INC PARC Meeting 05-21-19

Jay and Kathleen Rust brought wine and seltzer water for a toast and tribute to Diana Helper.  We recalled her sense of humor, her note taking and her determination to create Prarie Park
Members of Denver Parks and Recs attended to discuss a pilot of electric motor devices in parks and bike ways.

Attendees: Laura Morales Community Relations Parks and Recs, Jacob Wells Denver Park Ranger, Jason Coffee Trails Planner Denver Parks and Rec , Katie Fisher, Amber Clark, Steve Fisher, Sonia John, Greg Sorenson, Kathleen Rust, Jay Rust, Marlene Johnson Cindy Johnstone, Maggie Price, Fred Weiss Director of Finance

E-DEVICE – Electric bicycles and scooters

TOPIC PILOT PROGRAM OF E-DEVICES IN PARKS AND TRAILS

Jason Coffee told us that the scooters appeared last year in full force under the new Transit amenities program run by Public Works.  They have been operating since last summer but rules that govern bicycles, scooters and skateboard  in parks and on trails were never written with these devices  in mind and the regulatory framework needed to catch up with  the use.  Public Works  was in the lead  in terms of addressing their use on sidewalks and streets and the resulting complicated legal framework.
*Under state law scooters are classified as toy vehicles and not allowed to be used in the street  and that has not yet been fully resolved.
Jason reported that there has been strong sentiment that the sidewalk wasn’t the place that people wanted scooters to operate in. Public Works approached Council in January with a proposal that the scooters could operate in the bike lanes if the street was 30 miles an hour or under,  but if street speed was higher, then they could operate on the sidewalk with a maximum speed of 6 miles an hour. However the effort in January did not address parks and trails. DPR wanted to do to do something to address the rules and create  a framework in which there was the opportunity for enforcement and not just responding to the use that was already occurring in parks.  The temporary directive essentially allows electronic devices on parks and trails where they’re not specifically prohibited. The bottom line philosophy is, where bikes are allowed, Electronic devices are allowed.  The 180 trial period gives DPR an opportunity to  evaluate, monitor the use and figure out steps to go forward  . Section 54 article IX in City Ordinances division 1 and 3 outline rules for bicycles and scooters.

The decision to allow them in parks as of April 2019  is that one of the missions of  Denver Parks and Recreation is to provide recreational opportunities and a number of people want to use these devices in parks so DPR is providing that opportunity. The other reason is that DPR wants to allow users to have additional mobility options. People want to be able to get from one place to another but some can’t use a normal bike because of age or physical problems. The types of e-bikes permitted are not much different in size as a normal bike. Fred Weiss stated that “this is a pilot and that there has been a lot of demand for us to allow these devices in parks and we can clearly recognize the excessive use of our parks and the safety issues that are created by these devices and just by people”. DPR is looking for input both from rangers and general public by using the evaluation tool. Reports of conflicts and violations can be logged at 311 as well . At the end of the pilot, adjustments are expected to be made. Citations will be given for excessive speed.

Concern was expressed by PARC that all the parks and trails were included in this pilot, and that some of the larger parks were already highly impacted by motor and regular bicycle traffic. In regard to pedestrian traffic and E-DEVICES sharing the sidewalks and trails, PARC was told that E-DEVICES could only take up half of the path and that they were not expected to be on crushed surface paths. DPR believes that if certain trails are not allowed, it would cut people from the full benefit of the network of the park system. Only non-motorized devices will be permitted for trail use and gas motorized vehicles will still not be allowed on trail surfaces. The philosophy of DPR during this trial is if regular bicycles can go there then why not all E-DEVICES. Behavior in parks and on trails will be monitored by the Park Rangers.

Some PARC members relayed experiences that they have had walking in the parks and being confronted by scooters going 15 miles an hour and expressed their lack of confidence in using 311 to create timely reports. They also observed that as the E-DEVICE plan goes through the pilot plan, a culture change is created giving permission for people to do more as they choose without repercussion. PARC asked how great the demand for this change was and how it was expressed. Laura Morales replied that to ascertain the demand , Public Works conducted a survey after the January ordinance change and determined that scooters and e-bikes were already being used in the parks and trails and that in its self implied demand.
PARC was told by Fred Weiss that there are rules for the commercial companies and that they cannot stage their vehicles in the parks and the devices must be removed from the park on a daily basis.
DPR has tried to conduct some outreach to inform riders of their responsibilities while riding any vehicle in parks and trails.  Members of PARC reminded DPR representatives of unintended consequences regarding E-DEVICES vs pedestrians, particularly during crowded weekends which could produce conflicts between pedestrians and the devices.

