Friday, April 26, 2024
A flock of ducks want to come to Granbury, but the City Council will decide whether to let them land here.
At its regular meeting Tuesday night, the City Council heard a presentation from Casey Whittington, national director of government relations for San Antonio-based Blue Duck Scooters.
The company, founded, Whittington said, around the middle of last year, works in partnership with municipalities to provide fleets of scooters for short rides of up to about 10 miles.
“In the heat of summer, it’s a nice option” to keep from getting “hot and sweaty,” the rep said.
Whittington stated that the scooters: travel no faster than 16 mph, but usually less than that; weigh about 25 pounds; are covered by a comprehensive insurance policy; and are cloud-based, with riders unlocking the units with their iPhones.
The scooters will only unlock for people with valid driver’s licenses, he said, and can be programmed according to specific directives from local government officials.
For instance, although the legal driving age is 16, Granbury city officials could mandate that the scooters only unlock for drivers 18 and older.
“Geo-fencing,” which is a virtual perimeter, would prevent scooters from going anywhere city officials don’t want them go, Whittington said, such as areas where special events are taking place, sidewalks on the square, or Houston and Pearl Streets on the square, which are actually Texas Department of Transportation (Tx-DOT) highways.
Houston Street becomes Weatherford Highway, and Pearl Street is Business 377.
Whittington noted that the scooters are not allowed on streets where the speed limit is higher than 35 mph, and stated that helmets would be provided to anyone who requests one.
He told the council that the scooters beep to alert riders that they are approaching a restricted zone and shut off if the rider crosses the geofencing barrier.
The scooters would cost $1 to unlock and 15 cents per minute.
“Your average fare is going to be about $3,” he said.
In response to councilman Tony Mobly’s concern that there might be pile-ups of carelessly discarded scooters, Whittington said that the company could work with the city and local businesses on designated scooter parking zones or docking stations.
“We require people to submit a picture of the unit when they park,” he stated.
Those who violate rules can be banned from future scooter usage, he said, and good behavior could be incentivized through free or reduced-cost rides.
Whittington said that, unlike some other scooter providers, Blue Duck employs locally, providing pay above minimum wage along with paid vacation, sick leave and health insurance.
A local manager would be available at all times to handle any issues, he said, and scooters would be picked up by company reps at the end of the day.
Blue Duck would not put more scooters on the streets than the market could support, Whittington emphasized.
The Blue Duck proposal was on the agenda as a presentation, not an action item, so the council took no action.
Whittington requested that he be allowed to return at a later date with other company representatives to give a demonstration of the scooters.
“We’ll reach out to our city manager and try to make that happen,” Mayor Nin Hulett said.
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