Scooters Are Back in Big D. Is That a Good Thing?

Electric scooters had a rough go in Dallas following their 2018 introduction. The “micro-mobility” options pissed off plenty and led to a spike in hospitalizations.

So in 2020, the two-wheeled vehicles were yanked from the streets. Critics pointed to cluttered sidewalks and argued that the devices posed serious public safety concerns.

Well, now the e-scooters are back, baby — with proponents hoping they’re here to stay.

Dallas’ Shared Dockless Vehicle Program officially returned on May 31 following a soft launch the week before. This time around, local leaders have updated restrictions and rules for a (hopefully) improved experience.

But while some commuters have anxiously awaited the e-scooters’ revival, not everyone is a fan.

On May 31, then-Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Omar Narvaez discussed local scooter history during the program’s official relaunch.

“It was pretty scary. We had scooters all over the place,” he told reporters, according to KERA. “They looked like litter, and they were in trees. They were cut in half. They were thrown in rivers. And that was a problem.”

Still, some research indicates that certain residents want them back.

Nearly 40% of respondents who took a Downtown Dallas Inc., survey last summer said they prefer to scooter, bike or walk around downtown, said Jennifer Scripps, DDI’s president and CEO. That number represents a 21% increase compared to a survey conducted four years earlier.

DDI hopes that the e-powered wheels will stay for good.

“They are a much-needed transportation alternative within our thriving Downtown community,” Scripps told the Observer via email.

Yet naysayers have noted that scooters present a safety hazard.

From 2014 to 2018, e-scooter-related hospital admissions for people ages 18 to 34 spiked by 354%, according to one JAMA Surgery study. And Baylor Scott & White counted $1.4 million in hospital costs associated with the devices, WFAA reported in 2019.

“[I]f they're trying to provide a simple mobility solution for adults, they're failing miserably.” – Dan Murry, co-owner of Ruins

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Scripps said DDI worked in tandem with the city on revised rental regulations that are aimed at protecting pedestrians and riders alike. There are fewer scooters on the streets this time around, too.

The program’s rules include:

• Only three companies — Lime, Bird and Superpedestrian — can operate in Dallas.
• Certain areas, including some public spaces and parks, are considered no-ride and slow zones.
• The hours of operation for e-scooters run from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m.
• Dallas riders face a 20-mph speed limit and must be at least 16 years old.
• E-scooters and e-bikes have to be parked properly, such as in designated corrals.

DDI’s field operations team has counted a few dozen recent cases in which paths or streets were blocked by scooters, Scripps said. As of last week, fewer than a dozen reports had been made about sidewalk-riding-or-parking on DDI’s See Say app.

Scripps urges folks to flag concerns related to the Central Business District via the app or through Dallas 311.

So far, there haven’t been “anywhere near” as many issues with the e-scooters and e-bikes downtown, Scripps said. However, a pressing challenge remains: Some riders are driving the scooters on sidewalks.

That's both illegal and a major safety risk for walkers.

“We hope that with time, continued public education, and improved GPS features that limit riding in certain areas, more riders will move to the streets,” Scripps said.

But the way Dan Murry sees it, e-scooters are more of a nuisance than a boon. As the co-owner of Ruins, a Deep Ellum club and restaurant, he views the program’s first iteration as an “unmitigated disaster.”

He noticed mostly younger kids joy-riding for fun, often on sidewalks.

“If the … goal was to provide electronic playthings for children, then they're succeeding very well,” said Murry, who also co-owns Armoury D.E. “But if they're trying to provide a simple mobility solution for adults, they're failing miserably.”

The last time scooters were around, they littered the area with “electronic trash,” Murry said. To him, it seemed that they weren’t often used by people looking to patronize local businesses.

Dallas already isn’t exactly pedestrian-friendly, he added, and the slower-moving scooters don’t gel well with two-ton cars on roads.

To Murry, it seems that the number of scooters dropped off around the city isn’t as high as before, particularly in Deep Ellum. When they’re left in such an entertainment district, there’s a “decent chance” that the rider has been drinking. It’s still a DUI if you get pulled over on a scooter, he said, adding he’s unsure what the “rationale behind this whole concept is.”

Murry isn’t confident that the e-scooters are here to stay, even with the new rules.

“I obviously can't see the future, so I don't really know. But I hope that it becomes another failed experiment,” he said. “And hopefully they pull the plug on it before it's just a complete disaster.”