HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — The Houston City Council is set to decide Wednesday whether to ban electric scooters at certain times of day.
This is something council was considering back in the summer.
It is on the agenda again now, though this time posed as a citywide ban on e-scooters from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m.
The city says data from the Houston Fire Department shows between those hours is when nearly 80% of all incidents involving e-scooters happen downtown.
On the city council agenda, it says the city receives lots of complaints from people about the e-scooters blocking sidewalks and being hazards for people walking, especially in and around Discovery Green and downtown.
The city says that targeted enforcement over the past four years has resulted in more than 3,000 rider warnings, 13 vendor citations, and even eight arrests.
Houston Mayor John Whitmire has said one reason for the ban is that “most scooter riders disregard traffic laws, putting themselves and others at risk.”
When the ban was considered a few months ago, ABC13 spoke with the owner of a local scooter rental company, who said that if a ban happens, it shouldn’t be so broad, but rather only go after the people breaking the rules.
“I think it’s really like killing the whole industry, and it’s just basically causing so many people to go unemployed or bankrupt… just like when somebody rents a car, that’s their responsibility to obey the traffic laws,” said Adib Baghdadi, the owner of ERYD Scooter Rentals.
The proposed ordinance says that people who own their own scooters and use them for “certain commuting purposes” would be exempt from the citywide scooter curfew.
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SEE ALSO: Fulshear cracks down on e-scooters and bikes, and parents could be hit with a $500 fine
The city of Fulshear is cracking down on e-scooters and bikes, requiring them to be used on sidewalks. A violation could result in a $500 ticket.
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