Photo by Leigh Tauss Bird scooters parked in Raleigh

The Raleigh City Council moved forward Tuesday with a plan to create an encroachment agreement for dockless electric-scooter companies Bird and Lime, allowing them to remain in the city—for now. Council members will still need to vote on a final agreement in the coming weeks.

The scooters arrived in Raleigh this summer without warning, and the city’s scooter fleet has since grown to 1,430 scooters between operators Bird and Lime. While scooter fans say they provide an affordable transportation alternative downtown, opponents harp on safety concerns as scooter riders continue to travel on the sidewalk.

The council was given four options to address the scooters, which included issuing an RFP or banning them outright. They chose to go with option 1.

× Expand City of Raleigh Raleigh City Council Scooter Encroachment Agreement Proposed option for Raleigh to move forward regulating dockless electric scooters.

Regulations may require scooter operators to pay the city a $100 fee per vehicle, and riders could be issued fines for traveling on the sidewalk, said city transportation director Michael Moore.

Lime, at least, is open to meeting the city's demands, said operations and logistics manager Matt Phillips. “We absolutely have the bandwidth to provide everything they want,” Phillips said.

After an encroachment agreement is enacted, the city could put out an RFP to select operators. In the meantime, the encroachment agreement allows Bird and Lime to continue operating in the city until next summer.

Police chief Cassandra Deck-Brown was concerned that enforcing scooter regulations would burden her already-strapped police force. She also noted a scooter rider was given a DWI and that scooters have been used in a robbery and drug-related crime.

“This places additional pressures on our officers,” Deck-Brown said.

Council member Dickie Thompson, who wanted to ban the scooters from the start, chided the council: “I told you so.”

“This problem is out of control,” Thompson said. “We need to get a grip on this now. The only way you are going to stop people from riding on the sidewalks is to start writing tickets.”

Bucking the general anti-scooter mood was council member Nicole Stewart. She wasn’t excited about the prospect of an RFP and wished her colleagues could see some of the benefits of having the scooters in the city.

“Here we are debating about where we are going to park these things, and I’m just really kind of frustrated with the way the conversation is going instead of embracing a new technology and being the city we want to be,” Stewart said.

Scooter users need to follow the rules if they want to keep riding in the city, said council member Corey Branch.

“We have to be safe. It’s very possible that a few people being reckless could cause things to just disappear,” Branch said.