Commission Votes to Ban Shared Scooters

On Thursday, the Palm Beach Planning and Zoning Commission voted 7-0 to recommend the Town Council adopt a ban of scooter ride sharing in Palm Beach, as first reported by the Palm Beach Daily News.

The commission cited concern that left-behind scooters will litter sidewalks and public or private property. The concern about rental scooters, which have become popular in West Palm Beach as well as other cities throughout the United States, began last year. The scooters can be picked up and dropped off anywhere by anyone with a credit card.

In October, the council imposed a 180-day moratorium on scooter ride sharing wile the town looked into methods for regulating or prohibiting the practice.

Commission Votes to Ban Shared Scooters

The proposed regulation would not ban people from riding shared scooters in Palm Beach. It would, however, make it “unlawful to commercially dock, store or park shared scooters or dockless scooters on any public or private street.”

“If you go somewhere [out of town] and you acquire a scooter, we don’t want you to have the ability to leave it here,” Zoning Chairman Martin Kleid said.

The zoning commission has also discussed the possibility of banning shared bicycles, but that was not part of the measure that the commission recommended on Tuesday.

Related >>> Palm Beach Will Not Ban Scooters & Bikes Yet

Last month, the commission decided to consider scooters and bicycles separately and asked town staff to clearly define the regulations to make it clear that bicycle-riding Palm Beach residents and hotel guests would not be affected by these rules.

Commission Richard Kleid said at that meeting that encouraging shared bicycling in the town might have benefits. “We talk about exercise, and that is a good thing, and being green, and that is a good thing,” he said.