Rental scooters making return to Dallas this week

Dockless rental scooters have been banned in Dallas since 2020, but are returning to the city with new restrictions.

DALLAS - Electric scooters are making their return to the city of Dallas this month.

Rental scooters from Bird, Lime and Superpedestrian will start to appear on the streets Wednesday.

Bird says it will have a "soft launch" Wednesday and will officially return with 500 scooters to Dallas on May 31.

The company Superpedestrian will also have a soft launch on the 24th with a full launch of 500 scooters on the 31st. The company tells FOX 4 that includes 400 standing scooters and 100 seated scooters.

Dallas tried allowing scooters in 2018 but ended up banning them in 2020 because of safety concerns. The city made a series of adjustments and restrictions in order to allow the rentable scooters back on the street.

Lime, Bird and Superpedestrian will each be allowed to operate a few hundred scooters to make things more manageable. The city says they will raise the number of scooters if companies can prove there is more demand.

"We’ve worked with the city to design a program that addresses the concerns of the previous pilot like street clutter and tidiness," said Kelly Pierce, the Operations Coordinator for Lime in Dallas.

The city will also limit rentals to 5 a.m. until 9 p.m.

They scooters will have a maximum speed limit of 20 mph or 10 mph in areas that the city deems slow-ride zones like Deep Ellum.

The rental companies can remotely enforce those speed limits and automatically shut the scooters down in Dallas’ no-ride zones.

Companies will face tougher penalties for not following the city’s regulations and riders could face fines of up to $20 for not parking the scooters correctly when they’re done. Riders will actually have to provide a photo of their parking spot.

Bird says it believes its 500 scooters will replace 225,000+ car trips over the course of its first full year in Dallas.

We visited Deep Ellum Monday where we heard mixed reactions to the relaunch of rentable electric scooters.

"My personal opinion is I am not for them," Pat Dobie said.

"I think it’s needed," Jay Black said.

"With the right rules and enforcement, maybe it will work out," said Malik Rehman.

"They are not a good thing at all," said Vicki Miers

Miers has lived in her Deep Ellum apartment for almost 20 years. She says a few years ago she helped a man who wrecked on a scooter outside her place.

"But he was badly hurt. I had the guys from the restaurant to get ice and towels, and I called the fire department," she recalled.

"People use them. It’s just when people use them for the wrong reasons," Black said.

Black says he’s looking forward to the scooters if used correctly.

Back in 2019, a man on a bird scooter was caught on dash cam crossing lanes of traffic on I-35 in Dallas. Now, scooters can’t be on any road with a speed limit higher than 35 miles per hour.

Some still have their doubts, saying they are still too dangerous.

"I guess if you take the way people drive cars, which is worse, I think they don’t have a chance in really restricting it and enforce the restrictions," Dobie said.

Others say they are ready to ride.

"It’s convenient, of course," Rehman said.