UT reins in scooter speeds with geofencing

Dockless e-scooters will be limited to speeds no higher than 8mph in high-traffic areas the University of Texas campus, KUT reported Monday. The new rule for the popular rentable rides goes into effect in most areas of campus on Tuesday and will be enforced with geofencing.

While the entire campus will be geofenced, some areas will have lower speed limits for the scooters than others.

The usually crowded inner-campus area will have a limit of 8 mph. In less-populated areas, such as northern and eastern areas of campus, as well as the area around the Dell Seton Medical Center, the speed limit for the vehicles will be 15 mph.

The university’s announcement stressed the need to be aware of the vehicles’s possible changes in speed when transitioning between areas.

”Riders should expect a change in scooter speed when entering and exiting the low speed zone,” the statement reads. “This is normal and not an indication of a scooter malfunction.”

A campus safety group’s recommendation on limiting scooter speeds on the Forty Acres led to the decision, which was hammered out in in cooperation with current providers including Bird, Jump, Lyft and Lime.