SAN ANTONIO – With the increase of dockless scooters in San Antonio, a City Council member is proposing a new framework to the current six-month pilot program.
District 1 City Councilman Roberto Trevino said the purpose of his new framework is for the sake of pedestrian safety and mobility.
"I want these scooters to co-exist with what we already have," Trevino said. "For sidewalks, handicap ramps and building accessibility, we need to create something that would put safety and mobility at the forefront."
Trevino said one of his key ideas is to create a parking zone for the scooters.
"If we provide enough space for these scooters, it would clear up the clutter on the sidewalks," Trevino said. "We have the responsibility as a city to create parking spots for vehicles, and so places for bikes. Scooters are the same concept."
Trevino said a pedestrian mobility officer is also in the budget for next year.
"It is going to do a lot to help us understand this from a professional, from people who have studied this and can advise us on the best way for this to exist," Trevino said.
Trevino said he feels the new framework should be considered as soon as possible even though the pilot program is only at the halfway point.
"Currently we have about 6,000 scooters in the city, and we are getting 4,000 (more)," Trevino said. "I think if we do the new framework now, if we provide a framework during the pilot program and we have that report, we can study that data."
Trevino said the city is also utilizing several resources to study and make sure the rules are being enforced.
"We work a lot with Center of City Development and Code Enforcement, but we also have the 311 SA App, where residents can go on there and take pictures of a violation they have seen and report it to us," he said. "We need sidewalks and the scooters to be a subject line on that app, because then we will be better at hearing what the community wants. We can take the data they put in, learn from it compile and share it with scooter companies who are willing to work with this new framework."
Trevino said the concept of the program is not to punish people, but to get them better educated on taking care of technology as well as the historic aspect of the city.
"If we can start with some changes now, it will help with protecting our existing infrastructure or resources, so we are not taking away from other resource or in this case pedestrian mobility to make room for a new product," Trevino said.
