With more dockless scooters and bicycles set to hit LA’s streets as soon as next week, City Councilmember Gil Cedillo is seeking to ban the devices from the neighborhoods he represents.
Those communities include Highland Park, Westlake, Chinatown, and Echo Park. At the center of the district is Dodger Stadium, where streets and sidewalks become thick with vehicle and foot traffic on game days.
Cedillo introduced a motion Friday asking the city’s transportation department not to issue permits for dockless vehicles in these areas, citing concerns about safety and sidewalk access.
In an emailed statement, Cedillo spokesperson Fredy Ceja says that the district “has some of the densest areas in the city, with limited sidewalk space.” He says council staff have fielded “numerous calls” from residents about issues with scooters.
“We do not oppose the use of scooters, we are simply asking for more time to determine if they are appropriate for our district,” Ceja says.
Since September, when the City Council approved rules regulating private bike and scooter companies, the transportation department has given eight companies short-term approval to deploy a combined 24,000 bikes and scooters across the city.
The transportation department will begin issuing longer 12-month permits starting March 15. Under those permits, vehicle providers will be allowed to distribute between 3,000 and 10,500 bikes and scooters on LA’s streets, depending on which neighborhoods they deploy in and how well they comply with the city’s safety guidelines.
Approval of the longer permits could immediately result in more vehicles available for rental. Transportation staff announced last month that the department had received applications from 11 companies to deploy nearly 40,000 bikes and scooters.
To address sidewalk access issues, the city will allow residents to record violations using its 311 reporting system. Between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m., companies will be required to respond within two hours to complaints about “improperly parked” vehicles. If they don’t, city workers will be authorized to impound the vehicles.
But Cedillo is taking a cautious approach to the first year of the new permitting process.
“Until LADOT’s one-year pilot has concluded it would be fitting to limit the locations where the electric scooters can operate,” he writes in his motion.
The motion, which was seconded by councilmembers Jose Huizar and Greig Smith, will still need to be approved by the full City Council—as well as the council’s transportation committee—before a ban on bikes and scooters can go into effect.
That could be a tricky obstacle, as two of the three councilmembers on the committee have been enthusiastic about the potential of dockless vehicles to provide residents with new alternatives to driving.
Cedillo isn’t the first Los Angeles official to resist the proliferation of dockless vehicles on streets and sidewalks. Last year, Councilmember Paul Koretz—the third member of the transportation committee—proposed a temporary citywide ban on electric scooters.
That motion was eventually shot down by the council’s public safety committee, though transportation staffers did commit to sending cease-and-desist letters to companies operating without permits.
Comments
Get rid of the bikes – NOBODY rides them – EVER.
You can’t just get rid of an extremely efficient mode of transportation.
It’s an interesting juxtaposition: I don’t like them littered around the streets, but that’s exactly what makes them so GD convenient and smart! What to do…..
By Rbay on 03.04.19 12:56pm
Create designated, geo-fenced drop points on each block. Charge users more money if they don’t use a drop point.
By disqusted on 03.04.19 1:29pm
Has this worked well in Santa Monica, where they painted designated parking areas for parking these scooters? Last time I was there, it seemed like a great system and would work perfectly in Echo Park / Silverlake, where a lot of people drive 1-3 miles for errands that could easily be replaced with a scooter ride instead. I know I’d prefer that to trying to find street parking on Sunset.
By Spectacular Dan on 03.04.19 2:26pm
The one here in Santa Monica isn’t geofenced. It counts on the honor system and good faith of scooter riders to participate (cue sitcom laugh track). A lot of the problems with scooters could be solved if scooter companies were required by law to geofence all sidewalks in every municipality where they operate. Disqusted’s idea is decent and worth a try, better than the status quo for sure.
By Adrian Reynolds on 03.04.19 3:46pm
If that law were passed, it would be requiring them to do the impossible. GPS is simply not accurate enough to tell the difference between being on the street and being on the sidewalk next to the same street.
I’ve already been put in the dangerous situation of being in the bike lane on 2nd St, and having my accelerator completely cut out because GPS drift momentarily placed me a block over on the Promenade. That’s an entire block off.
By schroedinger_ on 03.05.19 9:04am
So put a little bluetooth receiver at each virtual "dock" and a transmitter on each scooter, and it doesn’t count as docked until they are in a particular proximity to each other. This is an easy technological fix, if they wanted to implement it as part of any scooter or bike share company being licensed to operate in the city.
