Category Archives: bicycle

Lege TREND. Bill Promotes EVs & Helps Ride Share.

California’s SB 1014 (CA | 2018) would credit Ride Share use of Electric Vehicles, including the use of bikes and scooters through ride share apps.

Ride share comapnies would be encouraged to invest in and encourage bike share and scooter share programs.

Here’s California PUC’s white paper on increasing EV use.

StreetsBlogCAL | Bill to Increase Use of Zero-Emission Vehicles Could Credit Uber, Lyft for Bike Miles

Local TREND. City ordinance Kills Dockless Bikes with this language

City: Chicago

The ordinance that shut down dockless bike companies: all bikes in the program must have the ability to lock to a stationary object like a bike rack after use

How does htis affect dockless bikes: It excludes bikes that lack “lock-to” technology so that the bikes can be parked anywhere using a wheel lock

Governing | Dockless Bike Company Pulls Out of Chicago, Citing City’s Locking Rule

+1 Major City Electric Scooter Ordinance. 3 Points from Messaging from E Scooter Companies

CITY: San Francisco

San Francisco’s ordinance sets up:

  • The Powered Scooter Share Permit Program
  • 1 year pilot program
  • Up to 5 e-scooter operator permits will be issued
  • initial  6 months, as many as 1,250 scooters may be permitted.
  • An increase can occur and allow  up to 2,500 scooters 

What are e-scooter companies’ positions?

  • conciliatory
  • want to operate in legal framework
  • “meaningful and responsible part of your transportation landscape”
  • committed to the Save Our Sidewalks Pledge to…

+1 Coastal City New Electric Scooter Rules. Cap scrapped in favor of this:

City: Santa Monica

The new electric scooter rules:

  • 6-month pilot program
  • dynamic cap the number of electric scooters and bicycles (not set yet and can be extended)
    • the 1500 cap was scrapped
  • limit the number of companies that operate the vehicles
  • impose a fee on the companies for operations $20,000 operation fee + $50 per vehicle

Does Santa Monica have a history with electric scooters? Yes, it was the 1st city Bird offered scooters in starting September 2017

CNET | Santa Monica hits…

Anatomy of the Mile High Cities Response to Electric Scooters

Denver has responded to electric scooter proliferation by:

  • removing scooters that are blocking sidewalks and other public spaces
  • developing new rules to regulate electric scooters
  • public safety is the paramount concern
  • coordination with its bike share program

Government Tech | Denver Scrambles to Respond to Sudden Appearance of Electric Scooter-Share Fleet 

7 Points from the Right on Regulating Electric Scooters.

Empower Texas sets up itscall for state action on the economic innovation of electric scooters by  highlighting 7 problems with Austin’s electric scooter proposal:

  • Requiring expensive locking mechanism on each scooter
  • Engine power caps that limit scooter use on hills
  • Data Sharing Requirements. Full access of scooter and customer data afforded to the city.
  • Large fees for additional scooters over the first 500
  • Low Incoe distribution requirements. “A plan to the city for rollout of the…

Lege TREND. Model e-bike legislation. No local preemption. What you need to know:

9 states have passed model e-bike legislation, including:

  • AZ HB 2266 (AZ | 2018) 
  • CO
  • CA
  • AR (that’s Arkansas)
  • IL
  • MI
  • TN
  • UT (Utah, not any of the universities with these initials)
  • WA

The model legislation does this:

  • defines e-bikes as motorized electric bicycles with a watt definition
  • establishes Class 1, 2, or 3 e-bikes
    • Class 3 e-bikes would be restricted to on-road usage
    • Class 1 and 2 e-bikes may be ridden on bike paths
  • grants e-bikes the same rights of the road as traditional…

Forget Autonomous Car Legislation. Welcome the new frontier- autonomous bike legislation.

Looking to limit the number of bike and vehicle accidents, Tome Software & Trek Bicycle are teaming up.

What’s the transportation policy goal: To identify if there are certain areas on roads that are more prone to bike/vehicle accidents.

Just when you thought legislating autonomous vehicles was all the rage, now we’re moving toward AI in bikes.

Tech Crunch | Tome Software and Trek Bicycle are looking to AI to make biking safer

Vehicle Tax Trend. Tax all the vehicles- all shapes, all motors.

Oregon became the first state to tax adult bikes of $200 or more. Each bike will be taxed $15.

Oregon does not levy a regular sales tax. The $15 tax is dedicted to Connect Oregon program, that funds projects serving multiple modes of transportation.

The rational for the tax: because bikes who use roads should contribute too.

City Lab | Oregon (Yes, Oregon) Just Put a Tax on Bicycles