The City of Alexandria is allowing San Francisco-based Lime to kick off a dockless mobility pilot program in the city.
The pilot program is designed see whether dockless electric scooters and bicycles will work in Alexandria. Lime will be allowed to deploy up to 200 scooters and bikes in Alexandria, and apply for more if Lime is able to show a certain level of sustained usage.
Lime owns dockless electric scooters and electric (or electrically pedal-assisted) bikes that residents can unlock through a mobile app and ride around town.
Alexandria officials are asking residents not to ride e-scooters on sidewalks, but streets, bike lanes and trails riding is allowed. Electric bikes (e-assist bikes) can be ridden wherever other bicycles are allowed.
“Users will leave devices at appropriate locations in the public right-of-way (such as the edge of a sidewalk) and locate available devices through a website or mobile app,” city officials explained in a release. City officials note that residents should not use the scooters and bikes on city sidewalks and should obey traffic laws (including stop signs).
Lime is already operating in Washington, DC and in Arlington. Alexandria residents have noticed scooters migrating from those areas into Alexandria in the past year. If a scooter or bike is left on your private property or impedes pedestrian or vehicular traffic, move the device (if possible) and contact the company that owns the device.
The company does pay residents to pick up devices and charge them.
“The pilot program will evaluate the safety and popularity of dockless mobility devices and the overall performance of the participating companies, each of which is required to sign a Memorandum of Understanding outlining the City's requirements and expectations before operating within city limits,” according to city officials.
“The City’s evaluation will look at how and where the devices are used, company responsiveness, safety and other outcomes to determine if shared mobility devices will be permitted after the pilot program ends. The City will evaluate the pilot program throughout its nine-month duration, and will request community feedback.”
To provide feedback, go to survey.alexandriava.gov/s3/CommunityInputDocklessBike.
Learn more at www.li.me and at the City’s Dockless Mobility website.
