Reacting to the City Council\u2019s recent unanimous decision favoring new regulations for electric scooters and other shared-mobility devices, most La Jollans surveyed feel the new rules don\u2019t go far enough.
\n“They need to be banned from \u2018all\u2019 sidewalks and no one under 18 ever, and helmets required at all times,” argued La Jolla Shores Association president Janie Emerson, speaking for herself. “They can only be left in designated parking areas, otherwise they should be ticketed or impounded within six hours.”
\n“You cannot put the genie back into the lamp, or the ship back into the bottle,” lamented community parks planner Sally Miller about scooters adding, “I have been helping La Jolla to fight\u00a0clutter and vendors on our streets, on our sidewalks and in our parks for more than 30 years. Each one of these bikes and scooters \u2018is\u2019 clutter and \u2018are\u2019 vendors.”
\nRegulations the City Council approved April 23 decrease the allowable speed of dockless scooters from 15 to 8 mph in high-traffic areas with geofencing technology, while banning them from parking near hospitals, schools, boardwalks and Petco Park.
\nGreg Block of the mayor\u2019s office testified scooters and similar devices are to be regulated in six ways: by being permitted, limiting their speeds, paying fees, parking in designated “corrals,” indemnifying the City against liability and sharing data.\u00a0
\nEmerson added license fees for scooter companies “should be equal to or more than Requests For Proposals (RFPs) for bike and kayak companies.”\u00a0
\nMiller decried the continuing proliferation of scooters.
\n“All these\u00a0 new companies could care less \u2026 all they want is the money in \u2018their\u2019 pockets. \u2026 there is \u2018not\u2019 one new regulation that can or will be enforced \u2026 the bikes, scooters and Segways are now illegally on the Fay Avenue extension [bike path]. \u2026 the only way to protect the PB boardwalk is a total ban. \u2026 Do we have to wait for more deaths to wake up?”
\n“Good start,” was the reaction of Dave Abrams, chair of La Jolla Traffic and Transportation Board speaking for himself on new scooter regulations. Noting it was his understanding that scooters are still allowed on PB\/Mission Beach Boardwalk, Abrams said, “That\u2019s a mistake. They also should require helmets. Bizarre that the state passed legislation saying it was okay to go without (helmets).”
\n“They (regulations) are extensive and, perhaps, overly ambitious,” contended La Jollan Nancy Linck.\u00a0“Can they be enforced?\u00a0 We have too many laws that are not enforced.\u00a0\u2026 Another concern I have is cost.\u00a0 What will SD taxpayers have to pay to enforce the regs, if anything?\u00a0 Will the $150\/year\/scooter fee pay for them?\u00a0 Will the fee force the operators out of business before they make sufficient money to finance their businesses and pay such fees?”
\nIn excerpts from a statement she released following the April 23 scooter regulation vote, District 1 Councilmember and President Pro Tem Barbara Bry said: “Since public safety is the number one responsibility of local government, our community expects us to pass responsible regulations. \u2026 I share the frustrations of residents. It should not have taken us a year to pass an ordinance that still needs work. \u2026 I had supported an emergency ban of electric scooters on our local boardwalks. \u2026Since then, the situation has gotten even more chaotic and unsafe. \u2026 I remain committed to a ban. \u2026In the meantime, we asked that boardwalks be included on the 3 mph geofencing list. \u2026 This was an overdue step in the right direction. \u2026 It was, however, only the first step.”
\nOn April 23, the council also instituted fees for scooter operators, decreased allowed speeds for them and designated where they can \u2014 and can\u2019t \u2014 park. KEY COMPONENTS OF NEW SCOOTER RULES \u00b7Speed limits:\u00a0In specific geofenced areas, operators will slow scooters to 8 mph. Three of the those areas are pedestrian-only and operators will slow scooters to 3 mph with a push message notifying riders to leave that area.
\n\u00b7Geofencing will be in effect for beach-area boardwalks, Balboa Park, NTC Park, Mission Bay Park, Petco Park and the pedestrian-only locations, including North\/South Embarcadero, MLK Jr. Promenade, and La Piazza della Famiglia.
\n\u00b7Staging: Operators will no longer be able to stage scooters and e-bikes on sidewalks in downtown. The City has identified \u2013 and is currently installing \u2013 330 on-street dockless parking corrals throughout downtown where staging is allowed.
\n\u00b7In the beach areas, operators are only permitted to stage in groups of up to four, with 40 feet in between each group. The City will identify corral locations in the beach areas and, once installed, will require their use.The City also will conduct an evaluation of locations throughout San Diego where designated parking corrals would be beneficial and, working with the City Council and communities, install more.
\n\u00b7Rider parking: Operators will prohibit riders from ending a ride in specific geofenced areas, including beach area boardwalks.
\n\u00b7Education: Consistent messages about local and state laws in smartphone applications will be required. As will on-device labeling about age requirements and how riding on the sidewalk is illegal.
\n\u00b7Per device fee:\u00a0A per device fee of $150 annually will be assessed. A reduction of $15 per device will be offered for operators offering a qualified equity program.
\n\u00b7Equity programs may include discounts, equitable distribution, credit-card free unlock or mobile-device free unlock.
\n\u00b7Data sharing:\u00a0A variety of data will be shared about ridership, parking, paths of travel and more to assist the City in transportation planning, Climate Action Plan reporting and enforcement.
\n\u00b7Indemnification\/insurance:\u00a0Operators will be required to indemnify the City from liability and to hold a $2 million per occurrence, $4 million aggregate and $4 million umbrella insurance policy.
\n\u00b7Performance bond:\u00a0Each operator will be required to pay a “Safety Deposit” \u2013 $65 for each device in fleet \u2013 to be held in the event the company leaves the market without its devices.\u00a0
\nThe ordinance will charge dockless companies an annual $150 per-device fee. The City noted that should act as a de facto cap on scooter numbers.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Reacting to the City Council\u2019s recent unanimous decision favoring new regulations for electric scooters and other shared-mobility devices, most La Jollans surveyed feel the new rules don\u2019t go far enough. “They need to be banned from \u2018all\u2019 sidewalks and no one under 18 ever, and helmets required at all times,” argued La Jolla Shores Association […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":281593,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11560","_seopress_titles_title":"La Jollans want stricter rules for scooters, bikes","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11560,11551],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-281592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-la-jolla-village-news","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281592\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}