Members expressed concern that some of the components of passive enjoyment of parks are gradually being eliminated and asked how people will be informed of some of the safety precautions . Laura told of notifications going out to RNOs, detailing the responsibilities of the riders such as passing on left, notifications that they are approaching, slowing down and sharing sidewalk or path. PARC reminded DPR that RNOs cannot do all the notification. Many more people are living in high rises and apartments. Often they do not participate in their local RNO and they must be notified too. Laura agreed to compile a list of high rises and apartments and to provide notification to them. A suggestion was made to reach out to our state legislators to define what a toy is since scooters are part of that definition. Fred Weiss believes that is more the responsibility of the Mayors office with state legislation rather that DPR.

A question from a committee member asked why are bicycles allowed on sidewalks of parks but not on city sidewalks and another question was asked to Jacob concerning drinking in the park and use of the E-DEVICES  “Are there rules concerning that?”. Jacob will find out answer and send. Jacob also answered the question of abandoned E-DEVICES in the parks. He believes that it is contrary to the commercial companies interests. They typically see the devices picked up pretty quickly.
There was concern expressed both by PARC and DPR about the lack of consistency in rules within neighboring communities. Example: E-DEVICES on Highline Canal and crossing different municipality borders such as Denver to Auroria, Englewood, Littleton. Common regulations should be established to avoid confusion when traversing across borders.
Final question from PARC regarding E-DEVICES sharing the side walk with pedestrians, “is the pedestrian expected to get off sidewalk”. The response from DPR, “No, park rules clearly state that the e-device/bicycle  is expected to yield to pedestrian and that is enforceable.
DPR wants incidents to be reported to the evaluation tool that has been provided at so that tweaks and additions can be added to the rules.

Meeting adjourned 8:00

On May 23 INC PARC received the follow information from Laura Morales as an update to the discussion the previous night.

Hi Maggie and Cindy,

Glad we were able to join in yesterday at your meeting – it was a productive discussion! Just to follow up on a few things that came up yesterday:

• The Public Works survey findings are attached (and the input I got from public works on this is copied below). All is available online here: www.denvergov.org/docklessmobility
• DPR will post on Nextdoor about this tomorrow or Friday
• The eval tool link: https://app.maptionnaire.com/en/5968/
  • Or you can find it here: www.denvergov.org/trails

From Public Works:

One minor update since we release the report out – Lime does not have bikes deployed anymore…only scooters.

Denver’s Dockless Mobility Pilot Permit Program began last August as a way to explore the integration of dockless scooter and e-bike technologies into our transportation network and test these new innovations for their ability to offer flexible and affordable options that meet Citywide mobility goals, such as the reduction of single occupancy vehicle use.  Some highlights of our pilot midpoint report-out:

1. People are utilizing scooters in Denver, with more than 800,000 rides logged to date and nearly a million miles traveled. Average length of scooter rides are just under one mile.
2. People are using e-bikes to a lesser extent so far, with more than 58,000 rides logged and about 90,000 miles traveled, with a longer average ride length of 1.52 miles.
3. People responded that they would be more likely to use dockless vehicles if more were available.
4. People responding to our dockless mobility survey reported using dockless vehicles to replace their walking trips most frequently, but also to replace motor vehicle trips.
5. Denver Public Works will continue to monitor the interactions of dockless vehicles and transit. People are using dockless vehicles in conjunction with transit, with 19% of survey recipients reporting they do so at least once a week and 37% percent of survey recipients saying they do so occasionally (less than once a week)
6. Safety is a topic Denver Public Works is continuing to monitor following a recent change in city ordinance allowing scooters to ride in bike lanes.

We’ve also added a dynamic fleet sizing policy to our pilot program, allowing for modest increases, or potential decreases, of dockless fleet sizes, based on vehicle utilization performance measures. Based on the attached policy/criteria, Lime, Lyft and Bird qualified and increased their fleet sizes by 25% (or by 88 scooters total), so they each went from a 350 scooter fleet size to 438.

Denver Dockless Dynamic Fleet Sizing Feb 2019

https://www.denverinc.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Denver-Dockless-Dynamic-Fleet-Sizing-Feb-2019.pdf

Denver Dockless Mobility Update Feb 2019

https://www.denverinc.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Denver-Dockless-Mobility-Update-Feb-2019.pdf