Scooter skirmish: SF places limits on rental companies

A scooter left in the plaza in front of the Ferry Building on the Embarcadero on Monday, April 30, 2018, in San Francisco, Calif. A scooter left in the plaza in front of the Ferry Building on the Embarcadero on Monday, April 30, 2018, in San Francisco, Calif. Photo: Liz Hafalia / The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Liz Hafalia / The Chronicle Image 1 of / 40 Caption Close Scooter skirmish: SF places limits on rental companies 1 / 40 Back to Gallery

Hoping to gain control over the surging motorized rental scooter industry that landed in the city a few weeks ago, San Francisco officials adopted a plan Tuesday to limit the number of standup two-wheelers that companies would be permitted to drop on the streets.

The city’s Municipal Transportation Agency also voted to charge any rental electric scooter companies applying to do business in San Francisco annual permit fees and require them to file plans on how they intend to keep their scooters from obstructing sidewalks. The vote was 5-0.

The one-year test program allows a maximum of five rental scooter companies to operate in the city at once and caps the total number of scooters allowed at 1,250 spread among the companies, for the first six months and 2,500 over the following six months.

Firms would be required to pay a $5,000 permit application fee and, if a permit were granted, a $25,000 annual fee plus they must put $10,000 into an endowment fund to cover future violations.

“All of these fees are meant to make sure we can administer a program without a cost to taxpayers,” said Ben Jose, an MTA spokesman.

The scooters, which are silent and can reach speeds of 15 mph, created a buzz after an estimated 2,000 of them were deposited in the city by three firms — Spin, LimeBike and Bird — at the end of March without notice.

They became an instant hit with people who had a mobile phone app to unlock them and were willing to pay a $1 rental fee — and 15 cents a minute — to ride them, from BART or Caltrain to work, across town to a meeting or a ballgame or to lunch.

But the scooters’ sudden arrival, without city approval, also set off a storm of criticism over riders zipping around pedestrians on sidewalks, parking them in a way that blocked portions of sidewalks, and riding them without helmets. Pedestrians, merchants and politicians cried foul and demanded action.

City officials responded with a coordinated attack. The Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance giving the MTA the right to require permits and regulate scooters. Public Works officials impounded hundreds of scooters they said were parked blocking sidewalks or entryways.

And City Attorney Dennis Herrera issued cease-and-desist orders against illegal operations, including riding on and blocking sidewalks, and required scooter firms to tell his office how they planned to satisfy the law.

As the two-year plan was being aired publicly Tuesday, much of the debate was over the proposed cap on scooters. No one knows exactly how many scooters are currently scattered around the city, but estimates range as high as 4,000. A Bird spokesman said at Tuesday’s meeting that his company had 2,000 on the streets and sidewalks that morning.

Jerri Diep, a community organizer with Chinatown TRIP, a transportation group, said 2,500 scooters were too many. Scooters are already crowding sidewalks, making it difficult for seniors and others with mobility problems to walk.

“It’s just too much,” she said. “They’re parking and riding on sidewalks, and it’s very dangerous.”

David Goulden, a San Francisco resident and bicyclist, disagreed, saying that if the MTA wants to meet its goals of getting more people out of cars, it needs to have enough scooters on the streets.

“If somebody’s deciding between an Uber and a scooter, and the nearest scooter is six blocks away, they’re going to call Uber,” he said.

Several speakers objected to the perceived arrogance of the scooter companies, saying their bad behavior in not applying to the city before introducing their two-wheelers should not be overlooked when it’s time to issue permits.

“It’s time to set a new precedent where we say we are no longer going to reward bad actors,” said Peter Papadapoulos of the Mission Economic Development Agency.

Directors agreed, voting to allow “past behavior” by the companies to be considered when permits are being issued. Bird, LimeBike and Spin are not guaranteed permits, Jose said.

Rental scooter firms, meanwhile, filed letters with the City Attorney’s office late Monday promising to make stronger efforts to educate their riders about the law, and proper scooter etiquette.

All offered relatively similar promises, but only Bird’s came from its law firm, which contended the company is operating legally and cannot control the behavior of its users.

“A defendant is not liable for a public nuisance where some of its customers illegally misuse its product, even if some level of misuse is foreseeable in the abstract,” wrote attorney Margaret Carter from the O’Melveny law firm in Los Angeles.

But Bird and the others said they would post the rules of the road prominently on their scooters as well as on the apps used to rent them: Don’t ride on sidewalks, do wear a helmet, don’t park blocking sidewalks. They also said they would post a toll-free number on each scooter for people to report improperly parked scooters that the companies would then come out and remove.

Spin said it would require users to scan a driver’s license to rent a scooter and would ask them to rate how well the previous user parked the device. LimeBike promised to give away helmets and require users to take photos of their parked scooters at the end of a ride. Bird also said it would ask riders to take pictures of their parked scooters and would encourage them to park at “nests,” locations on private property where multiple scooters can be parked.

John Coté, spokesman for Herrera’s office, said the company’s responses will be reviewed and discussed with various city departments.

“Our goal has always been to ensure that innovation does not come at the price of public safety,” Coté said. “These scooters could have a role in San Francisco’s transportation picture if they’re used lawfully. That includes being parked in the right place, ridden in the right place and following all terms of the pending permit program.”

Michael Cabanatuan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ctuan