By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
City Council members took steps Monday to be sure Bowling Green gained’t be overpopulated by electrical scooters and different “micro-mobility” automobiles.
The Community Improvement Committee of City Council met to talk about proposed amendments to the town’s proposed legislation for e-scooters. The suggestions of the committee will go earlier than City Council at its Aug. 15 assembly, when the e-scooter legislation comes off the desk.
The committee – made up of Joel O’Dorisio, Jeff Dennis and Bill Herald – mentioned three doable amendments to legislation:
- They authorized increasing the definition of “micro-mobility devices” to embrace bicycles, electrical bicycles, scooters and electrical scooters distributed by firms all through the town to be rented per journey.
- They agreed with City Attorney Mike Marsh that any knowledge reporting necessities from micro-mobility firms be addressed in the allow course of. The sort of information required may embrace: Users by gender and age; variety of automobiles in circulation; day by day, weekly and month-to-month energetic customers; small car utilization together with consumer miles and period of rides; warmth maps exhibiting routes, traits, origins and locations; buyer feedback and complaints; and reported collisions.
- They voted to set up fleet measurement necessities that set a most variety of scooters and bicycles per enterprise.
The committee prompt that every micro-mobility enterprise working in the town be restricted to 100 scooters, 100 bicycles, or 150 for a mixture of scooters and bikes. They additionally voted to set a most fleet of 500 items in the town.
“I would worry about having more than 500 of these on the streets,” Dennis stated.
Herald prompt it’d make sense to let the market set the bounds.
However, O’Dorosio stated it’s essential {that a} stability be struck for the neighborhood.
“There’s already going to be conflicts with traffic,” O’Dorisio stated.
The native legislation permits the town to make particular guidelines for Bowling Green. The state of Ohio has handed legislation permitting using electrical scooters and authorizing native jurisdictions to go further laws as they see match – in any other case the state legislation governs.
City workers has studied the Bowling Green State University coverage on e-scooters, in addition to legislation adopted in different Ohio cities. The objective is “to ensure that such mobility sharing systems are consistent with the safety and well-being of the citizens of Bowling Green.”
Electric scooters can be thought of vehicular site visitors – like automobiles and bicycles – which aren’t to be operated on sidewalks. The exceptions will enable the scooters to be parked on sidewalks, and can enable them to be operated on sidewalks permitted at BGSU.
The legislation requires that the scooters include a ahead pointed lamp, a again reflector, and lists the next working guidelines:
- Cannot be operated on sidewalks, besides as permitted by BGSU.
- Cannot be operated on streets or highways with pace limits increased than 35 mph.
- Cannot exceed 20 mph.
- Riders should be not less than 18 years previous.
Based on experiences in different communities, Bowling Green’s legislation establishes parking laws in order that the scooters don’t impede ADA accessibility.
Following are some provisions of the proposed e-scooter ordinance:
- Any enterprise in search of to function a shared electrical scooter program inside the metropolis shall first enter into an settlement with the town.
- Providers shall present simply seen contact data, together with toll-free cellphone quantity and electronic mail deal with on every scooter for metropolis workers and the general public to report issues.
- The metropolis reserves the fitting to terminate the “use agreement” for trigger or woefully negligent practices.
- Providers will take cheap steps to be certain that all riders perceive the necessities of ADA accessibility and the significance of leaving ADA paths of journey clear and accessible.
- Providers may stage e-scooters in permitted parking areas. If a supplier desires to stage in areas apart from the general public right-of-way, permission should be obtained from the town, property proprietor or public company.
- Providers should adhere to all indemnification and insurance coverage necessities.
The ordinance additionally outlines some restrictions for working the e-scooters.
- No multiple rider can be allowed at a time.
- Riders should not carry objects that require each arms.
- The scooters may be operated on shared bicycle/pedestrian methods, together with on shared pathways in public parks and streets. Anyone using an e-scooter on a bicycle/pedestrian pathway, and is approaching a pedestrian, ought to give an audible warning and yield to the pedestrian – dismounting if vital.
- E-scooters are to keep on the fitting of avenue lanes, and provide the fitting of method to bicycles in bike lanes.
Parking necessities:
- Riders of e-scooters ought to park the gadgets upright on exhausting surfaces on the curb of the sidewalk, beside a motorbike rack, or in one other space particularly designated for bicycle parking, or on the road subsequent to an unmarked curb.
- Riders mustn’t park scooters in such a way as to block the pedestrian clear zone space of the sidewalk, or ADA paths of journey.
- Riders mustn’t park the scooters the place they intervene with the cheap use of a industrial window show, or entry to any constructing entrance.
- Riders may park e-scooters in on-street parking areas in the next circumstances – when designated for scooters, the place the curb is lower than 3 toes vast, in neighborhoods with rolled curbs or insufficient sidewalk house, and in marked parking areas designated for bikes.