For years, San Francisco has been trying to grapple with complaints about e-scooters being left in the middle of sidewalks and the devices being used on the sidewalks under a permitted program, but the city is now also trying to tackle an increased use of other electric micromobility devices that drive faster than e-scooters and have created new challenges on the city’s streets, city officials said.
On Tuesday, staff from the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency and the Mayor’s Office presented to the transportation agency’s board of directors an overview of the different types of e-devices on the streets and what the city can or cannot do to regulate some of the devices. There are plans to start an e-mobility working group to identify the issues and make final recommendations on addressing them.
Alexandra Sweet, assistant chief of infrastructure, climate, and mobility in the mayor’s office, said that e-devices have been a growing part of the city’s transportation network, with a growing number of people using e-scooters, e-bikes, and other electric-powered devices.
“Research conducted by MTA shows that micromobility can also support transit use and help reduce some automobile trips,” Sweet said. “The benefits are real, but so are the challenges. The growth in device use, combined with higher speeds, greater vehicle weight, and evolving rider behavior, has created new challenges and safety risks that many cities are working to address, and we are not alone.”
Donald Robertson spoke at the board meeting about his incident with a scooter near Union Square. After speaking with someone, he said he stepped back and tripped over a scooter left on the sidewalk. Robertson said he was injured with three broken ribs and tore one tendon in his right shoulder.
“I remain a strong supporter of micro transportation despite my injuries, and it is easy and true to say that I should have been paying more attention,” Robertson said. “But I believe that no scooter should have been parked across the sidewalk, nor, in my opinion, should a scooter have even been on the sidewalk at all.”
The SFMTA has its Powered Scooter Share Permit Program, which allows rental companies like Lime and Spin, to operate in the city. The agency has rules under the program, including how many devices each company can deploy, device requirements such as side detection, and geofenced areas where devices are not allowed to operate. The SFMTA can also fine companies for devices that are improperly parked, but fines can be reduced based on how fast the companies respond to complaints made through 311.
Other types of e-devices are regulated under the state, and devices that are privately owned are harder to regulate at a local level, SFMTA transportation planner Christy Osorio said.
Gov. Gavin Newsom recently signed Senate Bill 1167 that defines the differences between e-bikes and e-motos and bans manufacturers from mislabeling devices as e-bikes to consumers as if they go faster than 20 mph using a throttle or pedal assist.
Directors on the SFMTA board provided feedback to staff on what the new e-mobility work should focus on, including having an educational component to the public on basic rules of how to and where to use specific e-devices. E-motos, for example, are not allowed to use the bike lane.
“I think people have a general sense of what goes where and and what our bike lanes in particular are supposed to accommodate, but I don’t know that there’s complete clarity, and I think that there is a definitive lack of signage that clarifies that,” board Director Alfonso Felder said.
Board Director Dominica Henderson suggested signage to tell the public not ride on the sidewalk. While she admits signage alone will not stop someone from riding on the sidewalk, she added that “I think it does help discourage the bad behavior or the behavior that we’re, you know, trying to limit if there’s increased signage.”
Another board director, Steve Heminger, suggested taking a page from Paris, France who banned the rental of e-scooters.
“The the data it seems to me that we’ve seen so far at least justifies it that we go back to first principles at least on the scooters, and consider whether, like Paris, we ought to just say it’s it’s not working, and we can’t figure out a way to make it work,” Steve Heminger said.
Sweet said the goal is to have final recommendations from the e-mobility working group by spring 2027.
UPDATE: SFMTA sent us this statement on the federal grant they received for the N-Judah project: “The award will fund the design and construction of platforms, ramps and other accessibility improvements at two Muni surface street stop pairs on the N Judah. The locations will be finalized through a community engagement process and will focus on currently inaccessible street-level boarding. These improvements will reduce gaps between widely spaced accessible stops and improve safety and accessibility for all passengers. Features could also include real-time arrival information displays, lighting improvements, wayfinding improvements, and pedestrian access improvements such as traffic signal upgrades.”
