TAMPA, Fla. — The City of Tampa has released its report on electric scooters for the past two months that shows that riders went into ‘no ride zones’ around 1,150 times.
The city looked into Tampa’s e-scooter pilot program that they started six months ago, and found that riders are going into those prohibited zones on Bayshore Boulevard, the Riverwalk, and 7th Avenue.
The two month study into September and October found the company Lime had the most violations with more than 400 in that time frame.
Riders we spoke with near Tampa’s Riverwalk said the rules are vague, and not clear enough, “it’s not clearly marked,” said Andrew Beyer. “There’s a no riding zone over there, but there’s no signs, so you get notifications on your phone that say you’re now in a riding zone."
We found there are signs on Tampa’s Riverwalk that say no skateboards, but they don’t indicate anything about electric scooters.
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When riders activate a scooter, they are given rules and guidelines that state where they can go.
The report also found riders travel an average distance of 1.16 miles per trip around downtown Tampa, with the average time around 15.25 minutes.
A spokesperson for the company Lime, said since the report finished through October, they’ve been working on rider safety.
They say they could have higher numbers because their scooters do not fully brake when entering a no-ride zone, but slow down dramatically to three miles per hour.
The company said in an email, they’re focused on no-ride zones,
"We're laser-focused on improving our operations and technology to keep scooters out of no-ride zones. In Tampa, these numbers are already trending downward, but we'll continue to be vigilant and encourage riders to only use scooters in appropriate areas."
