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Staff recommends keeping scooter moratorium, pursuing contract model; curb management study launched
Summary
Shared mobility staff recommended retaining the vendor moratorium (two vendors) and starting an RFP-based contract model to secure vendor commitments and KPIs; staff also launched a 12-month curb management study to create typologies and a policy framework for competing curb uses.
City staff recommended the Mobility Committee retain the current moratorium on new scooter vendors and pursue a transition from a license/permit model to a contract/RFP model to better manage shared mobility and curbspace.
Mike Kimbro, shared mobility program manager, told the committee that since the moratorium began (04/01/2024) the city has seen increased trips per device and a decline in 311 and parking enforcement requests. "Our recommendation is that we keep the moratorium in place for now, capping the number of vendors at 2," Kimbro said. He added that staff would like to begin work to transition to a contract model, which would allow the city to require performance metrics, longer terms for vendor certainty, vendor investments in infrastructure such as corraling, and more robust in-app education and safety KPIs. Kimbro estimated an RFP would take roughly 6'9 months, with an optimistic one-year timeframe to implement a new contract model.
Council members asked whether the city should consider more than two vendors to preserve competition and whether contracts could require parking corrals (and possibly vendor reimbursement for dedicated space), labor-quality provisions and stronger rider education requirements. Staff said those items could be considered in procurement design and that a contract model provides greater granularity than director rules.
Separately, Joseph Audrey (Park Enterprise Manager, TPW) briefed the committee on an ongoing curb management study with a 12-month timeline. The study is cataloging curb typologies, conducting stakeholder interviews, collecting data at eight study locations, and will produce a framework for prioritizing curb use (commercial, pickup/drop-off, deliveries, micromobility) with an April/May internal draft and a June final deliverable.
The committee asked staff to explore whether corrals could be funded or paid for by vendors under a future contract and whether technology-based enforcement or short-term paid use of curbspace should be part of the plan. Staff said they will return with more details and public engagement results.
