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At least one electronic scooter rental business plans to set up shop in Albuquerque after the Albuquerque City Council made it easier for the rental businesses to operate.
Electronic scooter rental company Lime plans to operate in Albuquerque and will be applying under the city’s Shared Active Transportation program, Robert Gardner, senior director of government relations at Lime, said in a statement.
“The changes in the ordinance accepted by council are absolutely the catalyst for Lime’s application as the previous program was unfortunately prohibitively expensive,” Gardner said.
Passed unanimously by the City Council last week, the ordinance lowers the fee for e-scooter or e-bike rental businesses to start operating in Albuquerque to $4,000 . The city also charges a 10 cent fee per ride, $75 in annual fees per vehicle, and $40 in annual fees per station on public property and an annual application fee.
The ordinance uses Colorado Springs as inspiration for its fee structure, using the same per-ride fees. Without considering per-ride fees, Colorado Springs would charge a company approximately $39,500 annually for 500 scooters and 50 stations, whereas under the previous fee structure, Albuquerque would have charged $155,275 for the same number of scooters to operate, according to the ordinance.
The ordinance also requires the rental businesses to have Albuquerque based staff who can manage vehicle maintenance 24/7.
“I’m really excited to be able to offer this to all the residents and all the tourists,” said Councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn, who sponsored the legislation. She believes e-bike and e-scooter rentals could boost the tourism industry by providing easy transportation for visitors to use.
City Council sent the ordinance to Mayor Tim Keller’s desk for a signature Monday.
“We are not currently seeking any other cities in New Mexico; however, we are interested in the conversation with the (University of New Mexico) as we understand that was a very popular area for ridership in the previous program,” Gardner said.
