The scooter and e-bike rental companies Lime and Bird could face substantial new requirements under a new proposal from three Denver City Council members.
Under the recently introduced legislation, the city would set up “mandatory parking zones” in areas including downtown, Five Points and Union Station.
Riders ending trips in those areas would have to put the two-wheelers in specified parking zones or corrals rather than leaving them along sidewalks and in other public spaces.
The proposal also would force the companies to install “sidewalk riding detection technology” on their scooters. This technology would penalize riders for cruising on the sidewalk — with the options including higher costs, slower speeds and audible warnings.
Increasing safety and reducing 'scooter litter'
Councilmember Chris Hinds wants to discourage sidewalk riding because it’s unsafe for both the riders and pedestrians. Meanwhile, parking zones would reduce the “scooter litter” that often blocks sidewalks, he argued.
“The two big things we’re hoping to address with this legislation is where do people ride scooters, and where do people place scooters,” said Hinds, a sponsor of the measure.
Sidewalk riding “makes pedestrians feel less safe, and interestingly, nationwide, three out of every five scooter crashes are on the sidewalk,” Hinds said.
The legislation is still in its early stages, with council members Hinds, Darrell Watson and Sarah Parady set to present a draft on Tuesday to the city’s Land Use, Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
The changes also would have to be approved by the full council. The law would take effect July 2026.
More restrictions on scooters and e-bikes have been coming down
The ideas have been percolating since at least last summer, and these ideas are already in effect elsewhere.
The city is already working with Lime on mandatory parking zones around Union Station, Hinds said. Additionally, sidewalk sensing technology is already required in cities like Chicago, where a Lyft-operated program has included it since 2023. Chicago also has mandatory parking zones.
Lime representatives said the company was working locally on sidewalk sensing technology in an interview with City Cast Denver last month. The company already has the ability and is testing it in Denver now, a spokesperson said in the interview.
Those new units would be concentrated in downtown Denver, he said.
Bird and Lime didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment for this article.
Denver has seen more than 23 million scooter rides since 2018. There are close to 4,000 scooters and e-bikes in the city’s dockless fleets, with scooters far outnumbering bikes.
Lime and Bird are the only major operators in the city after Lyft shut down its program last year.
