After the College Station city council issued a proclamation for National Bike Month at its last meeting, there was an update on regulations covering ridesharing or dockless bicycles and related vehicles.
No action was taken on nine changes proposed by staff to city regulations. The list includes setting a 15 mile per hour speed limit and lower in designated areas, allowing electric bicycles and scooters, and requiring a specific percentage of spaces in bicycle racks for traditional bikes.
Councilwoman Elizabeth Cunha said there was not enough room for regular bicycles due to the popularity of ride sharing bicycles on and near the Texas A&M campus.
Cunha also responded to a request for more enforcement by College Station police by relaying her son’s experiences with CSPD after riding his bicycle too fast in a school zone and running a stop sign.
The city’s senior program manager for bicycles, pedestrian, and greenways, Venessa Garza, reported CSPD responding to one case of a vehicle striking a pedestrian who was pushing a scooter across the street.
Garza also reported in 2021, 23 crashes out of 560,000 rides involving a Veoride e-scooters and bicycles, and in 2022 four crashes out of 162,169 Veoride vehicles. Most resulted in damage to the vehicle only, and less than half resulted in a very minor injury to the rider.
Since Veoride started its service on and near the Texas A&M campus in 2019, Garza reported 80,000 riders taking one million rides for a total distance of more than one million miles.
Click below for a sampling of comments from the April 28, 2022 College Station city council meeting.