Electric city: 10 things to know about e-bike and e-scooter rentals in Austin

From zooming down South Congress Avenue to grab a drink downtown to pedaling across Barton Springs Road for an evening trip to Zilker Park, many in Austin over the past six years have fully embraced two-wheeled electric rentals as part of the city's transportation infrastructure that's here to stay.

In early 2018, e-bikes and e-scooter rentals began popping up in Austin, and the city was home to about 2,000 of them by the summer of that year. As of Friday, the city had about 11,000 permitted rentals.

Here's what we've learned about e-bike and e-scooter rentals at the start of 2023:

1. How many e-bikes are available for rent in Austin?

Lime is authorized to deploy up to 500 dockless e-bikes in the city. As of July 2022, MetroBike had at least 347 e-bikes in its fleet, and it is working to convert its 850-plus nonelectric bicycles into a fully electric fleet.

2. How many e-scooters are available for rent in Austin?

Austin has 10,250 permitted scooters within its city limits, but only 6,000 (1,500 per provider) are allowed to be deployed downtown.

Operators may have only 100 e-scooters each on Congress Avenue from Cesar Chavez Street to 11th Street and no more than five scooters per provider on each block between Colorado and Brazos streets.

The total number of scooters out in Austin can vary from day to day, but it typically never hits the max, according to the Austin Transportation Department.

3. Where are the rentals in Austin?

Scooters are mostly downtown, in West Campus and along South Congress Avenue.

The city has an interactive map at public.ridereport.com/austin that breaks down the most popular routes for e-bikes and e-scooters.

4. What's the most popular rental brand in Austin?

The Austin Transportation System said it's hard to accurately list the most popular e-scooter and e-bike brands, but it did say how many each company is permitted to have in the city:

• Lime — Total permits: 3,500 scooters and 500 e-bikes.

• Bird — Total permits: 3,000 scooters.

• Wheels — Total permits: 1,750 sit-down scooters.

• Link — Total permits: 2,000 scooters.

5. Are rentals back to pre-pandemic levels?

The Austin Transportation Department said e-bike and e-scooter use has been steadily increasing since before the coronavirus pandemic, when the two-wheel rentals were just coming to Austin and at the peak of popularity.

"The dockless mobility industry was still in its initial phase of adoption by the public before the pandemic, so the use doesn’t really depict normal use, as the excitement of the new dockless industry hadn’t leveled out," the city said in a statement. "Post-pandemic, we are seeing longer trips and more active users, rather than just one-time use."

• From March 2021 through December 2022, about 7.38 million e-bike and e-scooter trips were taken in Austin. The median number of trips per day was 8,654, and the median distance per day was 0.79 mile.

• During the height of the pandemic, from March 2020 through February 2021, only about 1.6 million e-bike and e-scooter trips were taken. The median number of trips per day was just 3,473, but the median distance per day was also 0.79 mile.

• Before the pandemic, from January 2019 through February 2020, about 6.13 million e-bike and e-scooter trips were taken. The median number of trips per day was 13,552, while the median distance per day was 0.72 mile.

6. How much money does the city earn from rentals?

The City of Austin collects different fees to authorize providers to advertise their services on public-owned portions of land.

The license application fee is $1,500 a year but is broken up into two six-month renewal cycles. The per device permit fee is $80 a year and is broken into two six-month renewal cycles. There is also a per-trip permitting fee, which is 15 cents for each e-scooter or e-bike and is paid monthly.

7. Are the rentals allowed outside of downtown?

Device rentals are allowed anywhere within city limits, according to the Austin Transportation Department.

Providers can select areas based on needs and often test out new neighborhoods to see if there is a demand for them.

8. How many scooter deaths have we had in recent years?

Authorities last year reported two scooter deaths in Austin, one at Interstate 35 and Ben White Boulevard in South Austin and the other on East Seventh Street downtown.

Four people died while riding scooters in 2021 — two on South Congress Avenue, one on East Seventh Street and the other on East Riverside Drive, according to police records.

9. What are the benefits and downsides of these rentals?

The city said the biggest benefit from having e-bike and e-scooter rentals is that it allows people who need to drive a mile or less to leave their vehicles at home and use a more environmentally friendly option.

"That aligns with the Austin Strategic Mobility Plan’s goal of reducing single-occupant vehicle trips to less than 50% by 2039," the city said in a statement.

E-bikes and e-scooters cluttering sidewalks in Austin is the biggest downside to the transportation option, according to the city.

"The rapid rise in popularity of scooters and dockless e-bikes has resulted in some areas appearing cluttered and challenging to navigate," the city said in a statement. "Policies continue to evolve with a focus on balancing the needs of meeting demand and reducing clutter in the right of way."

Strategies include limiting devices to "within close proximity to Congress Avenue, as well as installing parking corrals. The Austin Transportation Department continues to work collaboratively with providers in our city to develop new solutions and policies to improve conditions for all users."

10. How many e-scooters are fished out of Austin waters?

The Austin Transportation Department has a tally of 311 calls made about e-scooters found in and on the banks of creeks and lakes in Austin:

• 166 scooters were found in or near Austin's waterways in 2022.

• 68 scooters were found in 2021.

• 103 scooters were found in 2020.

• 42 scooters were found in 2019.

• Two scooters were found in 2018.

An analysis by the Austin Transportation Department in 2020 found that about 30% of scooters reported in a waterway were found in Lady Bird Lake.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: 10 things to know about e-bike and e-scooter rentals in Austin