Dockless scooters could become permanent in Milwaukee

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- After years of back and forth, Milwaukee's now poised to give dockless scooters a permanent residence in the city. Milwaukee's Public Works Committee agreed to allow the full common council to consider it on Wednesday, March 6. 

Electric scooters have been on Milwaukee's streets for years, but under the close observation of several pilot programs. The data's out and the public works committee thinks it's enough to give dockless scooters the right to stay.

The Public Works Committee's recommending the Milwaukee Common Council approve permanent residency for dockless scooters. Around town, that's bringing some smiles.

"I'm all for it. It's very helpful, less cars," said Anita J, Milwaukee Resident.

"I had to ride them a few times to work. I couldn't make it to work. My car messed up. So, I had to get on the scooter and go back and forth," said Patrick Jackson, Milwaukee Resident.

"Ridership has gone up tremendously over the years," said Mike Amsden, Multi Modal Transportation Manager, Milwaukee Department of Public Works.

Milwaukee logged 800 thousand rides in 2023, more than half with the operator, Lime.

"Cities like Chicago have tripled in ridership, but in Milwaukee we've seen ridership grow by 6x between 2022 and 2023," said Calvin Elmore, Operations Coordinator, Lime.

With that increase in ridership comes revenue for the city.

"This last pilot program is $400 thousand given to the city as part of this, so it's not like we're getting 10 cents, I mean it's nearly half a million dollars," said Jerrel Kruschke/Commissioner, Milwaukee Department of Public Works.

The city wants more. Operators would pay the city 25 cents for each ride, plus $100 a year for each scooter. That's double what operators paid last year.

"The department's angle here is to provide an alternative mode of transportation from bikes or walking using transit, getting people out of cars," said Kruschke.

Also, Milwaukee could limit the number of operators to two, and any complaints would have to be well documented.

"The number of complaints has kind of gone down over the years. The biggest complaints that we've gotten have related to improper parking, that's kind of been the number one thing," said Amsden.

The city says it added 123 new parking corrals in the last year.

"We've found that when there is infrastructure in place for people to park correctly, they will use it," said Elmore.

The money the city takes in on dockless scooters goes into the city's transportation fund and is said to be there for building protected bike lanes. The full common council could take up the matter later this month.