Electric scooters are coming to Lexington and UK. Is the city prepared?

The city of Lexington is racing to put regulations in place before electric scooters hit city streets possibly as early as July 1.

The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council voted Tuesday to move forward with an ordinance that requires scooter companies to be licensed, sets restrictions on where scooters can go and levies fines for companies that don’t comply.

The first reading on the proposed ordinance governing all shared mobility vehicles such as electric scooters and bikes and pedal bikes will be Thursday. A final vote is scheduled June 20.

The city currently has a pilot program with Spin for dockless pedal bikes, which launched in June 2018. The bikes can be rented and unlocked using an app on most smart phones. Electric scooters operate the same way.

That pilot program, which restricts all shared-mobility vehicles to Spin, expires July 1.

Scott Thompson, a transportation planner with the Metropolitan Planning Organization, urged the council Tuesday to approve the ordinance before July 1. Without the ordinance in place, companies could drop electric scooters on Lexington streets — which has happened in other cities — and the city would have no say or oversight.

Thompson and others have been working for more than a year on the proposed ordinance governing all shared-use mobility devices —rent-by-the-hour pedal and electric bikes and electric scooters.

During the Tuesday work session, the council made some additional changes to the proposed ordinance that was passed out of a council committee last month. The proposed ordinance would allow up to five companies to operate in Lexington. The companies would at first be limited to 400 total vehicles. Pedal bikes would not be counted in a company’s total cap. That change was made to encourage companies to provide pedal bikes, which are less popular and less profitable than electric scooters or electric bikes.

Spin, for example, has told Lexington it would remove the pedal bikes after July 1.

Shared-used companies would have to pay a $5,000 annual permit and pay a 25 cent per-trip fee to the city. The companies would have to provide areas where scooters and bikes must be parked. Each company must also have a plan to redistribute bikes and scooters and must have a local manager.

Changes the council made Tuesday include fining companies $500 if a scooter or bike is left in the right of way for two hours and is not moved. The 25 cent per-trip fee would also not apply to pedal bikes to encourage the companies to provide bikes. Instead of giving the University of Kentucky half of the 25 cent per-trip fee as originally proposed, the city would split the fee with UK if the trip was on or around campus.

Many of the trips generated by Spin bikes are in and around UK. Splitting the per-trip fee with UK was done to help pay for UK’s administrative and enforcement costs, Thompson said.

The city of Lexington is currently negotiating with Lexpark, the parking authority, to enforce portions of the ordinance. Lexington Police can also enforce the ordinance under a change made Tuesday.

Under the proposed ordinance, electric scooters could not operate on sidewalks. They can be used in bike lanes and on shared-use paths, the ordinance says. No company without a permit can operate in Lexington.

The speed limit for scooters is 15 miles per hour. Kentucky does not have a helmet law for motorcyclists or bicyclists. That means people aren’t required to use helmets on electric scooters.

City officials have previously said the 25 cent per trip fee could be used to pay for a public education campaign to encourage helmet use on scooters.

Still, a few on council were hesitant to pass the ordinance as other cities across the country have considered bans. The mayor of Nashville gave its nine scooter companies an ultimatum last month — either propose changes to the current city ordinance to make enforcement easier or he would ask the Nashville Metro Council to ban them outright.

In addition to enforcement head aches, accidents on electric scooters have caused deaths in some cities including one in Nashville in May.

“I am opposed to these and I am trying to understand why we are in such a rush,” said Councilwoman Kathy Plomin. “It seems like this is kind of half baked.”

Plomin and Councilman Bill Farmer Jr. were the only two council members Tuesday to vote against moving the ordinance to the council’s agenda for a final vote.

Other council members said they have reservations about electric scooters but felt the city had to pass the ordinance to stop rogue electric scooters companies from coming to Lexington this summer with no regulations in place.

“I’m so opposed to these things but I think we need to move forward today because it is a timely (issue),” said Councilwoman Susan Lamb.