City of Tampa rolls out new rules for e-Scooter, e-Bike parking to start month

TAMPA, Fla. - The City of Tampa has officially rolled out new parking rules for e-scooter and e-bike riders. 

Starting on Monday, April 1, the devices will need to be parked in designated areas, or users could face fines. 

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E-riders will be able to find parking corrals through their scooter or bike company’s app. Most are marked by paint on the sidewalk, but some are more formidable metal docking stations or bike racks. 

The new parking rules apply to most of downtown Tampa and surrounding neighborhoods. 

City officials are hoping the new rules will curb some of the biggest complaints they receive about micromobility devices: that people are leaving them in places where they end up blocking driveways, sidewalks, and streets. 

They’ve also become a source of pollution in the Hillsborough River. 

The environmental group ‘Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful’ says it’s pulled hundreds of e-scooters from the waterway. 

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"We actually did have a case of one that caught on fire on the boat. After we pulled it out of the water, it started to smoke, and I had to put it back in the water to put it out," said Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful Environmental Programs Director Allan Antolik. "Saltwater is corrosive. Saltwater is going to break these bikes and their accessory components. You look at the gamut of different things that could go on the water from greases to plastics to the lithium-ion battery itself and you potentially could damage the environment."

Officials, e-ride companies, and environmental groups alike hope the new parking rules, with corrals set back from waterways, help make the e-scooters and e-bikes a less tempting target for bad behavior.