Transportation Committee passes micromobility ordinance to full Council
Last year, the Birmingham City Council passed a resolution in support of Senate Bill 312. The bill was signed into law on May 30 and opened the door for municipalities to regulate micromobility services, such as scooters, bikes and other similar devices.
On January 30, the Council’s Transportation Committee voted to recommend a proposed micromobility ordinance to the full Council for approval.
According to Councilor Darrell O’Quinn, who chairs the Transportation Committee, prior to the bill’s passage, cities in Alabama faced major hurdles when it came to regulating companies that were deploying their equipment onto city streets. This ordinance provides a clear permitting process for companies that wish to introduce shared micromobility device systems in the city.
“The proposed ordinance will set in place things like how many vendors will be allowed to operate in the city and how many vehicles each vendor can have on the street,” O’Quinn said. “It will also codify regulations, like scooters should not be operated on the sidewalk. It will also allow for geofencing — that will restrict use of those vehicles in places like parks or where we don’t want to have a conflict with pedestrians.”
In 2018, more than twice as many trips — 84 million — were taken on shared micromobility in the U.S. as compared to the year before, according to the National Association of Transportation Officials.
The enabling state legislation — SB 312 — defines a shared micromobility device as, “a type of transportation device that includes a bicycle, tricycle, scooter, hoverboard, skateboard, pedal car, or similar device (except a device used as an electrical personal assistive mobility device by a person with disabilities) used in a system that provides such devices to users for short-term rentals, whether or not the system requires docking stations or other similar fixed infrastructure to receive or return the device.”
Birmingham led the way on micromobility by introducing North America’s first electric pedal-assist bicycles in the Zyp Bikeshare system in 2015. This public-private partnership has proven that there is demand for a shared-use system with over 218K rides and 252K miles traveled to date. However, Zyp’s contract expired on December 31, 2019, meaning residents no longer have that as a transportation option.
Councilor John Hilliard, who chairs the Economic Development Committee, has been a major voice for the implementation of shared micromobility in Birmingham. “We need to be on the cutting edge of this technology,” Hilliard said. “We have to look at all the ways in which we can provide affordable and reliable transportation options to our residents. When I travel to other cities, I will often utilize services like this, so not only is it beneficial to residents, but also people visiting from around the world. I believe it will be a big boost for the local economy with more people being able to get around.”
Birmingham is shifting to a competitive, market-driven approach that can take full advantage of this rapidly innovating industry.
“Since 2010, people have taken 207 million trips on shared bikes and e-scooters,” according to the National Association of Transportation Officials. “In 2018, e-scooters overtook bikes as the preferred vehicle for dockless vendors. As of the end of 2018, over 85,000 e-scooters were available for public use in about 100 U.S. cities.”
Over the last year, representatives with various micromobility companies have presented to the Transportation Committee, and helped work with city officials on drafting the new ordinance.
“This is something we want to make available as a mobility option for our residents,” O’Quinn said. “Getting around in Birmingham is a challenge for a lot of people. It’s important that we have this option be available to not only people who live here, but also people who are visiting. Having said that, we need to make sure this happens in a responsible way and that we avoid some of the pitfalls other cities across the country have experienced. I believe this ordinance does just that.”
Some of those issues include e-scooters crowding city sidewalks because too many vendors have saturated the market, O’Quinn explained. “We want to codify what our expectations are. This has been a long process, but that is because we want to make sure we get it right.”
The ordinance will come before the full Council at the February 11, 2020 meeting.
