Port Aransas city council recently approved an ordinance banning rented motorized scooters in the city. The restriction will go into effect after two more votes.
Rented scooters are on the outs in Port Aransas. The city council recently approved, in the first of three necessary votes, an ordinance banning motorized scooter rentals. The 4-2 vote May 16 was recorded as Charles Crawford Jr., Beth Owens, Wendy Moore, and Joan Holt voting yes, while Bruce Clark and Mayor Charles Bujan voted no. Council member Beverly Bolner was not present.
Along with banning rented scooters, the ordinance regulates privately owned scooters as well. Riders with their own scooter equipment will not be allowed on sidewalks and no one under the age of 16 can ride them on a street. Also, any rider under the age of 18 must wear a helmet.
Motorized scooters that can be rented with an app on a smart phone have become popular as well as hated in several cities where they can be seen scattered by the dozens on sidewalks. Corpus Christi has struggled with regulating scooters to keep city rights of way clear and to promote rider and pedestrian safety.
Corpus Christi city council approved an ordinance regulating scooters on a trial basis in January. Since then one of several companies providing scooters there has left the city. The six-month pilot program is coming to an end in June. The council has not yet addressed whether that program will be extended.
One company in the scooter industry made an effort to keep the Port Aransas market open. Blue Duck Scooters of San Antonio sent a representative to the meeting to address the issue of sidewalk obstruction and safety. Blue Duck vice president and chief communications officer Elizabeth Houston suggested staging the scooters at existing businesses rather than placing them randomly on sidewalks as most companies do.
“Done smart, safe, and sustainably with the right partner, we think it can be a really beautiful tool for helping people get from Point A to Point B,” she told the council.
The 4-2 vote indicates at least two council members were in favor of allowing rented scooters. Mayor Bujan, however, said he voted against the ordinance because it did not also ban the use of personal scooters.
