They’re here. Electric scooters are hitting the streets of St. Pete. St. Pete City Council approved a pilot program for electric scooters during a meeting on August 20. Residents may have noticed corrals popping up all over town over the past few weeks. These designated corrals will be where riders pick up, and drop-off their e-scooters 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.
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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.
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
These scooters do come with some advantages. Razor and Veo have batteries that can be swapped, rather than charged. Dedicated full time staff will replace the batteries when necessary for each vehicle.
Other guidelines for scoots include that scooters will not be allowed on sidewalks around the Sunshine City.. Scooters can be ridden on streets where the speed limit is 30mph or less. Scooters won’t be allowed on the city’s waterfront trails, and the St. Petersburg Pier.
Learn more about Razor here. Learn more about Veo here.
Scooters have popped up outside of Intermezzo at 1111 Central Avenue, at the Hyatt Hotel downtown at 25 2nd Street North, and the Museum of Fine Arts at 255 Beach Drive Northeast.
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