It’s the city’s latest attempt to regulate the tens of thousands of electric scooter trips happening every day in the city, along with more on e-bikes. The council proposal, set for a final vote, would require scooter and e-bike sharing companies in the city — currently Bird and Lime — to install sidewalk-detection technology on all their devices.
“This is a policy proposal to save lives,” said Councilman Chris Hinds, a sponsor whose district includes much of downtown, during a committee meeting May 6. “We want to make sure people have the ability to have that last-mile connection, that car-alternate connection. But we want to make sure people are safe.”
The proposal is also sponsored by council members Darrell Watson and Sarah Parady.
Electric scooters have exploded in popularity since Denver began a pilot program for the dockless devices in 2018. In the first quarter of 2025, riders took nearly 900,000 scooter trips, averaging at nearly 10,000 per day, according to data from Ride Report. The Denver Department of Transportation and Infrastructure, or DOTI, estimates that the devices have reduced single-occupancy car trips by more than 8 million since 2018.
The rules would also apply to shared e-bikes, which are used much less often than the scooters. In the first quarter of 2025, riders used e-bikes about 121,000 times, with about 1,400 daily trips on average.
For some, scooters have provided an affordable, convenient way to travel short distances, including for connections to transit lines. But some pedestrians have complained about feeling “terrorized” by the riders when they use sidewalks.
Even though an existing Denver ordinance requires people to ride only on the road and in bike lanes, many people use sidewalks anyway.
Nearly 2,500 people in Denver suffered scooter-related injuries between 2020 and November 2023, according to a study from the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Many of the injuries happen on “nights and weekends, and when their riders are intoxicated,” according to a post from CU about the study.
The council’s proposal is the city’s fourth attempt at regulations around “micromobility” services, Hinds said. The city’s rules have ranged from an outright ban on the devices to restricting them to sidewalks to eventually restricting them to roads only.
If approved Monday, the ordinance would require the companies to install technology on their devices that deters riders from riding on sidewalks.
The companies could increase riders’ bills if they flout the rule, or they could make it so the device plays a continuous, automated message stating something like, “No sidewalk riding.”
In Chicago, the devices must announce, “Exit the sidewalk” — along with a loud beep warning every five seconds until the rider moves into the street, according to rules posted on that city’s website. If riders repeat the behavior multiple times, they can face fines and suspension of their account.
The Denver ordinance would also require users to take a quick “compliance test” ensuring their understanding of local laws and regulations before they can ride. That’s an effort to increase education around the rules. The city could dole out fines to people who still violate the ordinance.
‘They don’t feel safe on the streets’
While the council is expected to approve the ordinance, there is some disagreement among transit advocates about the proposal.
Jill Locantore with the Denver Streets Partnership said that while she agreed the city needed to take action to reduce conflicts with scooters in the urban core, she would prefer officials invest in better bike lanes instead.
“The reason scooters are riding on the sidewalks is because they don’t feel safe on the streets,” she said. “We’re definitely a little disappointed to see them leading with education and punishment, as opposed to leaning into more effective solutions.”
She added that her organization fears that the added rules will encourage people to use cars instead and could disproportionately punish low-income individuals who rely on scooters and bikes to get around.
Besides the sidewalk rules, in certain high-density parts of Denver, the proposal would require riders to park scooters and e-bikes in designated corrals or parking spots before they can end their ride. That would apply near Union Station, in the Central Business District and in parts of Five Points, according to the proposal.
Scooters left in the middle of sidewalks can block the walkway for pedestrians and wheelchair users.
DOTI is already testing this approach in the Union Station, Commons Park and Platte Street areas, said Nancy Kuhn, a spokesperson for the agency. When riders end trips there, they are instructed via the Lime and Bird apps that they can only do so at a parking corral and are provided nearby corral locations.
When rules take effect
The parking requirements would begin at the start of 2027 for Union Station and in July 2027 for the Central Business District, according to the ordinance.
The rest of the requirements would begin July 1, 2026.
If approved, the proposal is likely to increase the cost of using scooters because of the required addition of technology, Hinds said.
DOTI, which supports the council’s measure, has begun testing sidewalk-detection technology, Kuhn said. The city will try to find specific areas where sidewalk riding is most prevalent to begin education efforts, she said.
While policy proposals often come from agencies like DOTI, this one has come from council members instead. The council is set to vote on the ordinance during its Monday meeting, which begins at 3:30 p.m.
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