AUSTIN, Texas — The Austin Transportation Department announced Thursday it has hit the brakes on issuing new licenses to dockless mobility companies. Austin Transportation said their staff will investigate the level of demand for currently licensed scooters, bikes and vehicles.
Austin Transportation said the goal of this pause is to monitor the average number of daily trips per unit through monthly reports that companies submit.
Once all the data is collected and analyzed, the staff will determine whether to resume issuing licenses.
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Austin Transportation determines appropriate fleet sizes by gauging factors, which include:
- How many vehicles can be effectively managed by operators and their staff,
- Daily usage and geographical distribution of individual devices, and
- Safety and accessibility of the right of way
In total, there are nine licensed scooter companies in Austin: Lime, Bird, JUMP, Lyft, OjO, Razor, Skip, Spin and WindMobility.
There are 15,300 licensed scooters in the city.
Their usage hit a peak in October with more than 341,000 trips. It slightly decreased to 297,000 last month.
The city said it is monitoring demand and safety before it increases or reduces scooter licenses.
KVUE asked the City when they are going to make their decision about reducing or adding more scooter licenses, but the City transportation department was not able to provide an estimate.
The City adds they have to be ridden at a minimum average of two trips per day downtown and three trips outside the core.
Dockless mobility companies are currently only allowed to have 500 units in the Downtown Austin Project Coordination Zone. Some companies who practice safety, usage and management are granted exceptions.
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