MISSOULA – The Missoula City Council has decided to send the e-scooter discussion back to committee after four hours of discussion on Monday night.
All the public comments were against the idea of electric scooters in downtown Missoula, and city council members did not feel comfortable voting on the issue.
The main opposition points were outside corporate companies making money off of Missoula tourists with no local gain, the e-scooters do not line up with Missoula’s ‘Zero waste by 50’ plan with the possibility of broken scooters and the devices leave room for injuries to pedestrians and drivers.
Opponents also added e-scooter systems are an unorganized mess with users leaving the scooters in the middle of sidewalks.
Instead of a vote, discussion on electronic scooters and bikes were defined, along with talks on how fast is to fast for scooters on busy Missoula trail systems.
Much of the jargon in the recommended motion needed to be better defined, therefore the Missoula City Council will continue to discuss the issue in committee on July 17.
