Six Month Update on Santa Monica's Shared Mobility Pilot Program

April 8, 2019 3:10 PM
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In the six months since launching our Shared Mobility Pilot Program, the City has been working to protect public safety while increasing transportation options as part of our commitment to become a multi-modal community.

Here’s a look at highlights from the last six months and a preview of preparations for the busy summer months ahead.

Shared Mobility Parking Zones

Keeping sidewalks clear is a top priority, so a new zone was defined for people to try more orderly parking and device pick-up.

• 105 parking zones have been installed all across the city, including 35 in-street and 70 off-street. See our interactive map with locations and photos of the drop zones.

Sidewalk Medallions and Permanent Signage

Electric scooters were new to most people, so we’re committed to educating riders on the rules of the road and have seen substantial progress in people staying out of off-limit zones. After testing out 200 quick-install painted stencils last summer, we are producing more permanent and resilient signage for prohibited areas such as the beach bike path and Palisades Park.

Sidewalk Medallions: Beginning this month, roughly 100 medallions indicating scooter and bike dismount zones will be installed for sidewalks in downtown and other areas. 

Permanent Signage: 
Roughly 35 signs identifying off-limit areas will be installed along the beach bike path and Palisades Park.

    

Outreach and Engagement

The pilot program requires the participating companies to provide education and outreach to community members and visitors to Santa Monica.

• We are working with all four companies to refresh the public education campaign around scooter safety that launched last Summer, and to redeploy many of the tools.
  
  
• A Community Advisory Committee of residents is providing direct input and feedback at monthly meetings on a wide variety of issues and challenges relating to the operation of the program, including rider and public communications, and enforcement.

Administrative Regulations

The program was governed by Administrative Regulations that can flex throughout the program. Enhanced regulations have been issued twice already, and additional changes coming soon will require the four operators to:

• Incentivize use of the 100+ Shared Mobility Drop Zones
  
  
• Strengthen outreach and education requirements for summer months
  
  
• Reduce the speed of devices on the beach, Promenade, and Palisades Park to dissuade people from riding in these areas.

Enforcement

A dedicated Code Enforcement officer for the pilot program, and members of the Police Department are focused on scooter safety issues.

• Safety Check: We have initiated regular spot checking and tracking of the maintenance of devices across all five device types.
  
  
• Code: Code staff continues to cite operators for parking and other violations. Recently work has stepped up to cite unpermitted companies who are offering devices in Santa Monica.
  
  
• Santa Monica Police Department: SMPD continues to cite riders riding on the sidewalk, tandem riding, and other moving violations. SMPD’s recurring state grant-funded program on bike and pedestrian enforcement was recently expanded to include e-scooters. This will result in additional enforcement this summer.

Data

Santa Monica is working closely with Los Angeles Department of Transportation on a ground-breaking new transportation data tool that enables more effective street management. Cities have a core mission to manage streets, and the new tool uses technology to do it more efficiently and comprehensively.

• Mobility Data Specification: Operators are required to provide a real-time data stream of device status, location and trips.  No personal information about the user is included in this stream.  The city continues refine the specification and  to analyze the data provided by the operators, and will have compelling visualizations to share.
  
  
• User Survey: The first quarterly user survey was done in February. The summary report is being finalized and will be released soon, which reveals who is riding, why they are riding, and user understanding about rules and safety.

We are committed to continuing the hard work of making the program more effective, safe, and sustainable through the summer and throughout the duration of the pilot program which is currently set to end as a pilot at the end of 2019.

Thank you for staying engaged in Santa Monica’s Shared Mobility Pilot. For more information, visit www.smgov.net/sharedmobility.

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