TAMPA, Fla. — Starting Monday, e-scooter riders will have to take an extra step before they can end their ride: parking the scooter properly in a designated parking area.
Over the last few years, the city of Tampa has extended the pilot program phase of electric scooters several times. Now, after months of delays, new contracts and new permits are complete for a new phase of scooter use in Tampa.
"This is the number one concern that we receive from the community. Scooters parked properly," said Vik Bhide, the director of the mobility department in the city of Tampa. "We're starting downtown, but we do look forward to expanding this program as time goes on."
Bhide expects it to take a few weeks for riders and the scooter companies to get fully adjusted to the change. Bhide said he's already seen an instance of the app not prompting the rider to park their scooter in a parking area on the first day of the parking change.
Once the kinks are ironed out, if you don't follow the rules, you'll pay.
"If they don't return these scooters to these docks, the scooter companies themselves will impose fines," Bhide said. "We also have a bounty program in place that will reward people for doing the right thing."
Riders can receive a credit for returning scooters to the parking areas. This change comes less than a week after a nonprofit organization once again pulled dozens of e-scooters from the Hillsborough River.
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Along with scooters ending up in the river, they also block sidewalks and create accessibility concerns for those who aren't able to walk around them.
"So, by and large, as a city, we don't have very wide sidewalks," Bhide said. "Now, as we see more and more development, there's more opportunity to widen sidewalks. So, even one improperly parked scooter can hinder access for someone in a wheelchair or someone that needs some sort of assistive device."
The city said they plan to keep a close eye on the scooter companies, making sure the parking requirement is being enforced. If it's not, the scooter companies can be fined by the city of Tampa.
Malique Rankin is a general assignment reporter with 10 Tampa Bay. You can email her story ideas at mrankin@10tampabay.com and follow her Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages.