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When Chris Hinds first saw a person zip past him on what looked like a “skateboard with a stick on it,” he didn’t realize the electric scooter revolution had arrived in Denver. Nearly seven years later, the Denver council member is one of the most outspoken voices confronting the city’s complicated relationship with e-scooters.
Locals complain about unsafe conditions for pedestrians, cluttered sidewalks, and obstructed curb ramps. But electric scooters are not just a nuisance; they can be downright dangerous, Hinds says. (Denver Health saw 1,962 incidents involving the two-wheelers last year.)
The issue is particularly concerning for Hinds, whose 10th District includes the city center, where e-scooters are most prevalent. The council member is paralyzed from the chest down and uses a wheelchair to get around, so abandoned scooters are a daily complication.
As Denver nears a renewal of its contract with the country’s major scooter vendors, Hinds is proposing regulations that he hopes will transform the vehicles from Mile High City menaces to efficient modes of urban transportation. His proposal has already been workshopped in several committee meetings, but the next step is to run it by the city’s scooter vendors. The councilman hopes to have the bill passed by July.
Below, we break down the biggest pain points surrounding scooters, and how Hinds’ bill would tackle them.
3 Ways to Fix Denver’s Scooter Problem
The problem: Scooter-riders are using sidewalks, rather than city streets, to get around.
Hinds’ solution: Implement mandatory technology that detects when a rider illegally brings an e-scooter on the sidewalk.
Two years ago, the 10th District surveyed residents about whether they thought e-scooters were useful or a nuisance. Of the 1,300 people who responded, roughly two-thirds wanted to get rid of them. But when respondents were given a third option that involved installing technology to detect and deter sidewalk riding, their tone shifted. “Seventy-five percent of the respondents preferred that middle ground,” Hinds says.
Bird already has scooters equipped with Smart Sidewalk Protection, which can discern when a rider is on the sidewalk and bring the vehicle to a gradual stop, but they haven’t been rolled out in Denver yet. “Bird and Lime have said they are going to proactively bring some sidewalk-riding-technology scooters to Denver at some point,” Hinds says. “The next part is: What do we do about it?”
The council member hopes to use the vendors’ data to inform the city’s urban design plans. If there are areas where scooter users repeatedly ride on the sidewalk, it could be an indicator that there are traffic flow or design issues making them feel unsafe on the road.
The problem: Scooters are dumped in doorways, in the middle of sidewalks, and in city waterways.
Hinds’ solution: Establish mandatory docking stations where scooter users end their trips.
Denver is a massive market for scooters. In fact, the Mile High City has one of the highest ridership rates in the country, Hinds says. In other words, scooters are everywhere, and often not parked in places that make pedestrians happy.
But Hinds says there’s an easy fix: mandatory “scooter corrals” in the city’s highest-use areas. Instead of abandoning the two-wheelers willy-nilly, this legislation would require riders to return the e-scooters to a docking station. And if you do decide to dump your scooter on the corner before meeting your friends at the bar? Well, then anyone can pick it up and take a trip on your dime until that scooter is docked.
Regardless of whether Hinds’ proposal passes, you’ll start seeing docking stations around LoDo soon, as Lime proactively put together a plan to address the issue before new contracts are discussed this summer. This, Hinds says, is the quickest and easiest way to clean up unsightly—and cumbersome—scooter messes across the city. “Six months ago, the vendors were like, ‘No, [docking stations] aren’t going to happen,’ ” Hinds says. “But they’ve come around.”
The problem: Scooters pose challenges to people living with disabilities.
Hinds’ solution: Require vendors to proactively address the issue and create adaptive equipment for riders.
E-scooters aren’t just an everyday impediment for those, like Hinds, who have a physical disability—they’re futile to anyone who needs adaptive tech to ride. The issue dates back to Denver’s original e-scooter contracts in 2018, Hinds says. At the time, vendors were only required to “endeavor” to provide adaptive equipment, and that was only in the contract’s first year. “So, basically, it was that they’d try,” Hinds says. “That was an unenforceable part of the contract. Like, ‘Hey, we thought about it for eight seconds.’ ”
A mandate for adaptive equipment could include anything from e-scooters with seats for those who can’t stand for extended periods to scooters with wider bases for enhanced stability. Several cities have already successfully taken this strategy for a test drive. In San Francisco, vendors are required to make five percent of the city’s scooter fleet adaptive with seats and baskets. Oakland partnered with Lime—a vendor that operates in Denver—to launch an adaptive e-scooter pilot program where riders with disabilities can reserve a micromobility vehicle with a padded seat, wider handlebars, and spring suspension for 24 hours.
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