If recommendations are made this winter, the companies' operating licenses will be renewed around February.
(Cali Lichter)
Bloomington is waiting to renew operating licenses for e-scooter companies until the city comes up with new recommendations to improve operating safety. The operating license for the three e-scooter companies in Bloomington - Lime, Bird, and VEO Ride - were supposed to go through renewals this winter.
Until now, operating licenses were renewed at the end of the year through the Bloomington Board of Public Works. Alex Crowley, director of economic and sustainable development, said that with all the scooter accidents that have happened in the past few months, city officials didn’t want to rush the renewal process.
“What we decided to do was to say, all right, they can just kind of continue on the old license for the time being, give us a chance to try to figure out what if any changes we want to make,” Crowley said.
There have been twoe-scooter-related deaths in Bloomington since August. Crowley said the accidents coupled with increased fleet sizes have opened the vehicles to increased scrutiny.
“So you have essentially two problems that people react to. One problem is rider safety,” Crowley said. “And, you know, are they safe? And if so, or if not, how do you make them safer?”
The city also seesparking problems with scooters. Outside of Indiana University’s campus, there are no enforced parking areas. Scooters can be left at bike racks or laid in the middle of sidewalks.
“It's actually not the scooter companies that are causing those problems, it's really the individual riders,” Crowley said. “But they're not doing arguably what they're supposed to be doing in terms of educating riders, making sure riders park in compliance.”
Crowley said that they’re looking inside Bloomington and at other cities with e-scooters to come up with their list of recommendations.
“The good news is we're not alone, right? This is not a unique problem to Bloomington,” Crowley said. “And I think what we have to do is rather than reinvent the wheel, as it were, to think about what might make sense for us.”
The city is already looking into options such as geo-fencing electronic parking corrals, reducing scooter speeds, and no-ride zones. E-scooter companies in Bloomington already introduced riding time restrictions inOctober.
As the weather gets colder and students leave campus for winter break, the companies are looking to reduce their fleet sizes until the weather warms up. Crowley said that is the perfect time to introduce recommendations to the companies.
“We want to give them enough time to react to any rule changes that we have. And we want to be able to take some time to really figure out what the right structure is,” Crowley said. “By the time they bring their fleets back, if in fact that is going to be the case, then then they have some time to react to it.”
Though some people are advocating for e-scooters to leave Bloomington, Crowley said city officials hope to renew operating licenses by February “without taking anything off the table.”
