AUSTIN, Texas — It’s been six months since the City of Austin made changes to its micromobility program, which took thousands of scooters off the streets and changed the way they operate.
Since then, city leaders said these changes have positively impacted downtown.
Ever since the scooters started popping up downtown, Austin-Travis County EMS (ATCEMS) says they’ve seen dozens of severe head injuries.
“Anytime you’re on a scooter and you’re in the area where there’s vehicles, there’s a lot of risks, people opening their doors, people not paying attention and pulling in front of you,” said Shannon Koesterer, a captain and public information officer with ATCEMS.
Koesterer said while she’s on duty, their department has also seen people on scooters getting hit by cars after accidentally riding into an on-ramp.
“You think you’re just going in the flow of traffic, and you end up, you know, on a major thoroughfare,” Koesterer said.
Because of all of the incidents and reports of scooters overcrowding the sidewalks, the city decided to make some big cuts to improve safety and accessibility downtown.
Some of the changes to the micromobility program included limiting scooter vendors downtown, only allowing Bird and Lime to operate, getting rid of 2,000 scooters citywide and designating parking areas for scooters.
Since reducing the scooters allowed downtown, the transportation department’s Parking Enforcement staff said they’ve seen less street clutter and received fewer service calls for them. The city also said the parking areas have also kept scooters out of walkways, where they used to frequently block sidewalk access.
With cleaned up sidewalks, first responders said it’s also been easier to maneuver their stretchers, so they can respond to emergencies faster.
The city also says they saw a major impact during festivals. During the Austin City Limits (ACL) Music Festival this year, there was one designated space for scooters to stay, which local medics said made it easier to do their jobs.
“We ride SRUs and motor medics down in those areas to get through the crowds, so not having piles of scooters in the way on top of pedestrians has been really helpful,” Koesterer said.
In a statement from the city, leaders said they’re still in the process of analyzing the results of slowing down speed limits. Through the main entertainment districts, they reduced the speed from 15 miles per hour to 10. But they said one of the main challenges with reducing the speed limits is making sure that it doesn’t also make it more dangerous with bikes and cars in the area.
ATCEMS said in the last six months, since these changes were implemented, there have been 125 scooter incidents, which is slightly up from the 98 they had in the same six months in 2023. They said that could be due to several factors, including more people moving to the city and using the scooters.
So even though these changes are clearing up the congestion downtown, medics say a lot of responsibility is still going to be on the rider to be safe.
“You can only mitigate your risks and lessen things by being responsible, by being sober, by following rules,” Koesterer said.
Other safety suggestions medics recommend while riding, are to not ride with multiple people on one scooter, to stay in the proper lanes, ride sober and plan your route ahead of time.
In a statement, the city said there is still more work to do with these micromobility changes. Below is an excerpt from that statement.
“Preliminary results have been promising, but more analysis is needed to provide information on successful outcomes. TPW is committed to learning more and making necessary changes to the shared micromobility program to help improve the overall safety of micromobility use in the city. “
The Transportation Department said they’d still be taking public feedback about their micromobility program in the coming months. Next April, city staff said they will provide another update on the changes to the Mobility Committee.