OUR OPINION: Let’s find a balance with scooters

To ride a scooter, the rider must maintain a sense of balance and an awareness of his or her surroundings.

Serving on the Jefferson City Council requires the same skills.

As the council prepares to consider ending a contract with its scooter vendor, it would be prudent for council members to maintain that same sense of balance and an awareness of how the scooters are used and what transportation voids they currently fill.

Reasoning that the city's relationship with the scooter service should be severed because it might create an enforcement burden on the police force or on the scooter service itself is wobbly at best. Using that standard to determine how the city operates would have us suspending enforcement of speed limits, parking zones or other pesky traffic nuisances because some violate the city's rules of operation.

And it's foolhardy to believe that removing one company's fleet of scooters will somehow solve the problem of users flouting the rules of the road. Privately owned scooters, bicycles and skateboards present the same issues.

The City Council will vote June 5 whether to end the contract it currently has with the scooter company. Before ending the contract, how about just using provisions of the contract to enforce the city's interests.

The contract has some teeth in it. For instance, the city has the authority to pick up and charge the scooter company for improperly parked scooters. The city could fine riders who were ignoring traffic laws, and it could define areas where the scooters can operate with signage or within the operational parameters of the scooters' app.

Councilman Mark Schwartz, who is proposing the change, said it's only a matter of time before somebody is seriously injured on a scooter, and he said it's in the council's best interest to terminate the license agreement.

There are currently no records of any major scooter crashes in Jefferson City, and Schwartz concedes he's never seen or heard of anybody hurt yet.

According to the license agreement, the scooter company is solely responsible for the scooters and is expected to not only comply with but also to enforce the rules as stated.

City Attorney Ryan Moehlman said the city would not be liable for injuries that could occur by use of the company's scooter.

The app also encourages users to wear a helmet, follow traffic rules and use caution at sidewalks. A user must be 18 years old or older to ride the scooters. Between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m., the scooters are inactive.

The city does not put any money toward the scooters, nor does it pay the scooter company. The city does, however, receive 25 cents for each use. In the 2022 fiscal year, scooter revenue totaled $3,308, which was allocated to the city's general fund for general expenditures.

Rather than discontinuing the contract, the council just needs to use the provisions of the contract better.

The scooters do serve a vital transportation service to parts of the community.

Previously, city officials and residents have said so, noting the scooters helped to address shortfalls in the city's transit system.

For instance, back in February, driver shortages caused the city to adjust all of its fixed bus routes. The city's six-route system was adjusted to an alternating route system until April, when the Orange and Black routes returned.

Transit users have also noted the buses do not run after 6 p.m., and the scooters were being used to help provide transportation services during those down times of the bus system.

The license agreement was approved by the council in June 2021 as part of the Shared Active Transportation Operation. At the time, the council was looking for low-cost transportation options. The agreement was supposed to be renegotiated in three years, but Schwartz said there are several sections that allow for the city to end the contract sooner.

On multiple fronts, the city has been attempting to craft "active transportation" plans designed to increase walkability, accessibility, connectivity and transportation alternatives for residents in Mid-Missouri. The effort is designed to help improve the health of the community, as well as offer lower-cost transportation alternatives for residents who may not be able to afford a car.

For some on the council, there may be a perception that there are "bigger fish to fry" than transportation alternatives like scooters. But for some in this city, scooters help solve a "whale of a problem" when it comes to transportation.

-- News Tribune

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