AUSTIN, Texas — It is easy to catch a student zipping through the University of Texas at Austin campus on a dockless scooter. 

Nick Rummel, a junior from San Antonio, said the scooters help him manage his 20-minute walking commute. 

“Some days, I’m running late or I don’t feel like walking. It’s too hot out and I’m getting sweaty,” the 21-year-old said. “It’s just so much easier to hop on and whip over there in two minutes.”

Rummel admits he does not always abide by the traffic laws. The scooter trend has become so popular, the university is getting a lot questions and is now having clarify some ground rules. 

“A lot of people are concerned about how they’re operating on the roadway, that they’re not yielding right of way, that they’re passing vehicles,” said Corporal Le’Patrick Moore of the UT Police Department. “We also have complaints about them just being on the sidewalk ” 

The university prefers that scooters are parked around bike racks. UT is also asking scooters users to ride them in areas where bicycles are allowed and to follow the campus speed limit of 15 mph. 

“What we ask is that if you’re operating on the roadway, you’re treating yourself as a bicycle or as a regular vehicle and you follow those traffic laws,” Moore said. “Another suggestion I would say is stay to the right, because it’s limited visibility with you on that scooter.”

UTPD officers on Wednesday were reminding students about the regulations, stopping those who did not follow the rules of the road.

“A lot of them don’t know that the laws are there, so they’re thankful that we’re letting them know and we’re out there for their safety,” Moore said.   

Sophia DeSalvo, a University of Texas sophomore, has already been following the traffic laws out. Like many, the 20-year-old does not want the scooters to be impounded. 

“I figure that it is better to follow the rules of the road to ensure that like something like this doesn’t get taken from us, because people are getting hurt,” DeSalvo said. 

UT’s Parking and Transportation Services said it is working with the City of Austin as it figures out how it wants to manage and move forward with this new transportation option.