SAN ANTONIO — Tuesday, the San Antonio City Council Transportation Committee voted to temporarily cap new permits for dockless e-scooters until the completion of a 6-month pilot program.
Center City Development and Operations gave an update on the findings, issues presented and potential solutions formulated over the first three months of the pilot program. Among the findings were numbers showing 9500 dockless vehicle permits were issued and 1.2 million total rides were taken.
The CCDO presented proposals for dedicated parking zones for scooters and said that researchers found when lanes were put in place, scooter renters did use them.
Council members were split on their opinions about the scooter program so far.
“I’ve got enough data to tell you, I hate these things and there are enough of these out here,” said Councilmember Manny Pelaez. Councilman Pelaez noted that he has gotten extensive negative feedback and worries a focus on scooter enforcement could come at the expense of other crime enforcement. He did thank city staff for their work on the pilot program and affirmed they were doing everything asked of them.
Councilwoman Shirley Gonzales countered that the focus should be on working cooperatively with technology companies, especially those promoting multimodal forms of transportation.
All council members agreed that whatever happens next, there need to be comprehensive plans in place.
As the pilot program continues, the city will take more survey feedback from the community to determine the right courses of action to take moving forward. Most changes will be voted on February 14; only the moratorium was enacted through committee vote.