About a month ago, Scooters were banned entirely in Dallas city; the city is now all set to allow them to return but on a temporary permit basis.

The city banned the for safety reasons after the companies allowed people to operate them into the night, violating the city's rules.

According to reports from the Dallas director of transportation, he may give the green light to scooter operators to return with a temporary permit soon after a public meeting set for next Thursday. But some people think that this decision is too soon.

Like many Dallas city councilmembers, Adam Bazaldua is frustrated by the scooter vendors. They didn’t follow the city's rules for hours of operation and distributed the scooters throughout the city to help DART riders on the last stretch of their commute.

A city graphic shows an astonishing usage of scooters before and after COVID-19.

Before the pandemic, the scooter usage peaked at lunchtime at around 10 p.m.

Dallas Councilman David Blewett considered public safety first and said, “They were creating an audience for street racers.” 

For public safety reasons, the Dallas transportation director halted the scooter program about a month ago.

Tanya Ragan, a West End business owner, stated that the difference was immediate. He said, “It was overnight. People came back out.” “Businesses went from ‘we just want pause’ to ‘we don't want them back ever.’ We took that step because vendors were not following the city’s guidelines.

Ragan added that if scooter vendors follow all the guidelines, scooters can be an asset to downtown.

The city plans to authorize only two scooter operators in the future, with vendors being replaced if they don't follow the guidelines.