Scooters, Scooters Everywhere!
Behold the new “rideshare” phonemenon!
We’ve seen them seemingly everywhere, a social phenomenon that was created virtually overnight – the motorized scooters that you can rent, ride and drop off anywhere, and I mean ANYWHERE. According to officials in many cities, they are being left in the middle of public sidewalks, and they aren’t happy about it.
Now, some cities are fighting back – as The Denver Post reported earlier this month:
“The tension between Denver and two dockless scooter companies escalated Friday when the city served notice that it will confiscate scooters left on public roads, alleys and sidewalks.”
Denver is currently enforcing this band, and San Francisco and West Hollywood have also followed suits. And, you can add the 90210 to the list, as Beverly Hills may follow suit:
The Battle Over Electric Scooters Is On!
Beverly Hills is the latest city to go after these new pop culture people movers. The city council is going to hold a hearing to discuss the issues related to these “ridesharing” scooters…and there are many in the city very concerned about the proliferation of the scooters.
As ABC7 in Los Angeles just reported:
“The Beverly Hills Police Department is cracking down on the use of electric scooters.
Riders have received more than 100 warnings and citations over the past week for cruising without helmets or driver’s licenses.
Companies Bird and Lime rent electric scooters inside the city limits.”
“The police department also says it may remove scooters from the sidewalk if they are obstructing vehicular or pedestrian traffic.
In a statement, Lime said it “shares the city’s desire to promote safety and proper riding behavior. We hope to partner with law enforcement to educate riders rather than relying primarily on punitive measures.”
The City Council on Tuesday plans to consider adding regulations of motorized scooters.”
So Just How Prevalent Are They? And Are They A Nuisance?
I have notice them everywhere in Beverly Hills.
Recently, I walked from the center of BH to the Century City mall, about twelve city blocks, and scooters were left EVERYWHERE along the sidewalks.
They are usually left in the middle of the sidewalk…even when there is space to put them against the curb or out of the way, they are just parked int he middle of the sidewalk.
As readers of my blog know, I drove cross country a few weeks ago, and saw them in every city I was in – and in Atlanta they also littered the sidewalks…to me, this is the issue with the scooters: since they are designed to be used and then dropped anywhere, they are – literally just left anywhere:
It will be interesting to see how the companies find a compromise with cities, or whether they will go into some sort of legal battle.
And for those who use them, will tickets start being issued for not wearing a helmet? We’ll see how that goes over.
Please leave me a message and let me know how you feel about these scooters!
Categories: Books / Media, Hollywood, Los Angeles, Politics, Pop Culture, Sports, Technology, Travel, Travel Adventures, Travel Memoir, Uncategorized
johnrieber 
Haven’t seen them around the Great Northwest, but then I haven’t been to downtown Seattle in a while. Probably too much rain to work well here. The City did try a bikeshare program but already discontinued it. Apparently no takers, too many hills I think!
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I guarantee they will be there – they are extremely popular in high tech areas….
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We live in a small town in North Central Florida, this is not an issue here! We do have tractor and chicken issues, though!
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HA! Traffic of ALL kinds it seems! Thanks for the comment!
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I should have rented one last month. They may be illegal the next time I’m in LA! I haven’t seen them in Boulder. They don’t even allow dogs in their pedestrian mall so I can’t imagine they’d allow scooters!
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We will see they are launching everywhere there is a big youth market
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It’s a new one on me. I have only seen kids riding them in Beetley, and they own them. In London, they would all just be stolen immediately. That would solve the problem. How do people pay for them, if nobody knows where they are being dropped off? Do they have trackers? I can’t imagine how it works.
But then I just walk…
Best wishes, Pete.
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Pete you put the app on your phone and enter a code to unlock them – the issue is they are dumped everywhere and the riders are a bit crazy
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They are an absolute scourge in France. I hope the French look to Hollywood and follow suit!
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I’m all for new forms of transportation but they litter sidewalks and the riders dart in and out of traffic
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Tell me about. It was ghastly in Grenoble (and I lived in the city centre) …. I just sent your article to my husband who responded ‘trottinettes for adults, especially the motorised ones are anathema and should be sacrificed along with their owners’ possibly I’d spare the owners but I’m with him on the scooters 100%
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They are hugely popular with a younger demo, who sees them, along with uber, lyft and skateboards, as worthy alternatives to cars…if only there was a system in place to keep it from becoming “Mad Max” out there!
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