Shoreline staff report: Scooter and Bike Share Pilot Program

Designated parking zone at Aurora Village
Photo by Claudia Meadows (not part of the staff presentation)

Discussion of Scooter and Bike Share Pilot Program

October 5, 2026 Shoreline City Council Meeting

Presented by: Alan Budde, Senior Transportation Planner

Kendra Dedinsky, Transportation Manager

Background

Policy Direction

• 2022/2024: Broader Climate Action Plan & Transportation Element policy direction
• June 2024: Adoption of Ordinance No. 1011 – Enabling Operation of Scooter / Bikeshare Vending
• August 2024: Implementation of Two-Year Pilot (August 2024-August 2026)
• August 2026: Pilot Extension to February 2027 to evaluate full 2 years of data and analyze impacts

Background – History

• Micromobility - shared scooters and bikes for individual use - first/last mile connection to transit
• Started as docked systems, now dockless GPS-enabled e-scooters and e-bikes are more common and economically viable

Regional Context

• Seattle, Bellevue, Redmond, Bothell and Woodinville have bike and scooter share programs

Background - Devices and Fleet

400 e-devices at launch, including at least 50 e-bikes

Approximately 800 e-devices in circulation during peak times (limit 1000)

Types:

• Standing e-scooters
• Seated e-scooters ("gliders")
• Seated e-bikes

Lime maintains vehicles and responds to complaints, using contractors for deployment, rebalancing and battery charging

Background - Operations

GEOFENCING

Virtual boundaries that trigger automated actions

No-riding zones: parks, institutional campuses

• Devices slowly power down until the rider leaves the zone

No-parking zones have been added during the pilot to protect pedestrian access

Slow can be implemented

PARKING MANAGEMENT

Riders photograph the parked device to end a ride

• Imperfect; doesn't prevent all improper parking

Lime must resolve improperly parked devices within 4 hours of notice

• Lime met Seattle’s response time 95% of the time

Repeated violations can lead to account termination

Background - Regulations

Generally applicable to all users of electric device

SMC 10.07.040

• Prohibited on streets posted above 35 mph, except in a designated bike lane
• Prohibited on sidewalks not designated as multipurpose paths

SMC 10.07.050

• No one under 13 may operate a motorized device on city streets

Helmet laws discussed with Council in May 2024 – no helmet regulations were implemented.

Speed limits are different for personal devices (generally higher) and depend on location of ride

Discussion - Ridership

July 2026: 24,059 rides

8/25-7/26: 162,537 rides

20.4% of trips by income-qualified Lime Access users

High ridership locations

• Interurban Trail/Aurora Corridor
• Shoreline Community College
• Shoreline South and North
• North City and Ballinger neighborhoods

Discussion – Community Feedback

March 2026 Engage Shoreline Survey

• 383 respondents
• 27.4% reported having used scooter and bike share vehicles

Main reasons for riding: convenience, then access to transit

Non-users' top reason: personal safety concerns

Top concern overall: bad parking or abandoned vehicles, then rider safety

7% of respondents: unreliable access to vehicle 

Impact Evaluation

• Cost: low impact, revenue neutral.
• Safety: in Shoreline, no increase in serious and fatal crashes since pilot started operating. Recognition that lower helmet use significantly increases risk.
• Accessibility: improper device parking remains a challenge.
• Transit Connection: devices provide important first/last mile connection to transit.
• Parking Supply: devices decrease the demand on parking supply; especially important around light rail stations.
• Environment: in the last year, Lime estimates more than 80,000 kg of CO2 emissions avoided.
• Economic Value: devices result in travel time savings, potentially allowing some to forgo car travel/reliance.
• Community Sentiment: roughly neutral, skewed slightly negative

Improvement Strategies

• Install more dedicated corrals
• Faster response to improper parking
• Use of geofencing to create slow zones and more no parking zones
• Modest increase in City revenue share to fund additional compliance checks by staff

Resource/Budgetary Implications

Limited Budgetary Impact

• Revenue shared with the City based on fleet size and ridership
• Pilot Year One General Revenue - $12,865
• Pilot Year Two General Revenue - $ 30,750

Recommendation

Staff is recommending continuation of the scooter and bike share program and is seeking Council feedback on this direction.