Agenda Packet 2-26-20 Work Session

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4 Table 1: Listening Sessions Participants Date of Listening Session Organization or Interest Group in Attendance Number of Attendees September 12, 2019 Active Transportation Committee 11 Committee Members 5 Members of the Public October 17, 2019 Friends of Downtown 7 Group Members November 14, 2019 Active Transportation Committee 10 Committee Members 11 Members of the Public November 15, 2019 Local Government Affairs Council 25 Committee Members 2 Chamber of Commerce Staff December 9, 2019 Lane Independent Living Alliance 6 Staff Members Evaluation Criteria When adopting e-scooters, cities across the country have taken various approaches. Some, like San Diego, CA, and Austin, TX, applied a hands-off, laissez-faire style to regulating e-scooters. Others, like Portland, OR, and San Francisco, CA, have been more hands-on when regulating scooters. City staff in Eugene are working to create terms and conditions that would apply to (a) scooter operation on the part of scooter companies, and (b) scooter use on the part of scooter users. By creating rules and adding structure to an e-scooter pilot, city staff are working to mitigate concerns and potential issues. Creating evaluation criteria that will be used to screen future e-scooter companies’ applications for permission to operate is integral to this process. Feedback from the online survey, listening sessions, and public comment emails are being used to inform the development of both evaluation criteria, and what “asks” the City may place upon applicant companies. For instance, concern about helmet use is mentioned by respondents to the survey. An applicant company that utilizes technology to recognize if a user is wearing a helmet could be scored more generously than an applicant company that does not. What We Heard: Summary of Responses Attitude Toward Scooters Generally, survey respondents support an e-scooter pilot being launched in Eugene. The majority of survey takers replied that they were either “Totally on board” (30%) or “Interested, but concerned” (27%). Concerns about e-scooters center on safety, sustainability, and mobility and access for seniors and persons with disabilities. These topics were cited by the 43% of persons who replied that they do not support an e-scooter pilot as reasons why. Additional reasons provided not to support a pilot include either personal experience with, or media accounts of, scooters in other cities’, or that city resources should be focused on other issues. Conversely, common reasons provided by respondents who support the pilot are that scooters reduce reliance on cars and thus reduce fuel consumption and congestion, that they are fun, and that they provide a unique sense of freedom of movement. February 26, 2020, Work Session – Item 2