Mobility.

It seems to be a popular buzzword among Improvement Districts, and rightfully so.  Many are working to get more people into their districts without the hassle of  additional cars and traffic as well as giving people an easy way to get around once they are in their district.  Enter the age of electric scooters.  Now, be advised, this is my own personal experience, I do not speak for anyone else

My Experience…

I was just on vacation with my family recently in California.  Let me tell you. My perspective on electric scooters has been changed.  Prior to my family vacation, I really didn’t really have any aversion to them. In fact, I thought they were a neat idea and that people would benefit from them.  After having a first hand look at these scooters in action, or in many cases inaction, I have a few thoughts. The city that we visited was an extremely popular place.  Think beaches, boardwalks, and ice cream. Get the picture?  So, everywhere we went, there were a lot of people.  We parked our car in the car lot and proceeded to walk into their Old Town.  On our way there I noticed a rack with a few scooters and I thought, “Cool, I get to see them working here.”  I didn’t have to wait too long.  People were using them everywhere –  on the sidewalks, in the street, and  on the beach.  Everywhere. That by itself was not the problem. The problem was the sheer number of people who, when they got to where they where going, simply laid their scooters down.  It didn’t matter that it was in the middle of the sidewalk, or in front of a souvenir shop.   Apparently, there weren’t any regulations in place that mandated the scooters had to be used by intelligent life.  I can totally go off on my soapbox about that, but I don’t want to digress.

A great idea…BUT

I do think that giving people easy access to mobility is a great thing, don’t get me wrong.  However, I think there needs to be way more thought into the ramifications of what this means for those who choose not to ride a scooter.  Think of families with young children, mature seniors (who by the way have money to spend in your district), runners, walkers, etc.   Think of those people as well, who choose to simply walk your district. The people who could potentially be hurt because someone decided to park a scooter in the wrong place. I believe that all the electric scooter companies need to come up with a viable solution in cooperation with each city or district.   The onus should be on them to figure out a way to get the scooters docked properly.  It has to be possible in this age of advanced technology.  The idea that the districts be responsible for picking up after people who use these scooters is equivalent to me having a baby and expecting other people to take care of cleaning up his messes.  It doesn’t work. I would encourage you to read up on the topic.  There are several cities right now that have a ban on these motorized scooters – for good reason.  Just google “motorized scooter ban”  and see what comes up.  I found this one pretty interesting. Until motorized scooters are regulated to the point of safety for all, I am not sure if it makes the best sense for all. Hope this helps, Emily Check out more interesting thoughts about the world of Improvement Districts on our blog!