When something new first rolls out there are bound to be some kinks. Across the country there have been complaints about safety, abuse and vandalism with electric scooters. Now as they arrive in Milwaukee, it’s a concern that this will happen here.
The program officially launched Tuesday as Lime placed 500 scooters throughout the city. It comes with its own set of riding rules, but TODAY’S TMJ4 already witnessed riders breaking them.
First of all, you can park a scooter on the sidewalk, but you can’t ride it on the sidewalk. It could even cost you a fine.
When it comes to where you can ride, follow the rules of the road. If there are bike lanes, use them. Otherwise, you’re left with the street, which may not be ideal with traffic.
“When you get on the very heavily congested streets that it’s a car and you have this much space, that’s kind of when we ventured onto the sidewalk just to not get hit and killed,” rider Austin Rink said.
Then there’s the parking situation because the scooters don’t come with docks.
You can’t park in any areas highlighted red in the Lime phone application, including the Riverwalk, and you must park in a spot that doesn’t block pedestrian access.
The phone application can help you with this.
“You take a picture when you have to lock it, and most times it will let you know if you can’t lock it in a particular spot,” rider Alyssa Maronde said.
These riders hope people will follow the rules because they’re already falling in love with the new scooters.
“You can’t really control what everybody does, but I think everyone’s out here for the same reason, so hopefully they don’t abuse it,” Maronde said.
“It’s becoming one of my favorite little hobbies to do now,” rider Ryan Yapp said.
Helmet use is also encouraged.
You can file a complaint about illegal parking or anything else regarding the scooters, by touching the exclamation point in bottom left corner of the Lime phone app.
