scooter
www.abc30.com
As we progress into a new era of mobility that includes bicycles, e-bikes and e-scooters, not surprisingly there are those who are not keen on the changes.
Mobility administrators and advocates in the very progressive city of Portland, Oregon, for example, just fished 57 Lime, Bird and Razor scooters and a few shared bikes out of the Willamette River, which runs through the heart of the city, reported The Oregonian.
Last month, the Portland police department said the River Patrol and Dive Team were training in the Willamette River under the Hawthorne Bridge when they noticed the scooters.
The divers were concerned that the scooters batteries could leak into the river, so they went back in to retrieve them. Now, because of the environmental threat, police divers will continue to monitor the situation. There is an assumption in Portland that the scooters are being tossed in the river by residents who are anti-scooter and are demonstrating a bit of uncivil disobedience to express their disapproval.
The Los Angeles Times and Autoblog have reported of a “scooter war” going on in the city. “They throw them everywhere: in the ocean, in the sand, in the trash can,” said Robert Johnson Bey, a Venice Beach maintenance worker who regularly comes across scooter parts on the Venice Beach boardwalk, Speedway and adjoining alleys to an LA Times writer.
Many urban areas like LA, Portland, Detroit, Minneapolis are swimming in scooters, which were once a children’s toy. Companies like Bird and Lime are among the best known in the scooter-sharing business, though ride-hailing giants Uber and Lyft have gotten in on the action too, as well as into bike sharing service that include e-bikes.
Many residents of cities are using them, but there are vocal residents who do not like the piles of scooters found in popular park destinations, alongside beaches, train stations, etc. An Instagram account called Bird Graveyard, which chronicles abuse of those using scooters, has more than 80,000 followers. In Santa Barbara, California, even college students, the obvious target audience for scooters have been burying scooters in beach sand so that potential users can’t find them.
Cities have been caught unawares of the problems associated with so many scooters. New York City is still banning e-Scooters despite their popularity across the country. Rule breakers could get hit with a $500 fine or have their scooter confiscated. Leaders in New York are reluctant to change the law and worry that scooters are too dangerous, especially in an increasingly congested Manhattan where cars, pedestrians and cyclists are already competing for limited street space.
Cities are encouraging non-automotive mobility to address traffic congestion and air pollution. But city councils are going to need to put together actual plans to manage the use of scooters, or they won’t and just issue bans like New York.
