San Francisco

Electric Scooters Fill the Streets of San Francisco

Scooter companies LimeBike, Bird and Spin put their scooters out on the streets of San Francisco, weeks before the city starts regulating them.

The idea is that people rent the scooters by using an app, then leave them wherever when they're done. 

In the past few weeks they've shown up by the hundreds, without the city's permission.

"What we've seen is folks moving to and from meetings downtown and also to and from that first and last mile of transit," said Lime Scooter spokesman, Joe Arellano.

However, not all agree with the scattering of scooters in the city, Supervison Aaron Peskin called it a typical tech arrogance, the companies deciding it was better to ask for forgiveness than ask for permission.

Peskin said he’s filed around 100 complaints since the scooters rolled out just two weeks ago. He also claims to have tripped over one laying in front of his yard.

"Broke my toe tripping over a Lime scooter laying on the ground in front of my house at night," he said. He introduced legislation to regulate the scooters in early March.

"These companies Bird, Lime, Spin decided to dump these on our streets even though they knew that legislation was pending and winding its way through the process," Peskin said.

Though some residents argue that riders don’t follow rules including wearing a helmet and riding in the bike lane, others agree with their availability.

"It's a great way to get around when you’re stuck waiting for a muni line," said Dominic D’Orazi from San Francisco.

The vote on the legislation is next Tuesday.

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