Faced with a growing new mode of transit, LA leaders rein in electric scooters and the companies that rent them
By Emily Rasmussen
Los Angeles Daily News
September 4, 2018
Those dockless electric scooters that have taken LA’s sidewalks by storm lost a little zip on Tuesday after the Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved regulations for a one-year pilot program that slows them down and effectively takes thousands of the tiny two-wheeled contraptions off the street.
The new regulations include:
__A 15 mph speed limit.
__A cap of 3,000 on the number of scooters for each company that rents them, with penalties if the company — such as Lime or Bird — is noncompliant.
__Allowing companies, also known as operators, an additional 2,500 additional vehicles in disadvantaged communities, and up to an 5,000 vehicles in disadvantaged communities in the San Fernando Valley.
__Requiring operators to have a 24-hour hotline for emergency removals, where operators must relocate or rebalance — essentially standing them upright — vehicles within two hours from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. each day. That is, it’s the companies themselves that would be responsible for making sure the vehicles are parked properly.
__Requiring scooters to have a tail light.
__Establishing a ‘No Riding on Sidewalks’ in typeface on the platform of every scooter.
The pilot program, and the regulations, will begin within 120 days, and in the interim companies can apply for a conditional-use permit for up to 3,000 devices.
The seemingly unlimited growth of electric scooters and the industry that provides them has created a hotbed of public safety controversies for Los Angeles and other cities across Southern California. People who love the motorized vehicles say that they are environmentally friendly and aid the traffic woes of L.A., whereas others complain that they are a safety hazard with issues ranging from riders taking the scooters on sidewalks and not wearing helmets.
The scooters work through a phone app that allows people to find and unlock the devices and drop them off anywhere they are allowed, with no docking station or kiosk required.
The cap on the number of scooters that companies, such as Lime and Bird, can operate will reduce the number of electric scooters on the street by thousands, according to company representatives. And in doing so, riders will take a hit, along with a growing transit option for many commuters, they said.
“It would be a serious cut,” said David Estrada, head of government relations and public policy for Bird, among the companies that operate scooter fleets in L.A. “And the way we look at it is, it’s a drastic and chaotic cut to the market of transportation people rely upon every day.”
Sam Drymen, a representative of Lime, said that thousands of people rely on the electric scooters in the city.
“There are thousands of people dependent on scooters and people employed to maintain the service,” Drymen told the City Council.
Seleta Reynolds, the LA Department of Transportation’s general manager, said the city has been unable to verify the number of electric scooters or bikes in the city, which had no data to rely on other than the numbers the companies provide, she said.
“In 120 days, everybody baselines back to 3,000 in high demand areas,” Reynolds said.
A representative of Bird said the firm has been operating about 8,000 scooters per day in Los Angeles this summer, while fellow operator Lime is believed to be operating at a similar level.
Resident Jon Burlew echoed Drymen, and said the scooters have “made the city bigger and a much more livable place.”
The devices have been a divisive issue for the City Council, with Councilman Paul Koretz in July calling for a ban on them until the city drafts its regulations. Councilman Mitchell Englander recently pressured the Department of Transportation to issue cease-and-desist letters to all scooter companies by the end of last week that were not a part of an established pilot program.
However, there are no existing pilot programs in the city for dockless scooters, only for dockless bikes, meaning every company is technically subject to the cease-and-desist order. But the conditional-use permit clears up the cease-and-desist issue, now that companies can apply for a permit.
“These rules are not perfect or final, they will need tweaking over the course of this pilot but they are also a springboard,” Councilmember David Ryu said.
Council members acknowledged that some of the existing rules, including wearing helmets, are visibly not being followed.
“We plan for stupidity,” Councilmember Paul Krekorian said of enforcing regulations. “And try to protect people from their own stupidity every single day.”
Resident Ruth Anne Resnick said she was against the program in its current form because it lacks enforcement and liability.
“The absence of police enforcement of the existing vehicle codes are (already) not being enforced on commercial and residential sidewalks,” Resnick said.
Resident Brittany Angley was against the scooters altogether. Angley said that while running, she has been sexually assaulted twice by people on electric bicycles or scooters.
“They come up behind me and smack me as hard as they can,” Angley said. “I don’t feel safe in my city running anymore.”
In the South Bay beach cities, dockless scooters have also received a backlash from city governments. Councils in Manhattan Beach and Hermosa Beach passed resolutions banning the devices from being left on public property before they even showed up.
In El Segundo, where about 30 Bird scooters first appeared unannounced in June, followed quickly by a flock of Lime scooters, the city council tried to work with the companies.
Though both companies did not request a business license from the city, let alone notify any city officials, council members in El Segundo were willing to draft rules for a pilot program.
But when representatives from Bird and Lime failed to reach agreement on a financial indemnity plan to cover the city’s liability — the city wanted up to $4 million in coverage while the companies insisted on $1 million — the city council walked away.
El Segundo slapped a moratorium on dockless electric scooters for 30 days on Aug. 14. The next day, the scooters disappeared.
In Long Beach, Razor, Lime and Bird scooters have been spotted throughout the city. And in San Pedro, Lime scooters are expected to make a permanent residence.
In the future, under the L.A. program, operators will be required to use technology that can tell if a device is parked upright. The city may also designate parking areas for the devices in high-traffic areas. The council also directed the city’s Department of Transportation to report back on the potential for generating revenue through the program.
Here’s a list of some cities grappling with scooters:
Los Angeles
Manhattan Beach
El Segundo
Long Beach
Santa Monica
Hermosa Beach
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