TAMPA (WFLA) – Alex Mouso was happy to glide around downtown Tampa on Monday. Mouso rented an electric scooter for 15 cents per minute and was effortlessly zipping past walkers on Ashley Street.
“It’s just fun, it’s super easy to get around town. You don’t have to worry about locking up your bike anywhere, you don’t have to worry about parking, especially in a city like Tampa where parking is unbearable,” said Mouso who has rented scooters in other cities.
This weekend several companies rolled out their scooters for a pilot rental program in Tampa, but there are already problems.
WFLA TV was able to shoot video of people operating scooters on the Tampa Riverwalk, where they are banned and on 7th Avenue in the middle of the street where they are also banned. Scooters were also found randomly parked on city sidewalks and in city car parking spaces and not in the “corrals” where they should be parked.
“Under the operating agreement we have here in Tampa the scooters that we have are supposed to be on the sidewalks only,” said Jean Duncan who is the director of Transportation for the city of Tampa.
After seeing the video of people illegally operating the scooters, Duncan was not happy.
“I’m very disappointed to see that. Part of the criteria we used when we selected these companies was the technology they have on the scooters. They are supposed to be geo-fenced, if they go in these locations they are not allowed, the scooter is supposed to turn off and slow down,” said Duncan. The scooters are also banned from Bayshore Boulevard in Tampa.
City Council member Charlie Miranda voted to support the pilot program for the scooters, but only because it is a trial period to see if there are problems.
“There’s an old saying that says sometimes when something is given it can always be taken back and I hope for all of those scooter enthusiasts this is not the case but more than likely the way it’s heading it could be the case,” said Miranda.
