Scooters, scooters, everywhere…in the news as well as on the sidewalks! We are certain everyone has seen reports regarding scooters in the newspapers or, if you still watch it, on the local news. As reported in the Denverite and the Denver Post, Lyft is going to end their dockless scooter program:
Denverite-Lyft Ending Dockless Scooters (September 10, 2024)
Denver Post-Lyft to End Dockless Scooters (September 14, 2024)
It’s unclear whether Lyft is leaving permanently or just with the dockless devices.
There is also a great embedded article in the Denverite story:
Denverite-How to Ride a Scooter in Denver and Not Be a Jerk (September 10, 2024)
Denver is not the only city suffering from scooter fatigue – scooter litter on sidewalks and inconsiderate scooter riders. The Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald recently published:
Crackdowns and Bans: How the World’s Cities are Dealing with E-scooters
Finally, on a sad note, there was an article in Westword regarding a man who was paralyzed in a scooter accident suing Lime:
Westword-Denver Man Paralyzed in E-Scooter Crash (August 23, 2024)
While we are now meeting every other month (our next meeting is Tuesday, October 1, at 4:00 PM in 10th floor common area of the Spire) we have been busy since our July meeting. We attended a presentation by our District 10 Council member Hinds to the City Council Budget and Policy Committee. In his presentation, he noted that there is an average of 3.9 emergency room visits daily related to e-scooter accidents at Denver Health. In the 23 months between January 1, 2022 and November 30, 2023, the cost for these visits at Denver Health totaled almost $66 million. Council member Hinds anticipates introducing legislation to the City Council to address sidewalk riding and scooter clutter (e.g. requiring scooter companies to use sidewalk detection technology, requiring scooters to be docked in the downtown area, and sobriety tests for riders at night). Council members Sarah Parady (at-large) and Darrell Watson (District 9) are co-sponsoring the legislation. Council member Hinds welcomes our support at council meetings.
The amount of the medical costs reported by Council member Hinds that are covered by insurance is unknown but any uncovered portion must be paid by the citizens of Denver since, as far as we can determine, the City and County of Denver receives no revenue from the licensed e-scooter operators. Based on these findings, we emailed Tim O’Brien, the Denver City Auditor, requesting any information his office may have regarding uncompensated costs or revenue received by the city.
Photo attribution: David Kurth
