Dallas’ Biggest Bike Share Plans to Roll Out Electric Fleet

In the coming days, Dallas' largest bike share company, LimeBike, plans to roll out electric scooters and bicycles.

In a statement to NBC 5, LimeBike spokesperson Mary Caroline Pruitt said, "We're interested in bringing our electric scooters to Dallas. They have had tremendous success in San Diego, the Bay Area, and now, D.C., and we want to give Dallas the opportunity to try our newest products, too."

How it will work could be problematic. Dallas city code prohibits motorized scooters on streets and sidewalks. City trails prohibit motorized vehicles of any type.

"It's very frustrating," said Robin Baldock, Executive Director of The Friends of the Katy Trail. The group has been vocal about its frustrations with bike share bikes left on the trail. "I think that the city has failed everyone in the city by not putting guidelines into place."

Baldock said the theory of bike share is good, but in practice, it's been a rough start. She worries the addition of electric wheels will make people unknowingly violate the law, riding where they shouldn't.

"It could be a positive thing if they would just do the right thing," Baldock said.

Dallas City Councilman Tennell Atkins is also skeptical, saying he'd first like to figure out the bike share program before moving onto anything else.

"We want all our citizens to be safe, and to have a scooter without rules and policies and how you are going to enforce that, that's jeopardizing the citizens of the city of Dallas," Atkins said.

Others, like Jessie Arzola, manager of the Small Planet eBike shop, see the scooters as potentially positive. In his mind, they may help to open Dallas up to being a more bike and scooter-friendly city. But Arzola also sees Dallas as a much different place for scooters than Washington D.C. and San Diego. Arzola also says while easy to operate, the scooters may surprise some first-time users.