DALLAS — The city of Dallas received hundreds of complaints last year of rental scooters being strewn around the streets when they were brought back last year. And to combat that issue, DART is launching a pilot program giving riders somewhere to leave these scooters.
Several DART rail stations and bus transfer centers will now have designated scooter parking zones for riders to use. These six zones can be seen at Victory, EBJ/Union, SMU/Mockingbird stations and the CBD West Transfer Center downtown.
DART said the goal of this program is to clear areas of clutter and walking hazards for riders, as well as to provide those who use the scooters somewhere to access or park them. This program will run for a few months, starting this month.
“Whether people like them or not, scooters have become a popular form of transportation across our service area,” DART Vice President of Capital Design and Construction Trey Walker said in a statement. “We’re acknowledging this fact while attempting to get ahead of scooter clutter at our stations with this pilot program. We want to ensure that our transit stations remain safe, and we continue to maximize efficiency with our train and bus operations.”
Each zone is specially marked and clear of walkways, platforms and paths.
DART says it will work with the city to process data for rental companies, ensuring the scooters are equipped with geofencing technology to mark their locations. Two of the companies, Lime and Bird, are working with DART to place scooter locations on the GoPass app to make it easier for riders to find these scooters.
The parking zones will also be monitored by DART staff to determine their effectiveness.
