Scooters are coming back to Raleigh. Here’s when.
Scooters are returning to Raleigh next month.
The city will partner with companies Lime, Spin and Bolt to bring the scooters back to the area this May. Scooter company Gotcha pulled scooters from Raleigh in October.
Each company will have to maintain a fleet of least 50 scooters and not more than 250.
“The City of Raleigh’s overall goal for the micromobility program is to provide Raleigh safe, equitable and sustainable forms of transportation to improve quality of life, provide connections to transit and key destinations,” according to a city news release Friday.
A Raleigh scooter history
Bird and Lime both arrived in the city unannounced in the summer of 2018, instantly polarizing people on the new method of transportation.
The Raleigh City Council created rules for the vehicles and imposed a $300 per scooter fee. It was one of the highest fees in the country and prompted both Bird and Lime to leave.
The city selected South Carolina-based company, Gotcha, to work with the city, but it left Raleigh and several other cities last year. Raleigh has been scooter-less since.
The Raleigh City Council updated its rules. It will now impose a 15-cent fee per ride. At least 20% of the scooters will be required to be placed in “low-income” areas designated by the city, and the companies have to offer a multilingual website and app.
Lime has remained on N.C. State University’s campus, and both Spin and Bolt have scooters in Durham.
This story was originally published April 16, 2021 at 3:42 PM.
