TAMPA, Fla. — You may see e-scooters or e-bikes lying around wherever you live or work, but some new rules in Tampa are looking to change that.
“It’s just pretty quick and easy,” said Andrew Giddens.
Giddens has used e-scooters in Tampa before, typically to get to Lightning games, and he’s noticed they sometimes end up in unusual places.
“In ditches, on the side of the road,” said Giddens. “They try to do their best to make sure they’re organized and stuff, but it’s not always the case.”
But the days of leaving them stranded around the city are no more.
Starting Monday, the city of Tampa said riders must park their shared e-scooters and e-bikes in city-approved docking stations only, or they will be charged a fee. Fees vary but can be up to $5.
The city said each e-vehicle will have software alerting riders where they can and can’t park, and scooter companies will impose fines. In addition, there’s a bounty program in place.
“If you see an improperly parked scooter, you are a member of that scooter program, be it Spin or Helbiz or Lime, and if you return the scooter to its appropriate dock, you will receive a credit,” said Vik Bhide, the City’s Mobility Director.
The city said docking stations include clearly marked corrals, electronic virtual corrals, public bike racks, scooter racks, and charging stations. They said hundreds of approved docking stations will be located all over the city.
City leaders said the new rules are meant to free up sidewalk space and eliminate safety concerns.
“You don’t want walkways to be blocked or these vehicles to be improperly placed, but the other as well is it kind of prompts or makes it easier for vandals to either improperly impact these scooters or toss them in the river,” said Bhide.
“We pulled 35 scooters out of the water. I think it was seven or eight e-Bikes,” said Allan Antolik, the Deputy Director for Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful.
Antolik thinks this is a better-planned system that should, and hopefully, reduce the number of scooters and bikes in the river.
“I think if they keep the parking spots where you have to put your scooters or your bikes away from the water, at least within a reasonable distance, there is less temptation for the bikes to be maliciously thrown back into the river, and I think there’ll be more accountability as well for the riders,” said Antolik.
The city also set up an interactive website where people can request locations where they feel corrals would be helpful.
