be delineated. These locations are where vendors would deploy eScooters each day and where riders would be expected to return them. Geofencing would be used to manage the riding of eScooters outside of the pilot program boundary area. Crossing the geofenced boundary would cause the eScooter to alert the rider and slow to no more than four miles per hour.
Other proposed pilot program elements would include:
- Pilot program will include the following fees: $500 application fee, $5,000 permit fee for six months, $0.10 per ride surcharge fee and $80 relocation fee.
- Riders shall be at least 18 years of age and have a valid drivers license.
- Helmets are encouraged but not required.
- Vendors shall limit the maximum speed of eScooters to 15 mph.
- Riding on sidewalks will be prohibited.
- Each vendor will not be allowed more than 300 eScooters total for the pilot program (unless a revised maximum is authorized by the Street Transportation Director).
- All eScooter staging/parking within the boundary area must be at designated locations (Attachment A - eScooter Parking Locations).
- Vendors are required to pickup and relocate to an authorized parking location any scooter that is improperly parked or discarded within two hours of being notified. Any scooters not picked up by the vendors will be picked up by the City and the $80 relocation fee for each scooter will be assessed to the vendor.
- Vendors must implement geofencing at required locations that alerts rider and slows the eScooters to no more than four miles per hour within designated areas (Attachment B - eScooter Geofencing Map).
- Vendors and users will be required to indemnify, defend, and release the City of Phoenix (Attachment C - Dockless Scooter Release Agreements).
- Vendors will be required to provide insurance coverage that meets or exceeds City of Phoenix insurance requirements (Attachment D - Standard Insurance Requirements).
- Vendors will be required to provide staff during the pilot program to proactively monitor and relocate eScooters to appropriate parking areas during normal operating hours.
- Vendors and their representatives will be required to park in legal vehicle parking spaces during pickup and drop-off of eScooters.
- Vendors are required to have staff on hand to relocate eScooters to appropriate parking areas for events with greater than 5,000 persons.
- Vendors will provide an appropriate data-sharing format for use by the City.
- Vendors are responsible to adhere to all industry-wide safety and maintenance standards.
- Regulations are subject to change per the direction of the Street Transportation Director.
The proposed ordinance (Attachment E) changes would incorporate a definition for an electric standup scooter and legalize electric scooter operation as part of the proposed pilot program. Additionally, the ordinance will authorize the City of Phoenix Police Department or peace officer to issue civil traffic citations for among other things, speed limit violations, yielding the right of way, parking violations, and riding on the sidewalk. This ordinance change will have a one-year sunset clause to accommodate the proposed pilot program and additional review and vetting period.
Staff proposes a six-month pilot program to monitor vendor operations, assess user demand and evaluate the impacts to the City. Some of the performance data collected would include ridership trends, safety incidents, complaints, vendor collected rider surveys, general operator compliance, or other relevant data. The pilot program will assist the City in determining the future steps for the expansion and/or continuance of a shared eScooter program. The proposed fees for the pilot program are intended to recover the costs for administering the program and will be evaluated during the pilot program. After three months of pilot program operations, staff will report back to both the A&T Subcommittee and the Planning and Economic Development (PED) Subcommittee.
Community Engagement
Based on guidance from the A&T and PED Subcommittees, Street Transportation staff held 10 community meetings with neighborhood associations in and around the pilot program boundary to provide information, answer questions, address concerns, and collect feedback (Attachment F - Community Responses). Although the dialogue encompassed a number of areas, the top five comments focused on enforcement, general safety, riding on sidewalks, parking concerns, and need for bicycle infrastructure.
Street Transportation staff also held several stakeholder meetings with internal and external agencies within the pilot program boundary area, including Arizona State University, the Arizona Diamondbacks, Maricopa County, the Phoenix Suns, and public safety representatives. Major concerns included parking of eScooters, blocking access to transit stops and other facilities, riding eScooters into buildings and through pedestrian thoroughfares, and enforcement.
The details and provisions in the proposed pilot program outlined above incorporate the input and feedback received from both the community groups and downtown stakeholders. Further, in response to requests from both the PED Subcommittee and the community, City staff will provide additional bicycle facilities prior to the start of any pilot program and will also monitor eScooter usage patterns and identify locations for additional bicycle facilities to be implemented after the initial pilot program. Initial staff assessments have identified existing and potential future bicycle facilities (Attachment G - Bicycle Facilities Map).
State Legislative Changes
Senate Bill 1398, which was approved by the State of Arizona on April 22, 2019, defines what an electric standup scooter is. Under the bill, electric standup scooters are excluded from the definitions of moped, motorcycle, motor driven cycle, motor vehicle, and vehicle. The bill specifies that electric standup scooters are subject to the same statutory requirements and local regulations as a bicycle. There are legal arguments under which impaired standup scooter riders may be held accountable under state statutes. The application of state DUI laws to bicycles is currently under review in the Arizona Court of Appeals.
Financial Impact
The following vendor fees are proposed under the pilot program: $500 application fee, $5,000 permit fee for six months, $0.10 per ride surcharge fee and $80 relocation fee. In accordance with A.R.S. 9-499.15, the proposed fees will be properly posted to the City's website and will remain posted for a minimum of 60 days prior to Council action.
Concurrence/Previous Council Action
- The Aviation and Transportation Subcommittee recommended this item for approval on Jan. 22, 2019, by a vote of 3-0.
- The Planning and Economic Development Subcommittee heard this item for information and discussion on Feb. 5, 2019, and also received an update for information and discussion on June 4, 2019.
- The Aviation and Transportation Subcommittee is scheduled to review this item on June 25, 2019.
Location
The initial boundary of the proposed pilot program was to be from 7th Avenue to 7th Street and from Buckeye Road to McDowell Road. Based on feedback from Council members, the proposed pilot program boundary will be modified slightly west to include the area bounded by Roosevelt Street and Grand Avenue, and a reduction of the northern boundary to Portland Street between 7th Avenue and Central Avenue.
Council Districts: 4, 7 and 8
Department
Responsible Department
This item is submitted by Deputy City Manager Mario Paniagua and the Street Transportation Department.