Last revised: 8/12/2021
Latest additions marked NEW>
Scooter Litigation
- Liability in General
- Suit Filed in California Says Scooters Rented by Uber, Segway Don’t Have Turn Signals (9/25/2020) (product liability)
- San Diego cracking down on Segways to curb injury payouts (8/12/2019)
- What happens when your car is hit by a Lime scooter (7/29/2019)
- Is Electric Scooter Safety Next on the Regulatory Menu? (7/9/2019)
- Following Chain of Liability in E-scooter Injuries (4/11/2019)
- Anatomy of an Electric Scooter Crash (1/10/2019)
- ADA Based Claims against Public Bodies and Scooter Share Companies
- NEW>Montoya et al v. City of San Diego et al, 434 F. Supp. 3d 830 (S.D. Cal. 2020) (ADA class action against city and scooter-share companies, court denial of motion to dismiss claims against city), 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 108191, 2021 WL 2350927 (class action certification denied)
- Labowitz v. Bird Rides, Inc., No. CV 18-9329-MWF, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 84573 (C.D. Cal., 3/31/2020) (similar)
- CA
- Statewide impact
- Lime Scooter Workers Can Take Labor Claims to California Court (6/22/2020)
- Olabi v. Neutron, No. A156990 (Cal. Ct. App. June 19, 2020)
- Lime Scooter Workers Can Take Labor Claims to California Court (6/22/2020)
- ADA Class action
- Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills – Mia Labowitz v. Bird Rides, Inc. et al, Docket No. 2:18-cv-09329 (C.D. Cal. Oct 31, 2018)
- ADA and CA law
- Amended complaint
- Ruling against the plaintiffs (with leave to amend their complaint) (10/29/2019)
- Los Angeles
- Riverside
- NEW>Riverside is suing Bird, claiming breach of the indemnification and insurance provisions of the company's licensing agreement with the city (12/31/2020)
- action
- Complaint
- San Diego – They said you could leave electric scooters anywhere - Then the Repo Men Struck Back (7/24/2019)
- Scooter Impound Company Sues Lime Over Fight With Scooter 'Juicers' (9/4/2019)
- Remember those Guys Impounding Scooters? Lime and Bird Are Suing them (4/10/2019)
- Vigilantes Are Taking Scooters Off the Streets of San Diego and Bird and Lime Are Pissed (4/17/2019) (includes complaints filed by Bird and Lime in California Superior Court, County of San Diego)
- Defendants' Site and App
- California statute authorizing owner of property to have vehicles removed to a storage facility - Cal. Veh. Code § 22658
- Santa Monica
- Statewide impact
- FL
- Ft. Lauderdale – A Lime scooter accident left Ashanti Jordan in a vegetative state. Now her mother is suing on her behalf (2/11/2019)
- GA
- Altanta – Atlanta woman sues Uber, says faulty e-scooter brakes led to injuries (12/5/2019)
- ID
- IN
- Indianapolis – 'Defective' Lime scooter left Indianapolis rider with traumatic brain injury, lawsuit says (9/20/2019)
- MN
- Minneapolis – Advocate for disabled sues Minneapolis over e-scooters littering sidewalks (10/18/2019)
- OH
- NEW>Columbus - Bechtel v. Neutron Holdings, Inc., No. 2:20-cv-1555, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 156345, 2020 WL 5087082 (S.D. Ohio, Aug. 28, 2020) (products liability action against individuals responsible for Lime scooters in Columbus, Ohio)
- TX
- Austin:
- Dallas
- San Antonio:
- WI
- Milwaukee - Milwaukee v. Bird Rides Inc et al, Docket No. 2:18-cv-01066 (E.D. Wis. Jul 12, 2018)
- Action to enjoin in state court, removed to federal a non-resident
- Milwaukee - Milwaukee v. Bird Rides Inc et al, Docket No. 2:18-cv-01066 (E.D. Wis. Jul 12, 2018)
Last revised: 6/16/2022
Latest additions marked NEW>
Developments in the Industry and Equipment
The Players
- Bird / Sherpa
- Blue Duck
- Boaz Bikes (seated scooter)
- Bolt
- Glide (Glide Scooters company looking to expand to other cities outside El Paso) (1/17/2020))
- Goat
- Gotcha
- Acquired by Bolt (1/19/2021)
- Grüv
- Helbiz
- HOPR
- Jump
- Lime
- Link
- Lyft
- Lynx
