An ordinance that would allow electric scooters on Little Rock streets is in the works, City Attorney Tom Carpenter said Wednesday.
Hundreds of the bright-green dockless devices from alternative transportation company Lime descended on Little Rock's sidewalks in January as part of a six-month pilot program. City Ordinance 32-463 requires riders to travel along sidewalks and river trails instead of streets, a restriction that initially conflicted with Lime's rider instructions.
Carpenter said an ordinance that would "allow scooters to be where they can't be right now" would apply to the downtown area.
Once that ordinance is in place, he said, the city will issue a request for qualifications inviting scooter providers to submit proposals and decide which of those providers would have a long-term presence in Arkansas' capital city. The current memorandum of understanding with Lime ends May 15.
Carpenter said Lime representatives had given him some recommendations of what had been done in other cities, and that he was looking into other things the company didn't mention.
In an interview last month, Lime's Southeast director of government relations said the company would be happy to share with city staff members legislative language that has moved scooters to the streets in other municipalities.
"In most jurisdictions I work with, local governments more commonly want ridership in the streets rather than on the sidewalks," Todd O'Boyle said in February.
The city attorney said he had not yet drafted an ordinance Wednesday but hoped it would be added Friday to the city board's agenda, which is available on the city website. If an ordinance is complete, it could go to a vote before the city board at its regular 6 p.m. meeting on Tuesday.
Carpenter added that, to make sure an ordinance wouldn't be undone by anything passed by the state Legislature, he was keeping up with a bill filed in the Arkansas House that would give electric-scooter operators the same rights as bicyclists.
House Bill 1619 is sponsored by Rep. Grant Hodges, D-Rogers, and Sen. Breanne Davis, R-Russellville, and co-sponsored by Rep. Aaron Pilkington, R-Clarksville. It was read for the first time and referred to the House committee on public transportation in February, but it has not advanced.
Metro on 03/28/2019