Golf carts could be coming to downtown Amarillo

AMARILLO, TX (KFDA) - Downtown Amarillo could soon be seeing a new form of transportation on its streets--golf carts.

The City of Amarillo discussed the possibility of establishing a temporary period where operators could operate a golf cart inside the business district downtown with specific safety requirements.

“This would allow them to move patrons, move people, from one place to another, whether it’s to or from one of our venues downtown,” said Jared Miller, City Manager for the City of Amarillo. “They would have to meet certain safety requirements, like insurance, drivers that have drivers licenses. They would have to have lights, tail lights, reflectors, signs that say slow moving vehicles, flashing lights, very likely we’re going to require flashing lights on those, to make those carts as conspicuous as possible to a driver in a regular vehicle.”

With traffic expected to increase once Hodgetown opens for baseball on April 8, Miller says the use of golf carts could help people travel easier.

“We just want to make sure that one, we allow it,” said Miller. “It will be good to ease the parking demand in the very core area around the parking garage, around the Civic Center, Hodgetown, and the Globe News Center.”

Councilmember Elaine Hays asked how this would be different than the use of scooters, which council has discussed in the past.

“To me, this is kind of similar to that, that it’s an nontraditional form of transportation in a specific zone,” said Hayes. “Why would this not fall under the other temporary ban that we set up to evaluate these types of nontraditional transportation?”

Miller says while the city isn’t opposed to scooters in the future, this ordinance will be focused solely on golf carts as its safety regulations are more clear at this time.

Council is expected to vote on the use of golf carts downtown at next Tuesday’s meeting.

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