Fort Myers has seen an increase in micromobility, raising questions regarding infrastructure and regulations. The city’s bicycle and pedestrian advisory board warned council members the need to start accommodating for micromobility utilities is now.

“For us, the bicycle pedestrian advisory board, I think now it can be considered as the micromobility advisory board with so many things coming to us that looked like they were way out in the future,” chair of the board Ezekiel Robbins said. “But now, it’s what we’re looking at presently.”

Robbins said there is interest from companies to bring micromobility, in the form of bikes and scooters to the city, but improvements to the city’s micro infrastructure is needed. Micromobility refers to a range of small, lightweight vehicles operating at speeds typically below 15 mph and driven by users.

“When you’re traveling around our community, you will see electric bikes, electric one wheelers and electric scooters in addition to the traditional bicycles and pedestrians,” he said. “It’s all over our city and the question is how are we going to properly get our residents to be able to go from point A to point B safely.”

The board’s presentation acted as a segue in to council member Fred Burson’s item, discussing an ordinance allowing golf carts on streets with speed limits less than 35 miles per hour, given the driver is licensed and the golf cart has appropriate safety equipment. The ordinance would exclude federal, state and county highways.

Burson said there’s golf carts being used across the city, making an ordinance to have some type of regulation necessary.

Other council members expressed safety concerns regarding the ordinance, with some members of council being more open to the idea than others.

“Whether there’s an ordinance or not, golf carts are going to be used,” council member Darla Bonk said. “We’ve seen it our whole lives here. I think there’s definitely a safety issue as well. Anything you could do to allow for some level of decorum in the golf cart usage, I don’t think would be a bad idea.”

Council member Teresa Watkins Brown said council may want to hold off on an ordinance until a later date, expressing concern for safety and the lives of the council’s constituents.

“Right now, with the number of pedestrian deaths that we’ve had and the amount of vehicle accidents that we have on a continuous basis, I don’t think it would be smart for us to allow golf carts,” Brown said. “But in the future, when we do get to a point where we’re making our communities and city walkable with some of these other mobility items, it might be something that we need to bring back.”

The city’s micromobility initiative began two years ago, according to council member Liston Bochette.

“Within these two years, we’ve seen an onslaught of all types of micromobility on sidewalks and streets and we’re really lacking the rules and regulations of how to use them,” Bochette said. “But it’s coming, and it’s coming quick.”

Mayor Kevin Anderson and council directed staff to prepare a presentation and draft of the ordinance and bring it back to council at a later date. Staff was also directed to identify any other communities that have a working ordinance, inquiring about any issues and how such an ordinance would work.