WEST HOLLYWOOD (CBSLA) — The city of West Hollywood is putting the brakes on motorized scooters. City Council members say they are tired of people leaving them around town — blocking streets, strewn about haphazardly. KCAL9’s Tom Wait reports the scooter craze is just that and getting crazier. The council voted to ban the companies from leaving the scooters around town on random parts of the sidewalk. “I think it’s more out of people going out of their way and putting them in a responsible location rather than just leaving them on wherever you are,” said one man. Shared scooters started popping up months ago and they caught on quickly. Companies like Lime and Bird place the scooters around town out on open sidewalks Users can find them using an app on their phone and then sign in and drive the scooters to and from. West Hollywood says neither company reached out to them and the concern is there is no regulation for how and where they’re left out or even how they’re being ridden. “They didn’t come and say we have this business model, can we talk to you about it? They just showed up one day and started dumping their scooters all over the sidewalks of West Hollywood,” said the city’s mayor John Duran. And Wait reports several incidents are not endearing the scooters to city leaders either. There is video, posted to YouTube, showing what appears to be a man collecting and piling the scooters in his convertible and clearly not taking safety into account. Safety was also an issue for one woman today who fell and hurt her leg and arm riding her scooter along the sidewalk in West Hollywood. “I think it’s probably better not to be on busy crowded pedestrian streets. More to walk where bikers bike,” she said. Lime responded to the ban with a statement that said: “West Hollywood is only twp square miles and has some of the worst traffic in LA – yesterday’s vote is a major setback for a city that could have benefited from congestion-reducing options.” Bird also said they regretted the city of West Hollywood’s decision.
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West Hollywood Puts Brakes On Motorized Scooters