By disqusted on 03.06.19 12:53pm
Great idea but do you think Law Makers and council members know what Geo-fencing is in order to include it in a law?
By subaruwrx on 03.11.19 1:25pm
I rode my first one over the weekend down Ventura about 2 miles to meet friends. I didn’t drive (no need to find parking or valet), I didn’t uber (no extra cars on streets) and the cost was less than $3 dollars.
How could you possibly argue against the beneficial economics and social costs in such a car depended traffic congested city such as LA?!?!
They sucked when they first arrived, but now I’m pretty much use to the them.
By Rbay on 03.04.19 1:00pm
1. They are extremely dangerous.
2. The riders do not follow the laws.
3. They block the sidewalks and are a blight on the neighborhood.
And one other thing that I’m just putting out there, but how many people use gas vehicles to pick up the scooters to service and charge them everyday?
By LADude on 03.04.19 1:19pm
"1. They are extremely dangerous.
2. The riders do not follow the laws. "
Thought we were talking scooters, not cars?
By disqusted on 03.04.19 1:28pm
Yep, we are talking about scooters which is the subject of the post.
By LADude on 03.04.19 2:19pm
Yeah, but cars also are dangerous and operated by idiots. These scooters are a great solution for trips less than a few miles, and we can all agree LA needs to get as many short car trips as possible replaced with something else that’s easier / more sustainable.
By Spectacular Dan on 03.04.19 2:28pm
Don’t forget "3. They block the streets and are a blight on the neighborhood" also applies to cars
By abcd12345 on 03.04.19 3:02pm
No way the business model works on the prices they are currently charging given that those scooters have to be gathered and charged on a nightly basis. That’s not including the wear & tear those scooters have to endure.
By Brentwood 4 Life on 03.04.19 3:33pm
It doesn’t. The model "works" to burn tons of cash in the hopes of being able to charge monopoly rents in the future.
By disqusted on 03.04.19 4:43pm
Extremely dangerous… you can’t be serious.
By corner soul on 03.04.19 9:50pm
Very serious. As are the accidents and injuries resulting from people using the scooters. It’s pretty well documented.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/scooter-use-is-rising-in-major-cities-so-are-trips-to-the-emergency-room/2018/09/06/53d6a8d4-abd6-11e8-a8d7-0f63ab8b1370_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.847af23ffaf6
https://www.businessinsider.com/electric-scooters-los-angeles-emergency-rooms-2019-1
https://www.cnet.com/news/electric-scooters-by-bird-and-lime-are-causing-injuries-and-accidents/
https://abcnews.go.com/US/study-electric-scooter-injuries-require-er/story?id=60595442
By LADude on 03.05.19 11:45am
Google "car crash death"… and have fun clicking through an endless feed of news articles.
By corner soul on 03.05.19 12:06pm
Thank you for conceding that scooters are very dangerous. Whether cars are very dangerous is for a different comments section.
By LADude on 03.05.19 3:23pm
Concerned Citizen is Concerned again.
By James Jamonsta on 03.05.19 3:51pm
""Many cities are struggling with scooters that are haphazardly parked along sidewalks and parkways, thereby obstructing access for pedestrians and people in wheelchairs," reads the motion."
Same, but for homeless tents that you and the city won’t clean up, Gil.
By disqusted on 03.04.19 1:27pm
Dockless-ness is such an urban design nightmare. Just because dockless is more convenient doesn’t make it smart or responsible. Scooters are great! The companies however are being allowed to use an irresponsible business model.
It’s like before humans figured out trashcans… so all trash is just dropped wherever the person is when they get finished with it. "The streets are littered with them".
By Freshness on 03.04.19 1:45pm
How will we ever solve this "nightmare"?!?!!
Remove one to two parking spaces per block. Paint them orange. Orange zones are designated for scooter and dockless bike parking only. Much like a yellow/white/blue zone are for loading/disabled parking – "nightmare" solved.
By Or_NAH on 03.04.19 2:03pm
But then they are not "dockless" as they have to be docked in specific areas and people won’t use them.
By LADude on 03.04.19 2:23pm
If there were spots like this every few blocks, the companies could relatively easily charge a fee to users who left them elsewhere and it would still be extremely convenient to use and drop off these scooters, than walk the last block or two to your destination.
By Spectacular Dan on 03.04.19 2:30pm