The following is a release from Ald. Robert Bauman.

Today the Common Council approved legislation (Common Council File #190443) sponsored by Alderman Robert Bauman that regulates motorized scooters in the City of Milwaukee. The ordinance also directs the Department of Public Works (DPW) to establish a Dockless Scooter Pilot Study to evaluate their operation. These regulations were necessitated by recent changes in state law that legalized the operation of motorized scooters in Wisconsin. 

"When motorized scooters were dumped on Milwaukee streets in summer 2018, the operator company was breaking state law," said Ald. Bauman. "Now that state law has been amended, the city is prepared to embrace motorized scooters provided certain basic rules are followed. Foremost among those rules is that motorized scooters cannot be operated on public sidewalks."

Ald. Bauman continued: "Last year my office received numerous complaints about motorized scooters operating on sidewalks. In particular, pedestrians and the disabled feared for their safety. The issue will boil down to respect: namely, will scooter users respect the rights of pedestrians and the disabled and refrain from operating on sidewalks."

If sidewalk usage becomes widespread, the Pilot Study ordinance empowers the Commissioner of Public Works to end the program and prohibit motorized scooters throughout the city. 

For more information on the pilot study, click here.