The City of College Station officially allows the use of electric scooters, also known as electric micro-mobility devices, for residents in College Station and on the Texas A&M University campus, after the city council voted unanimously to expand its shared micro-mobility ordinance.
Previously the ordinance was known as a Dockless Bike Share Program, however during a previous meeting the council issued guidelines for the newly named micro-mobility ordinance.
The ordinance allows the bike-share vendor, VeoRide Cosmo, to place electric sit-down scooters on the A&M campus and in specified other areas of the city through a geo-fence, according to Vanessa Garza, planning administrator for the city’s Bicycle, Pedestrian and Greenways Program.
“The dockless bike share program ordinance was originally [created] because of the introductory of Texas A&M’s bike share program back in 2018,” she said. “Originally A&M used an operator named Ofo, and we learned a lot with Ofo, and there were definitely a lot of things that we wanted to change. We wanted to include an abandonment fee because devices, bikes and scooters, were being left all over the city. Since that time, A&M introduced a new operator VeoRide, and they and A&M have been great to work with.”
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Micro-vehicles are defined as those powered by the rider or electric charge that travel at speeds of 20 mph or slower. However, in College Station the new ordinance will enforce that VeoRide scooters cannot travel at speeds 15 mph or higher, Garza said. The city does not currently regulate personal riding devices, she said.
VeoRide is currently the only bike-share operator in College Station. Currently there is no bike-share vendor in Bryan, according to Kristen Waggener, communications and marketing director for the city.
In October 2021, Garza said the council discussed pros and cons of having electric devices in town, and wanted to discuss safety concerns, traffic and set speed limits for the scooters, she said.
“The scooters are definitely more convenient to human-powered bikes, and pedaling in a hot environment is definitely easier when you can get further and faster with an electric device so it can potentially alleviate traffic congestion,” Garza said. “In April, staff brought forward a draft amendment and this is the final step to make those amendments and allow electric mode in town.”
There are about 2,500 VeoRide pedal bikes and scooters in the city and with the new ordinance in place, users are required to utilize “lock-to” parking, which is a built-in or attached locking system, Garza said.
“The ‘lock-to’ system requires the user to lock the bike to a bike rack or a VeoRide operator designated area,” she said. “[Now] that we as a city decided to allow electric modes … that will potentially allow other operators who are interested to come to the city. We wanted to craft a few more guidelines and regulations to help manage that.”
VeoRide users are required to ride in geo-fence zones, which are geographic service areas that utilize a GPS technology and registers when a shared micro-mobility device enters or leaves the designated area, which helps VeoRide locate the devices, Garza said.
Any bike-share vendor in College Station is responsible for collecting the devices; if not, they could be fined with an abandonment fee by the city, Garza said. In addition, bike-share vendors must have a parking hub with a minimum number of devices maintained in one location, she said.
“As far as safety and regulations when using VeoRide, they and A&M do a good job at educating users and have continued to be a great help to the community,” Garza said.
For more information about VeoRide or to download the VeoRide App, visit veoride.com/texas-am.
