Micromobility Regulation: Best Practices Review

As rented and shared micromobility options, e-scooters are new and potentially transformative app-based modes that promise to alleviate first mile/last mile mobility issues, congestion, and more. Yet their safe deployment has not yet been systematically understood or standardized by users, cities, or operators. From 2017 to 2021, 267,700 people were treated for injuries in emergency departments and 129 were killed in micromobility product-related crashes. These devices are not yet regulated by a federal agency like the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration or the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and their use is not uniformly regulated at the municipal level. Some jurisdictions are imposing strict regulations across a region, regardless of density levels or urban design, while others have not imposed any rules at all. Without further understanding of what constitutes effective local regulation, the safe operation of these devices may not improve. This project explores what types of regulations municipalities and regions are imposing in an effort to address the safe deployment of these micromobility options.