Spokane city council to consider getting rid of helmet rule for Lime bikes & scooters

March 18, 2019 6:31 PM

Kelsie Morgan,

Posted: March 18, 2019 6:31 PM

Updated: May 20, 2021 9:26 AM

by Kelsie Morgan

Spokane city council to consider getting rid of helmet rule for Lime bikes & scooters

SPOKANE, Wash. — In Monday night’s city council meeting, an ordinance will be introduced which would allow for the bikesharing program that was tested last year to become permanent in Spokane. It would also do away with the helmet requirement for riders older than 18 using the service.

Lime bikes and scooters were tested on a trial basis during the spring and summer of 2018. The service was used more than 139,000 times.

According to the text of the city council ordinance, since the trial run ended city staff have been working to complete a series of stakeholder meetings, public outreach, and a public survey. “The majority of responses to the program have been positive, both among users of the pilot program and non-users,” says the ordinance.

If it passes, it would “allow for permanent operation of a shared mobility program (formerly known as bikeshare) in the City of Spokane.”

Council members are also considering loosening the helmet requirements within the city.

Currently, anyone riding a bike, scooter, skateboard, roller skates, or other wheeled device in the city of Spokane is technically required to wear a helmet at all times.

The ordinance, which is set to be voted on on Monday, March 25, would exempt people older than 18 who are riding bikes and scooters rented through an app, such as the Lime program, from the helmet rule. Specifically, it says the helmet requiement, “does not apply to the application-based rental of electronically activated personal transportation devices by persons eighteen years of age or older.”

The helmet requirement would still apply to anyone riding their personal bikes or scooters.

The ordinance would also make it so anyone under 16 would not be allowed to operate a ‘motorized personal transporation device,’ or a lime scooter, in the city of Spokane.

You can read the full text of the proposed ordinance here (begins on page 152).

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