More than 2,000 fines issued in Tampa since new e-scooter, bike rules took effect

TAMPA - Just a few months ago, community electric scooters and e-bikes were being haphazardly thrown into the river, left on Bayshore, or in parking garages. New rules enacted by the City of Tampa in April have since led to fines for thousands of riders for improper parking.

"Every time the person leaves the vehicle, it kind of builds upon itself and they get charged additional fees, and since we've implemented that program, we've noticed a lot of our vehicles being put back where they're supposed to be, out of the sidewalks, out of the pedestrian areas, and it's been really great. In April, we had 1,100 fines that went out and in May we had 1,200," said Austin Britt, City of Tampa parking and micro-mobility coordinator.

A volunteer group, "Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful," has pulled dozens of scooters from the waters around the city, including a clean-up on Wednesday.

"While they did pull out some scooters and bikes, which is unfortunate, we don't want to see that, they did mention that it was less now that these rules have been put in place. So I'm really excited to hear that," said Britt.

Although the city imposes these fines, they don’t see the money or dictate the amount. That’s left up to each individual vendor, like Lyft, Lime and Spin.

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