LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) – An electrical scooter community may quickly be a permanent fixture in Lincoln. The City is trying to take the construction that labored for a 15-month pilot program and make some enhancements and adjustments.
“We see this as a valid form of transportation for users,” mentioned Roberto Partida, a site visitors engineer with the City of Lincoln. “Not only that – there’s an environmental component to it. Twenty-one percent of users indicated that this replaced a vehicle trip.”
Lincoln Transportation and Utilities laid out its findings in a 75-page report. It was revealed greater than 25,000 individuals took simply over 91,000 rides. It additionally introduced in about $13,700 in rider charges for the City.
“We were proactive in putting together some rules and regulations to kind of structure how e-scooters could come into Lincoln,” Partida mentioned.
A majority of that pilot program was concentrated within the downtown space. The up to date model would work to broaden the place these scooters’ boundaries could be set. The thought is to hopefully create a extra environment friendly method to get out and in of the downtown space.
“Expanding it a little further south, so hitting more residential neighborhoods as well as further east – thinking the Telegraph District and over into the Malone Neighborhood,” Partida mentioned.
One of the most important issues opponents had of the scooters after they have been first proposed in 2019 was security. The report said there have been 4 complete medical requires accidents and about 150 complaints – primarily about parking.
“Safety is the top priority here with the city and recognizing that we utilized all available channels to really push out our educational material and communicate with potential and existing users the rules when operating an e-scooter and when parking an e-scooter,” Partida mentioned.
Another massive criticism was about sidewalk use. Legally, scooters are solely supposed to be on the street. The examine discovered 30% of the time individuals have been using on sidewalks. The City mentioned it desires to improve messaging about the precise method to journey.
LTU mentioned it can take a code change to broaden the program. The proposed ordinance is scheduled for a public listening to Monday, March 14 on the Lincoln City Council assembly.
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