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<\/p>\nBy: Darden Copeland<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Have the birds flocked to your city?\u00a0 And I\u2019m not talking about the ones with feathers\u2014I\u2019m referring to the newest trend in micro-mobility. \u00a0Fleets of electric scooters have appeared on the sidewalks of many United States cities, and they have spurred a mixed-bag of negative reactions and legal implications.<\/p>\n
Bird Rides, Inc., an electric scooter sharing platform, has plopped hundreds of its Bird scooters without warning in many of our nation\u2019s cities.[1]<\/a>\u00a0 The micro-mobility sharing platform operates by way of a smart phone app that allows users to locate available scooters within a nearby radius and ride them a short distance for a small fee.[2]<\/a>\u00a0 Bird scooters are dockless, so riders can leave the scooters anywhere they please at the end of their ride.[3]<\/a><\/p>\n The 21st<\/sup>century has seen a multitude of advancements in mobility and transportation, and some local governments have welcomed the changes with open arms, while others have been a bit more resistant.\u00a0 For example, ridesharing apps Uber and Lyft have revolutionized the transportation industry by arriving in cities unannounced and saturating the market.[4]<\/a>\u00a0 Taking a very similar approach, Bird hopes to do the same, but the scooter sharing company has received way more pushback than Uber and Lyft.[5]<\/a>\u00a0 It\u2019s not surprising that Bird is using the same tactic of appearing in cities unannounced not only because of the success of Uber and Lyft, but also because the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Bird earned his wings as the former Chief Operating Officer of Lyft, and the former Vice President of Growth at Uber.[6]<\/a><\/p>\n Bird\u2019s unusual flock of disapprovers can be linked to both the suddenness of the scooters\u2019 arrival, and also the sheer abrasiveness of the scooter concept itself.\u00a0 Unlike Uber and Lyft, the next morning after Bird makes its unannounced delivery of hundreds of scooters, people notice them.\u00a0 If the scooters are not blocking sidewalks, they\u2019re being ridden at relatively high speeds weaving through crowds of pedestrians, and sometimes breaking a host of local laws and ordinances.<\/p>\n Upon arrival of the scooters, some cities such as Richmond, Virginia, have decided to hastily come up with permitting systems and regulations, while others have taken the opposite approach of outlawing the scooters all-together.\u00a0 In Richmond, Mayor Levar Stoney pitched a one-year test program which would allow Bird to operate in the city after the company paid fees for each scooter.\u00a0 Less thrilled about the arrival of the Birds, Norfolk, Virginia city officials have been rounding up the scooters and impounding them for breaking city ordinances such as property abandonment on public land.[7]<\/a>\u00a0 According to the City of Norfolk, Bird will have to pay more than $93,365 dollars before the city will release the scooters.[8]<\/a>\u00a0 In San Francisco, California, city officials sent cease and desist orders to Bird claiming that the scooters were creating \u201ca public nuisance on the city\u2019s streets and sidewalks and endangering public health and safety.\u201d[9]<\/a>\u00a0 The city subsequently enacted an ordinance to require permits for Bird or any other micro-mobility platform seeking to inhabit its streets and sidewalks.[10]<\/a>\u00a0 The City of Milwaukee even filed a civil action in court against Bird for public nuisance and consenting to the operation of unregistered motor vehicles.[11]<\/a><\/p>\n Cities\u2019 disapproval of the scooters is not only rooted in the safety of pedestrians and riders, but also in liability.[12]<\/a>\u00a0 With hundreds of scooters zipping down city streets, a rider could be injured by hitting a pothole or similar road obstruction that would normally not present an issue to passing cars and motorcycles. \u00a0This hangs an uncertain cloud of liability over cities that host Bird scooters.[13]<\/a>\u00a0 An even stickier issue arises when the scooter riders are the parties at fault for the injuries of others.\u00a0 Leaving no source of recovery or redress for injured parties, Bird scooter users are not required to carry any form of insurance.[14]<\/a>\u00a0 With all of these issues in mind, it makes sense why many municipalities are dissatisfied with Bird for plopping the scooters in their region without any communication or planning.\u00a0 Will our nation\u2019s cities continue to ruffle their feathers at new technology, or will they acquiesce to new trends in mobility?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [1]<\/a>See <\/em>City of Milwaukee v. Bird Rides Inc., 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 187996 No. 18-CV-1066-JPS, at *1 (E. Dist. Wis. Nov. 2, 2018).<\/p>\n [2]<\/a>See <\/em>Melia Robinson, A Startup in the West Coast Scooter Sharing Craze is Already Worth $1 Billion \u2013 Here\u2019s What It\u2019s Like to Ride a Bird Scooter, <\/em>Business Insider, May 30, 2018, https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/bird-electric-scooter-review-2018-4<\/p>\n [3]<\/a>See id.<\/em><\/p>\n [4]<\/a>See <\/em>Tamara Kurtzman, Dockless Scooter Cos. Rewarded for Bad Behavior, <\/em>Law 360, Sept. 14, 2018, https:\/\/advance.lexis.com\/document\/?pdmfid=1000516&crid=1e246981-95c3-414d-9fa6-9be1a5fc493d&pddocfullpath=%2Fshared%2Fdocument%2Fanalytical-materials%2Furn%3AcontentItem%3A5T88-6BV1-JW09-M1XJ-00000-00&pddocid=urn%3AcontentItem%3A5T88-6BV1-JW09-M1XJ-00000-00&pdcontentcomponentid=122100&pdteaserkey=sr0&pditab=allpods&ecomp=5pkLk&earg=sr0&prid=a685e3ba-a50e-48d0-8d8a-4acb78cee448.<\/p>\n [5]<\/a>See, e.g. <\/em>Laura Newberry, Fed-up Locals Are Setting Electric Scooters on Fire and Burying Them at Sea, L.A. Times, Aug. 10, 2018, http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/local\/lanow\/la-me-ln-bird-scooter-vandalism-20180809-story.html.<\/p>\n [6]<\/a>See <\/em>Kurtzman, Dockless Scooter Cos. Rewarded for Bad Behavior, <\/em>Law 360, Sept. 14, 2018.<\/p>\n [7]<\/a>See<\/em>Nick Boykin, Norfolk Has 560 Bird Scooters Impounded, Company Owes Over 93k for Them<\/em>,WTKR, November 13, 2018, https:\/\/wtkr.com\/2018\/11\/13\/norfolk-has-560-bird-scooters-impounded-company-owes-over-93k-for-them\/.<\/p>\n [8]<\/a>See id.<\/em><\/p>\n [9]<\/a>Michele Satterlund, Sidewalks: The Next Mobility Frontier<\/em>, Law 360, August 07, 2018, https:\/\/advance.lexis.com\/document\/?pdmfid=1000516&crid=a1a4148b-9271-4eaa-9e0b-96c1531c6d0a&pddocfullpath=%2Fshared%2Fdocument%2Fanalytical-materials%2Furn%3AcontentItem%3A5T05-8221-F8D9-M0R5-00000-00&pddocid=urn%3AcontentItem%3A5T05-8221-F8D9-M0R5-00000-00&pdcontentcomponentid=122100&pdteaserkey=sr2&pditab=allpods&ecomp=5pkLk&earg=sr2&prid=beb22f69-1df6-400a-a497-ce028d274004.<\/p>\n [10]<\/a>See<\/em>id.<\/em><\/p>\n [11]<\/a>See Bird, <\/em>2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 187996 No. 18-CV-1066-JPS at *4.<\/p>\n [12]<\/a>See <\/em>Kurtzman, Dockless Scooter Cos. Rewarded for Bad Behavior, <\/em>Law 360, Sept. 14, 2018.<\/p>\n