Time to zoom (no, not Zoom). St. Pete City Council approved a pilot program for electric scooters during a meeting on August 20. The agreement will bring electric scooters from Veo and Razor to the streets of St. Pete. There are guidelines in place to help make their addition to the ‘Burg a welcome one.
Both operators will be required to make certain payments to the City that include a one-time Parking Area Design and Construction Fee in the amount of $40,000 and a monthly Right-of-Way Usage Fee in an amount that will vary based on the number of authorized scooters deployed by each of the Operators per day during that month.
ADVERTISEMENT
The pilot program will last 18 months from the effective date.
How many scooters will hit the road in St. Pete?
The total number of Scooters will vary between 600 – 1,500 within the Scooter Share Program. The operational area of the Scooter Share Program will be similar to the area served by the City’s bike share program, which is generally within the greater Downtown core and adjacent business districts, including the EDGE, Grand Central, Deuces Live on 22nd Street South, and MLK Street Business District.
ADVERTISEMENT
Razor and Veo will start with 100 corrals, with the ability to expand based on demand.
Fines can be assessed on the operators for nuisance scooters in the city. A nuisance scooter is any scooter parked outside its designated zone, or any scooter found tipped over for more than 30 minutes after the company has been notified.
The vehicles themselves are equipped with GPS and max out at 15mph.
Razor will provide seated scooter where riders have the option to sit or stand, and VeoRide will offer standing scooters.
The anticipated rate is $1 to unlock the scooter, and $.29 per minute of use for Razor, and $1 to unlock and $.33 per minute for Veo.
St. Pete officials also outlined an equity zone for the scooters.
User Discounts Provided for users qualified in federal, state, or local income-based programs
-
- Razor – fees reduced by 50% – $.50 unlock rate and $.15/minute
- Veo – entire unlock fee waived
This includes the area bounded by 22nd Street; Dr. M.L. King, Jr. Street; 5th Avenue N; and 18th Avenue S. where the median household income is near or below 50% of the citywide median income. Included in identified Environmental Justice Areas with Minority and Poverty populations that exceed the countywide average. This has also been identified as an area with a high percentage of no-auto households
An official launch date is still TBA.
ADVERTISEMENT
