Alpharetta City Council Considering Ban On Dockless Scooters

ALPHARETTA, Ga. — The City of Alpharetta is considering banning the increasingly popular dockless scooters, citing safety and the possibility of the devices creating a nuisance.

At the May 20 City Council meeting, Alpharetta Administrator James Drinkard said local governments across the country are experiencing the increased integration of new technology

platforms into their transportation systems.

This was the first reading of the ordinance, so the officials will review the item again at a later date. If approved, this would amend the Code of the City of Alpharetta.

"One area where this growth is moving at a fast pace is the deployment of dockless shareable mobility devices, such as bikes, including electric assist, and electric scooters," he said. "While these devices may have some potential to assist in 'last mile' transportation, they can also pose risks to public safety, become hazards or block sidewalks, or even pose questions relative to personal privacy and data sharing."

Many of the major dockless scooter companies, including Lime and Bird, have a motive of introducing shareable dockless mobility devices into communities to simply place a large volume of them in a community without notice, betting that riders will encourage elected officials to change city infrastructure and enact regulations to ensure the devices become an essential part of transportation, Drinkard said.

"In every city on which the scooters have descended, city officials have been barraged with complaints about abandoned scooters in sidewalks, accidents, and 'near misses' with helmet-less riders on busy streets," he said.

As reported by media outlets earlier this year, Grady Memorial Hospital estimated it receives between 80 and 100 scooter-related injuries per month, ranging from serious head injuries to broken limbs, Drinkard said. Around the nation, it’s estimated there have been at least 1,500 injuries related to the scooters since 2017, according to a Consumer Reports magazine study published in February, he said. The magazine also found at least four scooter related fatalities were confirmed nationally. Data was compiled by the magazine after contacting 110 hospitals in 47 cities where the two biggest scooter companies, Bird and Lime, operate.

"While we want to encourage innovative strategies that help to improve transportation and mobility, it is essential that solutions be safe for users and the general public and not create a nuisance in the community," Drinkard said. "A growing body of evidence indicates that dockless shareable mobility devices, especially in the form of scooters, do not meet that threshold. For this reason, Staff has worked with the City Attorney to bring forward an ordinance that would establish a ban on dockless shareable mobility devices in the City of Alpharetta."

The city will offer a copy of the ordinance and make it available to the public in unstaffed, self-service locations.

In April, the City of Woodstock considered a similar ordinance after a Woodstock man died in California after he was involved in a scooter crash in March.