Dockless Electric Scooters Opposed By Woodstock Council

WOODSTOCK, GA -- Members of the Woodstock City Council are a bit unsure of getting dockless scooters in the city.

The city will revisit the topic after staff drafts an ordinance.

Dakota Carruthers, process planner, gave a presentation at the April 8 council meeting. She said the dockless scooters would be parked on a sidewalk, curb or bike docking station. An app on smartphones give riders the ability to rent the scooters, ranging from $1 and 50 cents a minute. Helmets are not provided and parking would not be allowed on public pathways. There would be community members who get paid to pick up the scooters at night and set them back on chargers. Bird and Lime are the two most popular brands of scooters, and their speeds range from 15-20 mph.

Marietta has an ordinance that has banned the dockless devices, Carruthers said. Roswell is also considering a ban on the devices, too, and will come back in the next few weeks to decide. Alpharetta has not discussed the devices, but are considering temporarily banning them before starting a pilot program. The pilot program would pick various areas and companies to track chips on the scooters that provide data.

"They're able to see what location is best, if they're even being used and if they want to pursue it further," Carruthers said.

In Atlanta, she said officials have decided that scooters can not be driven on sidewalks, per Georgia law, or in bike lanes. Liability for the city, enforcement and parking regulations would all need to be figured out.

Data has showed 1,500 emergency visits since September 2017, and 300 of those were in Atlanta at Grady Hospital, she said.

Last month, a Woodstock man died in California after he was involved in a scooter crash. Christopher Conti, 53 of Woodstock, was riding on a sidewalk off around 10 p.m. on March 13 when he turned, lost control of the scooter and crashed into a tree, San Diego Police Sgt. Victoria Houseman told NEWS 8.

Councilman Colin Ake, who works in Atlanta and often sees the devices scattered along the sidewalk, said the scooters are "a nuisance" due to being left all over the place.

"I understand last mile transportation is something that’s usually important, and something we need to take care toward," Ake said. "But the fact that you can just grab one of these with an app with no helmet, and the app makes you say, 'yeah, I’m going to wear a helmet,' but the vast, vast, vast majority of people do not. It is leading to injuries and deaths, including people from Woodstock. I don’t know if they have a place here in Woodstock. We have limited sidewalk space.

Councilman David Potts said he was in Atlanta the past weekend and saw children riding the scooters without helmets and on sidewalks.

"Parents were riding and flying by," he said. "They were littering sidewalks and you could trip over them everywhere. It didn't look safe at all to me. I don't see why they're necessary in Woodstock. I'd rather not see them."