Frisco City Council is considering a a yearlong pilot program for electric scooters.

Council enacted a temporary ban of dockless scooters in December after dockless mobility company Bird unexpectedly dropped off a fleet of 200-300 rental scooters Dec. 5 in Frisco. Frisco City Council ordered Bird to remove its scooters during a special meeting Dec. 14. Four days later council approved a temporary ban on certain dockless mobility services.

City staff made a presentation to City Council on March 5 to consider a pilot program with electric scooter vendors that could ultimately lead to an ordinance to regulate electric scooters.

City staff suggested the length of the pilot program to be at least one year with three additional months to collect data to see if scooters are beneficial for the city.

Suggestions from city staff for the vendors would be to have docking stations that would not be located on sidewalks. Staff also suggested that the vendors have a video for first-time users on how to use the scooters, a 24-hour customer representative, a store presence, all scooters must be geofenced and ensure all riders are 18 years of age.

City staff has already met with several vendors that would be interested in the program, such as Lime and Spin. At the council’s request staff will also reach out to Uber, which also has electronic scooters.

City Council Member Will Sowell said he wants to make sure anything the city does will be a sustainable from a business model perspective. He said there were some suggestions he was not on board with such as the video for first-time users or a store presence.

“If we’re doing this for a pilot, that’s great; I just don’t want to write an ordinance that makes it too hard for people to actually come in and do business,” Sowell said.

Council also suggested having the scooters located in places, such as Frisco Square, Hall Park and The Star.

Overall council expressed support for a pilot program, and staff will continue to work on the details of the program. Staff will go before council at a later date with a request for approval of a contract if staff finds the right vendor to partner with, according to staff.