Walton County seeking proposals for motorized scooter pilot program [PREMIUM]

By DOTTY NIST

As of Dec. 16, Walton County is requesting proposals from companies interested in providing motorized scooter rentals within designated areas of the county as part of a pilot program.

Applying to the small stand-up electric or e-scooters, the program is known as the Motorized Scooter Pilot Share Program.

The Walton County Board of County Commissioners (BCC) had approved the pilot program on Sept. 14 after having a moratorium in place on e-scooter rentals for some time and legal counsel advising that the commissioners would not be able to extend the moratorium further.

The program is aimed at regulating scooter rentals to avoid problems that have occurred with them in other areas. Due to state statutes in Florida, an outright e-scooter rental ban is not possible, and the devices are generally legally allowed in areas where bicycles are permitted.  Viewable on the Walton County website, the request for proposals (RFP) document for the pilot program is 82 pages. These include more than a dozen pages of county requirements for operation of motorized scooters.

MAP SHOWING deployment areas for the Walton County Motorized Scooter Pilot Share Program along with areas where scooter rentals are to be restricted.

Among the requirements for the program are hours of operation (7 a.m. to 7 p.m.), local staff to resolve issues and develop solutions to improve program performance, fleet size (50 scooters initially), education of riders, and parking requirements/prohibition of leaving scooters on right-of-ways, sidewalks, or streets.

Scooter riders are to be prohibited from riding on travel lanes of U.S. 98, U.S. 331, or CR-30A, except to cross those roads. No scooter rentals are to be allowed to anyone under age 18.

A $20,000-a-year annual fee is to be required from any operator selected to provide scooter rentals.

Offenses for operators who violate program requirements may result in fines ranging from $250 per scooter for first offense to $1,000 per scooter if there are successive offenses, and revocation of the company’s ability to participate in the program may result from more than six offenses over a 12-month period.

For scooter riders, fines for violations range from $20 for the first offense to $60 and freezing of the rider’s scooter rental account for the third offense.

Included with the program is a map showing “deployment areas” where scooter rentals are to be allowed in north, north central, south central, and south Walton County. Areas where scooter rentals are to be restricted consist of seven neighborhood plans areas, the Beach Highland, Grayton Beach, Blue Mountain Beach, Gulf Pines, Gulf Trace, Inlet Beach, and Point Washington neighborhood plan areas.

The schedule for awarding of any bids from companies responding to the RFP provides for closing of the RFP on Jan. 25, followed by the bids being evaluated by a review committee on Feb. 7, and then discussion on the bids by the BCC on the Feb. 15 meeting agenda. Plans are for the BCC to award any bid or bids on Feb. 22 for a one-year period.

Information on the RFP may be viewed online on the Walton County website at https://www.co.walton.fl.us/bids.aspx?bidID=536