ATLANTA — Atlanta city leaders say there need to be laws on the books to deal with dockless vehicles, like the scooters that have popped up across the city.
A viewer took a photo of someone riding a scooter on the downtown connector.
The Bird scooters were the first to show up in Atlanta. They can quickly be found and picked up through a few clicks on their app.
Atlanta City Council members now want to make sure legislation is in place to accommodate the growing industry.
"It's great to have some other options, other transportation options," one resident told Channel 2's Christian Jennings.
“I just notice that people are really enjoying them. They’re really accessible. I do think there should be some regulation just because of safety concerns,” another resident said.
Atlanta City Councilman Michael Julian Bond agrees and is sponsoring an ordinance that would put sharable, dockless vehicles on the law books.
“We’re the wild, wild west of scooters. So, there’s no regulation today,” Bond said.
TRENDING STORIES:
The way the proposed ordinance is written now, it would address the issue of people ditching the scooters on sidewalks, which creates a hazard for pedestrians.
The proposal states that scooters should never "impede access to the public right of way."
It also says, "no more than 10 devices may be parked per block, citywide, and no more than 200 devices may be parked per square mile."
"I think it's great. I think it's fun, but I can easily see them becoming a nuisance," another resident said.
Bond also wants to address where people can ride them.
[VIDEO: Electric 'Muving' moped launches in Atlanta]
Technically, scooters aren't allowed on the Atlanta Beltline or on sidewalks -- but that's exactly where Jennings found people cruising around on Thursday evening.
“Typically, motorized vehicles are regulated to the street, but as we saw here today, there are folks riding them on the sidewalks, so we have to make those kinds of technical changes to our ordinance to accommodate,” Bond said.
City leaders really want the public’s input on the proposed ordinance. They are holding a public hearing Friday morning at the Atlanta City Hall, starting at 10 a.m.
You can read the proposed ordinance here.
Cox Media Group
