HP Bans Electric Scooters
Better keep those electric scooters out of Highland Park. A newly amended town ordinance bans them.
The ban applies to both the rental scooters that have entered the Dallas market in recent months and individually-owned ones if any.
Town leaders cited safety concerns. The rental scooters are ridden standing up and can approach speeds of 15 miles per hour.
“They are a danger on the sidewalk,” council member Eric Gambrell said. “They are a danger on the street.”
Gambrell also objected to a business model that relies on using public property as a staging area without permission and reimbursement.
To warn operators and their customers about the prohibition, town staff plans to install signs at town entry points near the Dallas city limits.
The scooter ban was added to the ordinance governing dockless rental bikes. The bike-sharing ordinance prohibits placement of bikes for rent in the town and provides for impoundment and fines for those left by a vendor or its customers.
“To date, the operators of the bicycles have not been too ambitious about recovering them [from impoundment],” town attorney Matthew Boyle said.
The amended ordinance extends the prohibitions on rental bikes to cover electric-powered bicycles, which town leaders predict will be entering the market soon.
