Why Bird and Lime Scooters Are Invading US Cities Everywhere

[dreisinger]

Scooters from Bird and Lime promise to make getting around town a lot faster in a growing number of cities, but the vehicles are proving controversial.

Why Bird and Lime Scooters Are Invading US Cities Everywhere : Read more

 

[jeffbair84152]

BIRD and LIME are using a guerrilla marketing approach - just drop the scooters in a city and build ridership so the city will have to allow them. Unfortunately, that often causes problems. BIRD tried this approach in Salt Lake City. The city notified BIRD that they needed to talk to the city to gain a permit and business license. The main issue with the scooters in SLC is people riding on the sidewalk. The BIRD scooters even say on the foot board, "Do not ride on the sidewalk" and there is also a message that appears in the app with the same text when you rent a scooter. LIME has only recently added a similar message to their app. The scooters are convenient, but if people don't stop riding on the sidewalks, SLC can pull the conditional operating permits and force the scooters to be removed. There just needs to be better education regarding where you can ride them. I think putting "Do not ride on the sidewalk" on the handlebars would be a great first step.

 

[derikgw1973]

These companies move in without consulting the city about safety and laws. People go nuts on these scooters and end up getting hurt and damaging property. We have had two bad accidents here in Indianapolis in just a few weeks. The city outlawed using these on the sidewalk, and yet just a few days ago a man was hit by a truck being waved out by a security officer because the man on the scooter was on the sidewalk and shot out in front of the truck. These scooters are a nuisance and need to go away. Heck I would argue that until the city enforces bike laws (make bicyclers follow traffic laws) we should get rid of bikes too!