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Electric scooters are finally about to roll down the City Center.
A few weeks after beginning its six-month pilot program to test shared active transportation vehicles or SATVs, the city has reached an agreement with The Collective We, LLC, to deploy about 30 total scooters around a roughly four-square-mile area.
“I’m interested to see how that goes,” said District 3 Councilman Patrick Duffy. “I don’t think we’re ready for something like this. I don’t think we’re big enough yet. But it’s a pilot program, so let’s see.”
The City Council voted 5-2 Dec. 3 to accept The Collective We’s application.
Mayor Skip Hall and District 4 Councilman Ken Remley were the two dissenting voices on the Council.
The city can terminate the agreement at any time.
“If at any time they fall out of compliance, we have a provision in the agreement to terminate the agreement,” City Attorney Robert Wingo told the Council.
The deal with The Collective We makes it the first company to operate under the pilot program, which the Council voted to accept in late October
The pilot program will include the next spring training schedule in February and March and run through April 28.
As soon as a notice to proceed is issued from city staff, residents will start seeing the scooters in packs of no more than five, mostly in the City Center. (The notice hadn’t been issued at press time.)
“I think it’s important to be friendly to small businesses,” District 6 Councilman Chris Judd said.
The Collective We has a series of restrictions to deal with.
SATVs cannot block access to bicycle racks or entryways of commercial establishments
SATVs must be deployed upright, in groups of no more than five — with a required 300 feet spacing in-between each deployment group.
A maximum capacity of 100 SATVs total cannot be exceeded by all vendors.
The hours of operation are daily from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. Vendors are required to pick up their SATV fleet every night.
Only one rider is permitted per SATV, and each riders must be at least 18.
Speed limits for SATVs are set at 20 mph for e-bicycles and 12 mph for e-scooters.
SATVs must be outfitted with reflectors and lights and must be ridden on the street or in bike lanes.
They can’t be ridden when utilizing a crosswalk, and SATV riders must yield to pedestrians and pass on the left.
Editor’s Note: Jason Stone can be reached at jstone@newszap.com or on Twitter at @thestonecave. Visit yourvalley.net.
Former NAU Lumberjack who loves going to concerts (or I did), watching sports (or I did) and hanging out with friends (oh, never mind). I also enjoy backgammon, surfing and men who are not afraid to cry.
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