Council grounds Bird, motorized bikes
Bird scooters and other scooter-sharing companies have been temporarily prohibited in Manhattan Beach. Photo courtesy WikiCommons
Just after a long closed session and a couple of hours before the Manhattan Beach City Council was scheduled to discuss an emergency ordinance Tuesday night banning the placement and use of “shared mobility” motorized scooters and bikes on public streets and sidewalks, a couple council members took a walk to the pier to stretch their legs.
Bird scooters, the most prevalent of the popular electric scooter-share companies, were flocking the pier.
“On the bike path, on the pier, everywhere,” said Councilperson Steve Napolitano, who said he’d told scooter riders it wasn’t legal to ride on sidewalks. “They say, ‘Thank you,’ as they keep on riding.”
The council voted unanimously in favor of an emergency ordinance that will outlaw the use of motorized scooters and bikes on all public right-of-ways for six months, during which time it will decide if the scooters can be regulated.
“This is one of those things we need a timeout on,” Napolitano said. “And it might be permanent.”
“I saw someone on a scooter on Sepulveda,” said Councilperson Nancy Hersman. “That sort of blew my mind.”
Bird and fellow scooter-share outfit Lime-S both operate in Manhattan Beach, where the “dockless” electric scooters can be found scattered throughout town, where they can be rented for $1, plus 15 cents per minute of use. Their use has burgeoned both here and in other communities throughout the state, but a host of problems has arrived with the new companies — including obstructing sidewalks, conflicts with cars and pedestrians, use of public land for private purposes, urban clutter, and potential public liability in allowing their use.
The scooter-sharing companies have been prohibited in several area cities, including Beverly Hills and West Hollywood, while other cities — such as Long Beach — have embraced their use.
Fred Manna, a member of the local Blue Zones mobility plan committee, said that the scooters “are not all fun and games” but could have a role in reducing car-use, parking problems, and congestion.
“Are people going from one place to another and using this as opposed to driving?” he asked. “…We think there is a place for these, as well as e-bikes. These are young people using these things, and they are going to want it.”
But Mayor Amy Howorth, who agendized the item, said the scooters had become a public safety issue. She urged the city to take a pause.
“With apologies to my sons,” Howorth said.
Bicycle-sharing operations may have more of a future in the South Bay, as Manhattan Beach has joined El Segundo, Hermosa, and Redondo Beach in a working group to consider a shared set of regulations governing their use across city borders. The cities are preparing a survey to gauge residents’ receptiveness, which will appear on Manhattan Beach’s “Open City Hall Forum” on its website.
But scooter-sharing seems less likely to have a future locally.
“There’s always that confusion on the streets,” said Councilperson Richard Montgomery. “We have school starting tomorrow. And an issue like this is just another one of those things we don’t need to look out for right now.”
“As much as I’d like to think good intentions will prevail, these folks either don’t know what they are doing or don’t care,” said Napolitano.