Committee urges rapid rollout of sidewalk‑detection tech and stronger compliance for scooter and bike‑share operators

A long hearing on shared mobility on Dec. 6 produced a unanimous committee vote to send an amended resolution to the full Board urging the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency and permittees to accelerate measures to reduce illegal sidewalk riding, improve parking compliance and strengthen rider accountability.

Supervisor Peskin framed the hearing around pedestrian safety, particularly for seniors and people with disabilities, and sought concrete timelines for technology and enforcement. Kate Torren, SFMTA director of taxis, access and mobility services, told the committee the MTA’s current permit program (through 6/30/2022) authorizes three permittees — Lime (2,000 devices), Spin (2,000) and Scoot (1,500) — with a program cap of up to 10,000 devices. Torren described an extensive permit framework including an equity requirement (adaptive devices for people with disabilities), neighborhood distribution, reporting, and an enforcement team integrated with 311 and Salesforce.

SFMTA and permittees described a recent sidewalk‑detection demonstration. Torren said staff are developing an audit framework and policy directive for implementation and enforcement of any detection technology. The three permittees reported testing different detection methods (accelerometer, GPS/mapping and camera-based systems) and gave tentative rollout windows: Spin said it could deploy sidewalk detection as soon as February 2022; Scoot cited an early‑2022 pilot and scale plan; Lime estimated implementation in Q2 2022 while continuing testing and accuracy improvements.

Permittees explained escalating discipline plans for user misconduct. Spin described a four‑step escalation (warning; $10 fine; $25 and 24‑hour suspension plus safety quiz; indefinite suspension), and said it had issued thousands of warnings and several hundred fines in the permit term. Scoot and Lime explained similar systems with different initial fine amounts and exemptions for low‑income plans; operators said they also run community training and demo events.

Public comment included disability advocates, Walk SF and other neighborhood callers who pressed for immediate protections for pedestrians, more protected bike lanes and transparent data on sidewalk riding. Labor (Teamsters Local 665) urged support for permittee employees and praised Spin’s workforce. After the testimony Supervisor Peskin read amendments to the resolution urging (among other items) that permittees install and implement sidewalk‑detection technology and that SFMTA condition future permit issuance on accurate deployment and auditing of that technology. The committee voted unanimously (Peskin, Preston, Melgar) to recommend the amended resolution to the full Board and continued Item 4 to the call of the chair for additional follow up and technical work by SFMTA.