Weeks after Athens ban, Atlanta takes up scooter regulations

Athens-Clarke County Commissioners, meeting last month, voted unanimously on a 12-month moratorium on the use Bird Scooters, demanding the company collect and remove the electronic transportation devices from Athens or face fines. Now the Atlanta City Council is considering scooter regulations.

From the AJC's J.D. Capelouto,..

More than six months after electric scooters suddenly surfaced on Atlanta’s streets and sidewalks, the City Council is expected to take up legislation Monday to regulate the divisive dockless devices.

The rules represent initial steps, though, with lingering questions around enforcement, all but ensuring the fast-spreading vehicles won’t disappear from the cityscape any time soon as residents continue debating if they’re a blessing or a curse.

The planned regulations would require scooter companies to apply for permits costing $12,000 a year for 500 scooters and $50 for every additional scooter. When parked, scooters must be upright and allow five-foot-wide corridors on sidewalks for pedestrians. When in motion, they must stick to streets with motors designed not to exceed 15 miles an hour.

Scooter companies can be fined up to $1,000 a day for violations. But while the legislation allows the city to curb the number of scooters, it’s not setting any initial limits. If a rider drives on the sidewalk, the legislation doesn’t specify the fine. Helmets? Recommended but not mandatory.

The still-in-the-works oversight reflects the conflicted feelings of many Atlantans who see the fun side of scooters and their potential to ease traffic gridlock, but fear clutter and being overrun.

“There’s an upside and a downside,” said Robb Lejuwaan, who lives in Lake Claire and visited the Beltline in east Atlanta recently to ride scooters with his fiancé. “Today we’re gonna ride them, it’s gonna be an upside. When you’re walking and people brush by you and almost hit you, it’s a downside.”