Alexandria Living Magazine
A Bolt scooter sits on a sidewalk in Alexandria.
It is likely the city’s scooter program will continue past September, according to a mid-pilot program update provided July 23 to the Alexandria City Council, but changes to the program are in the works.
City officials are working to put in place scooter "corrals" to help manage parking of the dockless mobility devices. Those corrals will not affect vehicle parking and will be placed in 10 locations in high-use areas (such as King Street in Old Town Alexandria). City officials are also working with vendors to use technology to “geofence” areas where riding or parking is not allowed.
Legislation passed at the state level allows scooters to be used on sidewalks and in crosswalks effective Jan. 1, 2020 – unless City officials pass an ordinance preventing sidewalk riding. For now, it is not legal to ride scooters on sidewalks in Alexandria.
“In upcoming months, staff will be collecting additional data, requesting more community input, researching programs in other cities, and coordinating with regional counterparts in order to compile a Dockless Mobility Pilot Program Report and provide a recommendation to City Council for future management of shared mobility devices (SMDs) in the City,” the staff report noted in its report to City Council this month.
The City Council approved the Dockless Mobility Pilot program in November 2018. Lime was the first company to sign on, launching the pilot program in Alexandria in January. There are now seven separate companies — Lime, Lyft, Jump, Bird, Bolt, Skip, and Spin — operating dockless mobility (primarily scooter) programs in the City of Alexandria.
The pilot program going on now is designed to get feedback from residents and commuters, evaluate companies, assess safety and more. The pilot program ends Sept. 30, unless the Director of Transportation & Environmental Services extends a company’s permit while staff continues to evaluate the program. That is likely to happen, to prevent a gap in service between the end of the pilot program and the start of regular, regulated usage in Alexandria.
Generally, the permitted companies place dockless scooters throughout the City, helping commuters get places faster. Every night, most scooter companies round up their devices for charging, maintenance and replacement. In addition, the operating companies must respond to parking and other complaints within 2 hours.
Each company is allowed to place up to 200 devices in the City of Alexandria, so there should be no more than 1,400 scooters in the City at any one time. (None of the companies has 200 scooters in Alexandria yet.)
Through the end of May, the most recent month of data available, there were 18,050 registered device users in Alexandria – but it is not clear how many of those are residents, tourists or people who live elsewhere in the D.C. metro area. Scooters are popular in the District and in Arlington, and before Alexandria's own pilot program, users in those jurisdictions were riding scooters across city lines.
From January through the end of May, device users had made 101,515 trips starting or ending in Alexandria (or an average 5.6 rides per registered user). Average trips are less than one mile and last 10 to 15 minutes. Ridership is variable depending on weather, time of day and day of the week.
Injuries, Crashes and Comments
There have only been two reported crashes and seven reported injuries since the program started in January. However, residents have reported 97 parking issues and 324 “other” issues to the operating companies.
City staff has received more than 800 comments from residents. In addition to concerns about scooter parking, a top theme among comments from residents has been safety for pedestrians, people with disabilities, the elderly and drivers, City staff reported. Residents are also telling City staff they are concerned about visual clutter, asking questions about laws and giving other feedback.
Supportive comments from residents are plentiful. According to City staff, residents love the additional option for transportation, people are happy to see scooters readily available and riders believe they are reducing congestion while having fun on their commute.
Less supportive comments focused on scooter placement. Scooters may be parked on sidewalks as long as they do not block walkways, entrances, ramps or other access. There have been some reports of vandalism to scooters, and some have ended up in Dumpsters. Residents have also reported scooters running stop signs or red lights, illegal usage on sidewalks and underage riding (per City agreements with operating companies, riders must be 18 or older in Alexandria).
Alexandria police have stopped 138 riders to warn them and educate them about safety, and police have issued six citations. In addition, the City has used social media, as well as a variety of message boards and community events to educate residents and riders, responded to comments from residents, straightened or moved scooters and more.
New Legislation
Virginia legislators passed a variety of new laws regarding electric scooters; those took effect July 1. Scooters are limited to traveling at no more than 20 miles per hour. Scooter users must use hand signals to indicate turning and they should ride as far to the right as possible. Also, scooters cannot be parked in a manner that impedes pedestrian or other traffic.
Starting January 1, 2020, scooters will be allowed to operate on sidewalks and in crosswalks, unless a locality passes an ordinance stating otherwise. In addition, scooters will be available and legal across the entire Commonwealth without restriction, unless local legislation prevents it.
Other Virginia legislation related to scooters limits the devices to less than 100 lbs. each and provides local governments the right to regulate local usage of scooters.
City of Alexandria staff is working on revisions to the memorandums of understanding with the scooter companies to reflect suggestion and requests from residents, riders and officials.
