Electric scooters (check out https://www.it-directory.ie/collections/electric-scooters-ireland) have invaded certain cities around the globe. The biggest of the several share companies of electric scooter that operates in cities across the globe is Bird. A mobile app is downloaded by scooter users which locates, have access to the motorized or electric scooters and are rented out by the minute. These scooters are dockless and traced by GPS so that at the end of the scooter ride, users could park them anywhere rather than going back to an assigned location to return them.
In principle, this scooter rental idea is akin to bike shares, wherein bike rentals are available inside certain cities for a short period of time. However the unexpected rollout of electric scooters on the sidewalks of cities has necessitated quick responses on regulations from officials of the city, at times without prior warning.
Unexpectedly, Bird launched in Los Angeles last fall, where numerous residents enthusiastically embraced these motorized scooters as an option for transportation for short distances. However the city government immediately received complaints as well. As per companies of scooter share, these scooters are supposed to be driven in bike lanes and are to be parked in close proximity to bike racks. However, scooter riders frequently drive along the sidewalks or footpaths. Moreover, users park these scooters in places where pedestrian traffic is blocked, which frustrate and vex other people.
Because of this, in June 2018 Los Angeles released a cease-and-desist letter to Bird that demanded the removal of any and every vehicles from the premises of city. Then again the letter stated as well that the city had a regulatory process that is pending to permit scooters, which would permit Bird as well as other comparable companies to legally run scooter shares, if adopted.
Since then, the city council of Los Angeles ratified a city-wide pilot program on dockless vehicles. The said program requested the presence of Bird as well as other similar companies to institute scooter shares by means of conforming to new regulations regarding permitting, parking, as well as upkeep. Included in the new regulation is an obligation for these share companies to have an available person they could contact for 24 hours a day in case of “emergency removals” of scooters.