by Morgan Montalvo
WOAI News
San Antonio's tech community stands solidly behind the fast-growing local dockless vehicle, or "e-scooter," industry, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
The group Tech Bloc has published an online set of recommendations covering fleet operation, minimum age for operation, licensing and fees, parking, and areas where the two-wheeled "last-mile" personal transports could legally go.
Tech Bloc spokesman David Heard says the guidelines are decidedly free-market while still addressing governance, public safety, and vehicular pollution.
"This is a new industry, these are new forms and modes of transportation," Heard tells News Radio 1200 WOAI. "We want to be a city that's leaning forward on innovation; we want to be a city that is, hopefully, taking cars and traffic congestion off the road where appropriate," Heard says.
Dist. 1 City Councilman Roberto Trevino earlier this week told News Radio 1200 WOAI he would like to see San Antonio adopt as as soon as possible a flexible regulatory framework that addresses e-scooter use, with additional language incorporated as needed.
Done correctly, Heard says, San Antonio's resultant e-scooter use ordnance could serve as a "multi-modal" model for other U.S. cities by preserving street and sidewalk access for everyone.
"We've built a lot of roads in Bexar County, but we need areas that are safe and efficient for other modes of transportation, and that includes pedestrians. So, our hope is that downtown as one urban corridor - there are others - but downtown becomes a lot more multi-modal, a lot more pedestrian-friendly and the 'e-scooter' vehicle is one piece of that recipe."
It's not the entire entree', but it's an emerging and exciting and energetic component of it," says Heard. City Council is expected to vote on a e-scooter ordnance Oct. 11.
PHOTO' MORGAN MONTALVO
To read Tech Bloc's blog post on e-scooters, go to:
https://www.satechbloc.com/from-the-bloc/advocating-for-e-scooters-in-sa