Cities grappling with parking, rules for rental scooters

Startups like Bird fly in, start rolling

MILWAUKEE — Overnight in dozens of cities across the U.S., the electric scooters arrive, often without warning to public officials, parked along sidewalks and ready to be taken for a spin with a few taps on a smartphone.

It’s not long before they attract attention — and it’s not always positive: Lawsuits and cease-and-desist orders have sometimes followed the arrival of California-based companies Bird Rides Inc., LimeBike and Spin, with city officials saying the scooters aren’t legal to operate on streets or the sidewalks where they get dangerously close to pedestrians. And because the scooters are dockless, they’re parked anywhere when a ride is over, causing cities heartburn over blocked sidewalks.

Today, Milwaukee will ask a judge to order Bird to remove its scooters from the city. It will be the first time a complaint against Bird will be argued in court, potentially providing the first judicial opinion for the cities scrambling to figure out how to deal with the startups.

Milwaukee sued after sending Bird a cease-anddesist letter on June 28, a day after 100 scooters arrived “in a similar, overnight, surprise fashion” other places have experienced, according to the lawsuit. Bird, which operates in about two dozen cities and is also refusing to comply with a cease-and-desist order from Indianapolis, contends their scooters are legal for street use, just like bicycles and other “mobility devices.”

Bird was founded by Travis VanderZanden, a former top executive at Uber and Lyft. The clashes over the scooters are reminiscent of the early days of those ridesharing companies, which launched in places with no regulatory framework before building public support and triggering a flurry of legisla- tive activity that ultimately legitimized their businesses.

“It’s a very defiant position they’re taking as if laws don’t matter; ‘they don’t apply to us, we’re going to do what we please, when we please’,” said Milwaukee Alderman Robert Bauman.

Nashville, Tenn., sued last month before impounding all of Bird’s scooters. The city since dropped its lawsuit and is working on regulations for the scooters. In San Francisco, the city banned the scooters on June 4, requiring Bird and other companies to apply for permits before returning.

The scooters can go up to 15 mph. Picking one up is a simple process. The Bird app shows where they’re available. Riders, who must scan in their driver’s license, unlock one by scanning a bar code for an initial charge of $1. It then costs 15 cents a minute to ride one. Once done, riders take a picture of where they left the scooter to make sure it’s properly parked. Bird picks up the scooters each night and inspects them before putting them back the next day.

Other places have been more welcoming to the scooter companies. In Minneapolis, officials moved to regulate the scooters after they appeared, with the City Council giving initial approval this week to an ordinance to license them and establish parking rules. Memphis last month set up an agreement with Bird that includes parking regulations.

A June 29 column in The

Commercial Appeal in Memphis in support of the scooters said they “can help riders zip to those final blocks where the bus stopped short.”