Motorized scooter craze on its way to Tampa

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Tampa is preparing to get into the motorized scooter craze and they could be ready to go by February. 

“We want to provide as many mode choices to our residents,” said Jean Duncan, director of Tampa’s Transportation and Stormwater Services. 

Over the next month, the city will choose three scooter companies to kick off a year-long pilot program. 

If all goes well it could become permanent.

“Generally we have a pretty good swath of the city where we're allowing this from MLK between Armenia and 40th all the area to the south,” Duncan said.

Most companies operate their scooters by app just like the bike-sharing.

These plans, however, all hinge on a vote to actually allow motorized scooters on sidewalks at Thursday's city council meeting.

Currently, they are not.

Other cities such as D.C. and Dallas already have scooter-sharing, with varying degrees of success. Folks here are excited but cautious.

“I think it’s a great idea people would enjoy it,” said Van Carswell.

“It might cause more accidents especially with the college kids, but I think it could be fun,” said Shaylyn Campbell.