An innovative way to reduce traffic congestion in Santa Monica is running into some government push back.
The motorized scooters can be rented from a company called Bird for a dollar plus 15 cents a minute. Locate them thru a GPS-guided app, and leave them when you’re done. And that’s the problem the company has with the city says Bird’s Chief Legal Officer David Estrada.
“The question is whether, after users take a ride and they park it: Are they parking it in the place their supposed to park it? Where you’re supposed to park is next to a bike rack.”
City officials are concerned that the scooters are left laying on the sidewalks, blocking pedestrian traffic. He says it’s important to view the issue from an historical perspective.
“It’s kind of like the early days of automobiles, when people discovered a great new way of transportation, but all of the rules weren’t quite worked out yet.”
The Santa Monica City Council will vote tomorrow on a pilot program that would raise fees and cap the number of scooters allowed in the city.
David Estrada was a guest on McIntyre in the Morning.
By Sandy Wells
KABC News
