City Committee Takes “Wait and See” Approach to Shared Electric Scooters

The Pasadena City Council Municipal Services Committee agreed Tuesday to take a “wait and see” approach to allowing local scooter services in the City, such as Lime or Bird Scooters.

The consensus decision came following an information-only presentation by Department of Transportation Engineer Conrad Viana on the feasibility of the powered scooters, which have become both popular and problematic in numerous Southern California cities.

No providers for “shared” scooters and/or bicycles are currently eligible to operate in Pasadena. A Metro Bike Share program was discontinued earlier this year after it failed for economic reasons.

“I’m concerned about just about every aspect of this,” said Mayor Terry Tornek during the committee discussion. “We should move like we did with cannabis. Let other cities make the mistakes. We need to be measured in our approach. I’m very leery about rushing into some of this technology.”

Councilmember and Committee Chair Margaret McAustin seemed to agree.

“I’m concerned about sidewalks. Where will people ride? Bike lanes? I’m not sure that these are right for Pasadena, or at least for all of Pasadena,” McAustin said earlier in the discussion. “There are a lot of public safety issues.”

According to the Transportation Department staff report, “Shared mobility systems (scooters) are both a benefit and an impediment to cities.”

The report noted that scooters and bicycles provide a zero emission transportation to help cities address first and last mile gaps around transit stations and between destinations that might otherwise generate auto travel.

On the impediment side, the report added that “the same systems generate demands on public resources to address clutter, public safety and equity concerns.”

None of the Committee members spoke out adamantly in favor of the scooters, though both Councilmembers Tyron Hampton and Andy Wilson showed some cautious support for the idea.

Hampton, however, also spoke about recently being in Santa Monica, where the scooters are popular, and told the committee he saw “a hundred scooters in a half block section,” of the city, some being ridden and others left on the sidewalks, deserted by riders.

Councilmember Wilson also spoke about the need to develop software to regulate the speed of scooters based on the area they are ridden in as well as the time of day.

“The scooters should know whether you’re on Lake Avenue on a Monday afternoon, or somewhere else early on a Sunday morning, and regulate the speed accordingly,” he offered.

Businessman and former Pasadena Chamber of Commerce President Ismael Trone told Pasadena Now Tuesday in a phone interview that at first he supported the idea of scooters but is now skeptical..

“They’re actually a convenient way to travel, especially short distances in a downtown area like the city of Pasadena,” he said.

Trone said earlier this year he researched franchising Bird scooters to generate stipends to support students in a Pasadena nonprofit he operates.

“But then when I was doing my research, I found out that there were a lot of lawsuits going on and cities started banning [them],” he said.

Other local business leaders also have trepidations about scooter use, especially in Old Pasadena.

“I see sometimes they’re ridden recklessly amongst pedestrians that are on the sidewalks,” said David Anderson, president of Anderson Business Technologies, whose offices are on Colorado Boulevard, near Arroyo Parkway.

“Pasadena’s sidewalks are pretty full,” he said, “especially at lunch hour, and in the evenings, and I think the scooters can present a danger.”

According to the Transportation Department staff report, City staff had been working across several departments to develop a “best practices” approach for dockless scooters, with the intent of seeking approval for a 12-month mobility program. That seems unlikely now, however, as the Committee members stressed that any new scooter or bike program should move slowly in its implementation.

Transportation Department Director Fred Dock told the Council that he was willing to stop the program altogether, “since this is such an uphill push.”

After more committee discussion, however, Dock and the Committee members agreed that City staff would return to the Committee with more information and possible new rules and regulations in about six months.