Houston wants to ban electric scooter use in downtown areas

Countryman shared during the July 24 meeting the results of a scooter task force conducted from Jan. 31 to Feb. 1, and March 28-29, which ended with a total of 129 e-scooters being seized.

Irshad also said there has been a rise in accidents and fatalities from 2021 to 2024, with 21 accidents and two fatalities that occurred in 2024. Houston has the second-most e-scooter accidents compared to other major Texas cities in 2024, trailing behind Austin, which had 23, according to a presentation during the meeting.

Within the city, 53% of e-scooter users are within the downtown area, according to the presentation.

“We want to minimize accidents, which means minimizing scooter activity,” Irshad said.

Irshad said the city wants to ban the use of e-scooters rather than enforcing regulations because other cities like Dallas, San Antonio and Austin enforce regulations, but continue to see accidents.

“You can manage it a little better, but you’re not eliminating, you’re simply reducing and mitigating it,” Irshad said. “They still have accidents, they still have fatalities, and then there are other complaints that come along with permitting a program that we don’t really deal with right now.”

What council members are saying

Julian Ramirez, council member at-large Position 1 and Quality of Life Commission Chair, said during the meeting that this ordinance could affect those who use e-scooters to travel to work, and he wants the city to consider restricted hours instead.

“Just from my window this morning in my office, I saw at least one person who was riding their motorized scooter to work,” Ramirez said. “Earlier this week, I was in an office building in a garage where there was a bike rack and I saw a motorized scooter there.”

Council member Abbie Kamin said the city should consider geofencing, which blocks e-scooter usage in certain areas. She also said she’s concerned that if a ban happens, groups that operate pop-up scooter rentals without a storefront would just move to other districts in Houston, such as hers in District C.

“These popups are going to move to other areas in the city, and then we’re going to have the same issue, primarily in District C,” Kamin said. “I think we will see them in some of the more popular areas of the Heights. I think we will be moving the issue, rather than addressing the issue.”

Council member Joaquin Martinez, whose district covers East Downtown, said this has been a concern for him and his constituents, with a rise in those who use e-scooters for “joy rides” rather than transportation.

“I’ve gotten calls from the hotels and Houston First that there are young kids, specifically 14, 15, 16-year-olds, that are riding on the opposite side of the street and sidewalks,” Martinez said. “It’s really become a safety issue for pedestrians."

Those in favor

More than 30 Houston residents spoke during the committee meeting, supporting or opposing the proposed ordinance.

Todd Holloman, the vice president for venues and events with Houston First Corp., said the corporation “strongly supports” the proposed ordinance after seeing numerous adults and minors riding scooters at excessive speeds, “often faster than vehicles on the streets.”

“There is no regard to rules, regulations and often an intent to create chaos and harm,” Holloman said.

Kathryn Lott, the president and park director of Discovery Green, said during the meeting that “scooter culture” has shown people to violate the park’s property and buildings.

“For years now, we have tried everything,” Lott said. “We have tried all of the signage, all of the blinking lights and traffic signs. I cannot stress this enough—we do not have a scooter issue, we have a violence issue.”

Those opposed

Emmanuel Nunez, founder and director at A Tale of Two Bridges, a non-profit dedicated to conserving, expanding and enhancing multi-use urban trails in Houston, told Community Impact that banning e-scooters outright is punishing those who rely on them for transportation and those who ride them responsibly.

He believes the city should invest in educating both scooters and drivers, which would help both groups learn how to share the road.

“We’re hearing from dozens of people that use the scooters either to get to downtown or to get to places, that this is just really drastic,” Nunez said. “It’s a lot easier for people to use those scooters as a more flexible, more affordable option to owning a car.”

There are a few businesses in the downtown area that rent out scooters. One such example, Bolt Scooters, has locations on Rusk and Main streets. Ivan Rosales, the manager at Bolt Scooters, told Community Impact the ordinance would hurt the scooter industry in “a major way.”

“Some of the companies are located within that scooter-free zone, and worst-case scenario, they would have to eventually move out of the city or a little bit on the edges,” Rosales said. “We would probably have to advise customers not to go anywhere in downtown, just because it would be breaking the ordinance.”

Lucy Montes, the owner of downtown scooter rental Swerv Scooters, said the problem isn’t scooters, but vendors who do not educate riders or follow safety rules.

“Let’s not throw out an entire industry because of a few bad actors,” Montes said. “Let's make smarter policies and not scar the economic and cultural progress we’ve made.”

What’s next

City Council will revisit the ordinance at a future meeting to vote on the proposed change.