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Bird & Lime Scooters

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Replies

  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    I haven't seen them yet. I mostly run on sidewalks around the neighborhoods, and not on the more popular trails or downtown, so not where you'd expect to see them, but turns out we don't have them yet (other than a couple of trials during events) and rules are being discussed. https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-met-chicago-regulations-electric-scooters-20180814-story.html

    I'd agree they should not be on sidewalks and would prefer they not be on the 606 or Lakefront Trail.
  • BrettWithPKU
    BrettWithPKU Posts: 575 Member
    edited December 2018
    Ed_Zilla wrote: »
    Bird scooters showed up in my town earlier this year - BOOM! Lyme scooters showed up a couple of months later. They both do not have a business license, and still don't. I run a business and MUST have one or I get shuttered. What the heck?!

    Thankfully winter came early and they are rarely used and the numbers have been reduced. I am afraid of what spring will bring. We have one university and two large colleges so I guess, sadly, they are here to stay.

    I am in the "hate them" category. My town is loaded with hiking/biking trails and also KATY Trail State Park and these are showing up on the NO MOTORIZED VEHICLE trails.

    I understand the benefit of these motorized scooters, for people who use them responsibly. But I'm certain they provide more problems than they do benefits.

    The stories you hear about the scooters and their problems border on comical.
    I have a safe vantage point from St Charles County, but in Saint Louis (for a while at least) they were strongly suggesting that riders wear helmets-- their own helmets-- a suggestion followed by absolutely no one.

    CORRECTION: The helmet thing in St Louis is a city ordinance (i.e., a 'law'). A law no one follows and is hardly enforced.
  • aokoye
    aokoye Posts: 3,495 Member
    BDonjon wrote: »
    .

    CORRECTION: The helmet thing in St Louis is a city ordinance (i.e., a 'law'). A law no one follows and is hardly enforced.
    Yeah we have the same law except it's a state one. I've seen it enforced approximately never. I have seen a handful of people wear helmets when riding them though. Of course those are also the people acting more responsible on them in general.


  • Ed_Zilla
    Ed_Zilla Posts: 207 Member
    aokoye wrote: »
    BDonjon wrote: »
    .

    CORRECTION: The helmet thing in St Louis is a city ordinance (i.e., a 'law'). A law no one follows and is hardly enforced.
    Yeah we have the same law except it's a state one. I've seen it enforced approximately never. I have seen a handful of people wear helmets when riding them though. Of course those are also the people acting more responsible on them in general.

    Business in the ER has really picked up since the scooters have arrived. It's in the news a lot.

    Earlier this summer I found this scooter on the Katy Trail about 8+ miles south of the nearest KATY Trail access. Yup - it came from 8+ miles that-a-way.

    7g633n7e81ji.jpg
  • urloved33
    urloved33 Posts: 3,325 Member
    edited December 2018
    keep in mind before you complain - you are probably complaining about someones source of income...that was ok'd by someone - who probably has skin in the game too- be careful. backlash is real ...very very real. (why don't you think the parks people are responding?)
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,182 Member
    L1zardQueen wrote: »
    And then there is China. https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2018/03/bike-share-oversupply-in-china-huge-piles-of-abandoned-and-broken-bicycles/556268/

    Wow! OK, genius inventor, invent a cheap enough system to drone fly the bikes from any location back to their starting spot.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    edited December 2018
    I was just sent a link to a survey about these scooters from the Active Transportation Alliance:

    "Chicago and other cities across the region are considering allowing electric scooter sharing companies to launch in their towns. This new mobility option has the potential to advance or undermine Active Trans' mission to promote forms of transportation that help build healthy, sustainable and equitable communities."

    Visit activetrans.org/scooters to take our 5-question survey about electric scooter sharing.

    In case anyone is interested.
  • newmeadow
    newmeadow Posts: 1,295 Member
    WTF are bird and lime scooters and who would ever think about them for 5 seconds?
  • aokoye
    aokoye Posts: 3,495 Member
    urloved33 wrote: »
    keep in mind before you complain - you are probably complaining about someones source of income...that was ok'd by someone - who probably has skin in the game too- be careful. backlash is real ...very very real. (why don't you think the parks people are responding?)

    Wait so I can't complain about someone's source of income nor can I complain about what I think were poor decisions with regards to the approval of the pilot of scooters in my city. Never mind too that the city that I live in did respond to their miss use (again, some of this involve breaking various laws).

    Also what exactly are you implying by saying "backlash is real...very very real." Backlash against who? If anything, your post is making me want to send a through email to the city with regards to my experiences as a pedestrian being almost run over multiple times by people riding scooters on sidewalks (illegal), watching people ride two at a time on scooters (an accident waiting to happen, especially when at least one of those people is a child, watching people ride without helmets (which is also illegal), etc.

    The city is soliciting feedback on their trial and thus. I guess I have a new item on my to-do list.
  • MsHarryWinston
    MsHarryWinston Posts: 1,027 Member
    You know, I saw a South Park episode about them but since I’m in Canada I had no clue what they were talking about. NOW I get it. And yeah, I can see how things could quickly get dangerous.
  • doubleIronDog
    doubleIronDog Posts: 93 Member
    247??! Wow!!! They aren’t that bad here, but that is serious! I know where I have run in the past there are signs saying no motorized vehicles of any kind in path and people don’t seem to care.
    Charlene____ wrote: »
    This isn’t really a debate but more of a hot topic for those who reside in cities with these scooters. In my city, they appeared mid-May and are wreaking havoc on sidewalks and on the running and walking trails in my park. They are left in places that cause tripping hazards, riders will nearly hit you on the sidewalk, and the park where I run, well it’s dodging death out there, especially on the weekends. I don’t know who to complain to. I have emailed the park administrator where I live since motorized vehicles of any sort with the exception of wheelchairs are prohibited but nothing is being done about it. Today was my last straw as I was bumped into by an out-of-control rider. I understand that technology exists where a geofence can be installed to prohibit the use of them in certain areas. Is anyone else having these issues in their cities? If so, who are you complaining to? During my 3.5 mile run today, I counted 247 scooters that either I passed or who passed me all entirely in the park that prohibits motorized vehicles.

  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    I just saw them in SLC. Accident was my first thought.
    Related: college students have begun adding small motors with remote controls to their skateboards. So picture "cool" people, going 15 miles an hour, with head phones on, staring at their phones, with one hand in their pocket, while careening across a crowded campus.
  • maureenkhilde
    maureenkhilde Posts: 850 Member
    They are coming to where I live, well in the downtown area. They are starting in January 2019. So the city trying to be proactive has seen issues in other cities so they are trying to put rules in place. Which we all know many people totally ignore, because they fail to understand on purpose the rules apply to them.

    An interesting part of this, is they are looking for people who want side gigs, to be the ones that charge the scooters back up. As the scooters will have slots for credit cards which is what unlocks the scooter so it can be turned on. If one gets in on the gig, you would still use credit card but have some type of code from the city to input. So they recognize you as one of the people who picks them up and charges them. I believe the city ordered 100 of them.

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