E-scooters to stay in Raleigh - for now

Under the new ordinance, which takes effect today, e-scooters are now allowed to be used in bicycle lanes in Raleigh. However, riders must yield the right-of-way to pedestrians and traffic when entering or crossing a street. And scooters are still not allowed on sidewalks, greenways, or pedestrian paths.

At recent meetings, the council also agreed to cap the number of scooters in the city at 1500, to raise the annual fee per scooter from $150 to $300, and to require companies to carry more insurance on the scooters.

City transportation manager Michael Moore said those requirements have been submitted to both Lime and Bird as a proposed short-term operating agreement. He said if the companies don't sign off on the proposal by December 6th, they'll have to remove their scooters, or the city will remove them.

Asked for comment, a spokesperson for Lime said via e-mail, “Lime is working on the Encroachment agreement and will have it finalized by the deadline.”

A spokeswoman for Bird, however, called the new rules "regressive."

"Bird is currently determining whether we can viably continue to provide Birds to the people of Raleigh," Mackenzie Long said via e-mail. "The current proposed framework gives us significant pause as it dramatically limits our ability to provide transportation to the community."

Moore said the framework will likely become even stricter next year.

According to the city transportation director, a request for proposals early in 2019 will ask for a lot more cooperation and accountability from scooter companies. The city will allow up to four to operate here. However, the companies will be required to meet minimum maintenance and safety requirements, operate customer service numbers and an emergency pickup service, and share usage data with city planners.

Moore said the companies will also be asked to do more to educate riders about safe riding and parking, and either incentivize riders for parking the scooters properly or penalize those who don't.

The council isn't required to vote yet on the RFP. Councilman Russ Stephenson said it seems to address a lot of the issues he's seen as a rider and observer of the e-scooters.

"I do believe it is an innovative, low-carbon way of getting around for short urban trips, but obviously we've got a lot of work to do with education, liability and safety here," Stephenson said.