The Chron editorial board calls for regulation over a ban.
We’re feeling a bit of whiplash.
For a city that has for decades been desperate to get people out of their cars and into central neighborhoods, our leaders seem all too eager to slam the brakes on a phenomenon regularly delivering crowds: e-scooter rentals.
Mayor John Whitmire’s administration has proposed an outright ban on the zippy two-wheelers in downtown and surrounding neighborhoods — an act of regulatory overreach that undermines Houston’s pro-business reputation while ignoring the real dangers on our roads.
Yes, there is a problem of youths and families on electric scooters overcrowding Discovery Green at night. Pop-up vendors are illegally renting on the roads and sidewalks. Residents and business leaders have every right to complain about chaos.
That’s why City Hall needs to go back to the drawing board and come up with smart regulations that target the harms they want to prevent, not whole categories of transportation they don’t like. This means listening carefully to everyone involved: commuters, residents, businesses and even the kids looking to have some fun.
In fact, the brick-and-mortar companies that rent these scooters have already banded together and proposed regulations as an alternative to a ban. They point to geofencing, speed and age limits and even curfews as a way to promote safe habits and weed out the bad actors. This sort of informed feedback should have Houstonians asking why City Hall didn’t consider these ideas at the very beginning. Whatever the reason, City Council members have indicated that they’re open to compromise.
“I think that there’s a way to accommodate various interests,” said Houston City Council member Julian Ramirez, who chairs the Quality of Life Committee debating the regulations.
Permitting could also be a part of the solution. Unlike Austin, Dallas and San Antonio, which have permitting regulations, Houston doesn’t track how many rental scooters are on the street. That might be a step toward implementing rules that bring some order to the mayhem — and yes, there is mayhem.
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Nor is City Hall fully considering the impact of a proposed ban on Houstonians who use scooters to commute to work or school.
Consider Claudia Vargas Corletto, a Third Ward resident who told the editorial board that she doesn’t own a car and uses her scooter to commute to her job in Montrose.
“For God’s sake, I’m a nanny,” she said. “This is how I get to work.”
See here for the background. We may have a city that has long wanted to get people out of cars and into alternate means of transit that don’t clog up the streets the way single-occupancy vehicles do, but we don’t currently have a Mayor who is interested in that. And yes, there are people who don’t own a car and get around on scooters. Maybe not that many, but they’re surely not causing any kind of major problem. Surely they deserve for Council to a way forward that doesn’t strand them.
To get some more perspective on the issue, the Chron sent one of their writers out with a video camera to see the mayhem for herself.
I showed up at Discovery Green on recent Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights to see what all the fuss was about.
I half-expected to see a dystopian scene out of RoboCop II. Instead, I saw a park packed with young adults and whole families riding a myriad of electric vehicles. Hundreds in their weekend getups zipping around, their vehicles glowing in the night. It was lively but also uncomfortably crowded.
All the scooter users tell me they follow the rules.
“We’re over here with our friends having fun on the weekend,” said Edwin Cruz, 21, of Aldine. “I ride on the street, we all ride on the street.”
Not long after, however, Cruz and others I’d spoken with sped away into the park.
For pedestrians and residents of the luxury One Park Place high-rise, the constant threat of collisions is real. They want the city to go after the people renting out the e-scooters.
“I’ve had cans and containers thrown at me by scooter riders for simply telling them they’re breaking the law,” said Richard Paulssen, a resident at One Park Place. To him, Discovery Green was “no longer a safe space” for parents and children — not with the “risk of being run down by multiple scooters tearing up the lawn.”
Vendors are quick to point fingers — at their rivals. The large brick-and-mortar scooter rental companies place the blame on pop-up vendors illegally renting on the roads and sidewalks. They say the illegal vendors give out unsafe scooters that operate at excessive speeds and they rent to minors without an adult present.
Abe Levitz is the founder of ERYD, the largest e-scooter vendor in the city. At Lamar Street alone – one of ERYD’s seven-plus Houston locations – they rent out more than 100 scooters on any given Saturday night. Levitz is organizing the brick-and-mortar vendors into a “Legal Scooter Coalition.” They want a compromise: namely, to crack down on vendors operating on private property without a valid lease.
“The illegal operators have no guidelines. They have nothing to lose. They’re fly-by-night,” said Levitz.
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Most people who die on our roads are in cars, but we don’t ban automobiles. The real reason behind the uproar that I found was a different kind of fear — unease over crime.
Many residents and business owners believe that e-scooter riders are committing crimes or attracting them. Leadership at Discover Green pointed me to a news story from 2024 about an altercation and shooting involving two teenagers on scooters and a man that led to a downtown arrest.
Yet, HPD Capt. Melissa Countryman said at the hearing that most weapon arrests this year from January to March involved vendors who carried illegal firearms for protection.
Most of the scooter riders I spoke with are from greater Houston. The majority were Latino and Black. They, too, are looking for a safe place to enjoy an evening out, and they deserve one.
Lauren Jones, 22, and her friend Shaniyah Smith, 24, both from Houston, were returning their scooters to ERYD around 1 a.m.
“You get a better view of the city while on scooters. We went to Discovery Green. We didn’t get kidnapped, we didn’t get hurt or anything. I felt safe at Discovery Green,” said Jones.
Over three nights, I lugged thousands of dollars of camera equipment around and I felt safe as well, because of the crowds and the heavy police presence.
You’d think, with such a “heavy police presence”, there would be sufficient order. The capacity seems to be there to enforce existing ordinances, and any future ones that may get passed. I say again, why not give that a try?
Speaking for the opposition is the president of Discovery Green Conservancy.
Cities across America and abroad are restricting electric scooters after finding the promise doesn’t match the reality. Paris, France; Melbourne, Australia and Indianapolis, Ind. have all implemented bans or strict restrictions. Even scooter-friendly Austin created significant downtown limitations. Houston, it’s our turn to learn from their experience — and our own.
At Discovery Green, we’ve witnessed firsthand how electric scooters have transformed from a transportation solution into a public safety problem. Every weekend and most evenings, it seems, our 12-acre park becomes a high-speed playground for teens and young adults. Too many race across carefully maintained gardens, walkways and lawns with little regard for families, pets, elderly visitors or park safety rules.
The original vision was admirable: electric scooters as clean, efficient urban transportation. The reality in our downtown green space tells a different story. These aren’t commuters using scooters to get to work or appointments. They’re groups seeking entertainment, treating our public park like a private racetrack. Most concerning, groups of riders create grooves in our lawns through high-speed turns and stunts, causing damage.
Over the years, Discovery Green has invested heavily in trying to address this problem. We’ve spent hundreds of thousands on security personnel. My staff tells me that our guards and employees have faced verbal abuse and threats. When attempting to enforce park rules, riders have often responded with defiance. “No cop, no stop” has become a common refrain. When police arrive, the groups often scatter at high speeds, making enforcement nearly impossible.
The atmosphere of lawlessness that accompanies these large groups creates an environment that has become ever-more dangerous and violent. Discovery Green staff have witnessed fights break out among the teens and young adults on scooters. Some appear to take pride in their ability to damage property and “take over” the park, driving out others who are there for recreation. It’s created a culture that feels threatening to park visitors and staff.
I respect that they have had problems. I’m not convinced that a stricter regulatory regime plus actual enforcement from HPD would not ameliorate it. And if I’m wrong, in six months or a year, then we can ban them. Just, why not try the lighter approach first? I still don’t see a good reason not to.