Company & Unit Caps

Determining the right number of E-scooters and companies allowed to service an area is a difficult balancing act. Too many E-scooters and almost undoubtedly there will be issues with public nuisances and misuse; too few scooters and companies will likely not capture the market. The main factor is finding the middle ground between size of the city or intended service area and number of inhabitants. When E-scooters were first introduced, they simply appeared on sidewalks across many cities in the United States. Local municipalities were caught off guard and there was little or no regulation on the number of E-scooters operating in a city. This guerrilla implementation has had mixed reviews and has led in some instances to a full moratorium or bans of E-scooters.

Potential Legal Language

Strict cap model (minimum/maximums) *[brackets] indicate a place where a city should insert their own figures. 

  1.  An Provider must have a minimum fleet of [75] Vehicles in operation at all times.
  2. An Provider must have a maximum fleet of [500] Vehicles.
  3. The total number of E-scooters must not exceed a maximum of [3,000] E-scooters in operation at any time.

Company Cap Model (within a permit) *[brackets] indicate a place where a city should insert their own figures. 

  1. No more than [4] providers may operate in the service area.

 

Fleet Size Chart

  • ***Santa Monica has allowed 750 cap for bird and lime, and a 250 cap for two other companies.
  • **Atlanta has a de-facto cost structure which makes each permit holder subject to a 500 unit cap
  • *These figures indicate a fleet size cap per permit of issuance. N/A indicates that a regulation does not address this topic. 0 indicates an E-scooter ban.  
City Population Fleet Size Cap*
Austin, Texas 950,715 500
Alexandria, Virginia 160,035 N/A
Atlanta, Georgia 486,290 500 **
Athens, Georgia 127,064 0
Arlington, Virginia 234,965 350
Baltimore, Maryland 611,648 1000
Boise, Idaho 226,570 750
Charlottesville, Virginia 48,019 200
Cincinnati, Ohio 301,301 200
Columbus, Ohio 133,114 500
Dallas, Texas 1,341,000 500
Detroit, Michigan 673,104 N/A
Durham, North Carolina 267,743 N/A
Fort Lauderdale, Florida 180,072 500
Greensboro, North Carolina 290,222 N/A
Indianapolis, Indiana 872,680 N/A
Long Beach, California 469,450 N/A
Los Angeles, California 4,000,000 3,000
Louisville, Kentucky 616,261 650
Memphis, Tennessee 667,560 N/A
Nashville, Tennessee 659,042 750
Oakland, California 425,195 N/A
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 643,648 250
Orlando, Florida 280,257 500
Portland, Oregon 647,805 683
Raleigh, North Carolina 464,758 500
Richmond, Virginia 227,032 500
San Antonio, Texas 1,512,000 N/A
San Jose, California 1,035,000 N/A
Santa Monica, California 92,306 750***
St. Louis, Missouri 308,626 N/A
Tempe, Arizona 185,038 N/A
Washington, D.C. 693,972 600

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