Full Legalization of Scooters Ends Up In City Budget

Lime scooters in September 2022. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

While policy decisions without a direct fiscal impact are routinely included in the state budget, they’re less common at the municipal level.

But that wasn’t the case Friday when Alderman Mark Chambers, Jr. successfully added a footnote to the 2024 City of Milwaukee budget that requests the Department of Public Works make scooter legalization permanent.

Since 2018, the city has instituted a series of one or two-year pilot studies designed to assess issues and effectiveness of the dockless electric scooters before creating a full permitting framework. Each successive pilot has tweaked program rules, required scooter deployment locations and the fee structure. The city, according to recent comments by Department of Public Works (DPW) Commissioner Jerrel Kruschke, is now generating more than $250,000 in fees, which it spends on bicycle and scooter infrastructure.

“I think we are just wasting time with these pilots,” said Chambers, first elected to the council last November. “How many more years do we need a pilot to figure out what is right or wrong?”

Alderman Robert Bauman, chair of the Public Works Committee and a skeptic of the scooter companies, attempted to strip the item from the budget. “I just think that is inappropriate as a budget item and a footnote,” he said. “This is a really significant, substantive policy question that should be left up to our normal process to develop.”

He noted that the scooters disproportionately are used Downtown, which Bauman represents, and in the surrounding neighborhoods. “To say the least, the program has been controversial from its inception,” Bauman told his colleagues. “There is a significant number of citizens that think it is a great idea; there are many citizens that do not think it is a great idea.”

A current two-year pilot expires at the end of this year. There are three private operators currently operating in the city, with Lime, according to prior comments by Bauman and others, seeing Milwaukee as one of its most profitable markets. A recent press release from the company touted that 1.1 millions have taken place on its scooters in Milwaukee since 2019, including 465,000 rides this year. It is adding a seated scooter, similar to a pedal-less bike, to its Milwaukee fleet.

The downtown alderman said another pilot could be warranted to examine the effectiveness of the geofencing technology designed to keep scooters from being ridden on sidewalks. “I would urge this to be defeated frankly, to allow the department to do its due diligence.”

Bauman didn’t find many supporters for his request. Only Michael Murphy, Mark Borkowski and Scott Spiker joined him in voting against the budget footnote.

But the alderman might have lost the battle and won the war.

He questioned if the language immediately required DPW to enact a permanent licensing framework.

“The City Clerk says it can say what it says. It has no effect,” said Council President José G. Pérez in summarizing the off-microphone commentary of clerk Jim Owczarski.

As virtually all footnotes do, it includes a disclaimer at the end: “The Common Council must adopt legislation to implement the intent of the footnote.”

Even if Mayor Cavalier Johnson doesn’t veto the measure, a licensing framework or 2025 pilot would need to come through Bauman’s Public Works Committee.

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Related Legislation: File 230001