- A reasonable number of dockless vehicles that is well below the number that exists today;
- Strict hours of operation;
- Strict rules regarding where the dockless vehicles can operate and be parked, on the road or on the street;
- Flexibility to increase the number of dockless vehicles on the streets during large events or as the population grows;
- Fees be exclusively dedicated to the enforcement and operation of the program;
- Monthly reporting on usage, violations and trip data to evaluate trends and the overall program’s success.
- Single riders only;
- An extensive education campaign on how, when and where to operate the vehicles properly and safely.
During A Session yesterday, the City Council adopted the proposed amendments to the City’s Dockless Vehicles Pilot program. The proposed amendments included many recommendations suggested by your Chamber: reasonable number of vehicles, strict hours of operation and fees exclusively dedicated to enforcement and operations of the program. The RFP will be issued next month and awarded in October. We applaud the City’s efforts to regulate dockless vehicles.
On Wednesday, prior to the amendments’ adoption, your San Antonio Chamber of Commerce President & CEO Richard Perez, submitted a letter to the Mayor and City Council expressing our support and concerns with the City’s dockless vehicles program. The Chamber supports the City’s efforts to promote innovative solutions to increase mobility in our downtown area. However, dockless vehicles have incurred ire with some of our downtown businesses, and we completely understand their frustration given that we too “live” downtown.
In the letter, Perez expressed concern with the number of dockless vehicle permits that have been issued to-date and the unlimited number of vehicles a vendor can operate. The overabundance of dockless vehicles on our downtown streets have cluttered our sidewalks and commercial use of right-of-way, making it unsafe for pedestrians (employees, vendors, visitors, and tourists). They have also made it difficult for the Centro Ambassadors to perform their daily operations of keeping our downtown clean and safe.
The Chamber appreciates the value of dockless vehicles. They are an inexpensive, easy-to-operate, low-impact transit option that can help reduce the number of motorized vehicles operating in our urban core. However, since we do not currently have enough infrastructure, such as dedicated lanes or dedicated parking to support them, riders must navigate through traffic which is extremely unsafe. Additionally, the number of e-scooter injuries has escalated since they first appeared in downtown San Antonio last June, posing a safety threat for riders and pedestrians alike.
Below are recommendations the Chamber asked the Mayor and City Council to consider: