Santa Monica and Beverly Hills crack down on scooters, fun

Who knew that motorized scooters would be L.A.’s hot button issue of 2018? Love it or hate it, shareable motorized scooter operators like Bird and Lime have made short-distance mobility easier in L.A. with their dockless rental systems—while simultaneously littering public spaces with orphaned scooters and raising safety concerns. Now, two Westside cities are starting to crack down on the services.

On Tuesday, the Beverly Hills City Council agreed to a six-month ban on motorized scooters in the city. According to The Beverly Hills Courier, the 4-1 vote approves an ordinance that “prohibits shared mobility devices from being placed in any public right-of-way or on public property, operated in any public-right-of-way or on public property, or offered for use anywhere in the City of Beverly Hills.” In other words, don’t even think about riding a Bird or Lime scooter anywhere in Beverly Hills. While this technically doesn’t ban the use of a motorized, fold-up scooter that you personally own, we imagine scooting around Beverly Hills could spark some not-so-fun conversations with an officer.

Meanwhile in Santa Monica, a focused enforcement campaign on scooter safety kicks off this week. As the befuddling Sergio Leone-inspired video below illustrates, police will be issuing tickets for riding scooters on the sidewalk.

This comes a week after police confiscated 100 scooters on the bike path near the Santa Monica Pier.

Whereas Beverly Hills has opted for an outright ban, Santa Monica last month approved a 16-month pilot program that kicks off September 17 that’ll allow electric-scooter and electric-bike companies to operate as long as they apply for a permit, offer safety education and agree to a dynamic cap on the number of vehicles out and about.