- Ojo
- Acquired by Bolt (1/19/2021)
- Razor
- Scoot
- Shared (seated scooter)
- Left the rental field (2/19/2020)
- Rebranded Zoomer moved (successfully) to direct sales to consumers (2/17/2021)
- Skip
- Spin
- Acquired by Tier (3/3/2022)
- VeoRide (now simply called Veo)
- Wheels
A Highly Competitive (and Not Yet Profitable?) Business
- NEW>Bird is laying off 23% of staff (6/7/2022)
- NEW>The Electric Scooter Rebound (5/29/2022)
- NEW>Are We Still Doing Scooters? (5/26/2022) [global monthly users of select e-scooter share systems (April 2018 - 2022)]
- NEW>E-Scooters Are Having a Moment as Gas Prices Surge (3/28/2022)
- NEW>You can find, and pay for, Spin scooters on Lyft's app now (3/24/2022) (Lime scooters have been on the Uber app in some locations since 2019)
- NEW>Spin pulls scooters out of Indianapolis, other markets it says 'lack sensible regulations' (2/8/2022)
- NEW>Ford’s e-scooter company is pulling out of any city that doesn’t limit competition (1/7/2022)
- The e-kickscooter takes to the road: Understanding consumer-ownership preferences (12/16/2021) (McKinsey) (high percentage of potential commuting users express preference for ownership)
- Bird and Scootaround partner to make e-scooters available for people with disabilities (12/7/2021)
- Helbiz Announces up to $30 Million Investment Supporting Dramatic Expansion in the United States (10/18/2021)
- Helbiz Partners with Drover AI to Bring Artificial Intelligence to Scooter Sharing (9/23/2021)
- Bird Applies E-Scooter Sharing Lessons to Sales of E-Bikes (8/23/2021)
- Bird Shows Improving Scooter Economics, Long March to Profitability (8/20/2021)
- Bird Announces Revenue Rebound, More Losses — and an E-bike (8/19/2021)
- Bird is the latest operator to integrate its e-scooters and e-bikes with Google Maps (8/18/2021) (joining Lime and Spin)
- Shared scooters jump into a profitable future (1/14/2021)
- Moovit integrates Lime electric scooters, bikes, mopeds into transit planning app (7/27/2021)
- Ford micromobility subsidiary Spin launches first in-house-built e-scooter (6/23/2021)
- Ford-owned Spin shakes up scooter business with new CEO, e-bikes and city strategy (6/3/2021)
- Bird, going public via a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), lost $387.5 million in 2019 and $208.2 million in 2020 (5/12/2021)
- Bird is reportedly taking its electric scooter company public via SPAC (5/10/2021)
- The three licensees in New York City's pilot program may not: 1) use gig workers and 2) impose terms of service requiring arbitration and ruling out class actions (4/14/2021)
- Lime launches app-less rides and no fee reservations to get more people riding (3/24/2021)
- Micromobility company Lime is partnering with commuting benefits provider Edenred in anticipation of the post-pandemic surge in two-wheeled office treks (1/22/2021)
- Shared scooters jump into a profitable future (1/14/2021)
- Investors are going wild for Europe's e-scooter start-ups after U.S. players stumbled (12/7/2020)
- E-scooter startup Tier raises $250 million round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 (11/10/2020)
- Can scooters give bike-share a boost? Lime data shows both services are growing in Seattle (11/3/2020)
- Bird Seeks to Unload Santa Monica HQ as Fund Marks Down Shares (10/19/2020)
- Wheels' seated e-scooters merged into Lime's app as scooter companies team up (10/8/2020)
- E Scooter Moped And E Motorcycle Market Insight, Present Scenario & Growth Prospect 2026 (9/28/2020)
- U.S. Scooter Ridership Surged in 2019. Now What? (8/27/2020)
- Superpedestrian is launching a shared e-scooter service called Link (6/4/2020)
- Lime Just Became the Biggest Micromobility Company in the World (5/11/2020)
- Bolt Mobility raises $30 million for electric scooter rollout (3/3/2020)
- Bird Pay tries to appease local businesses plagued by scooters (2/25/2020)
- Pay to charge Lime scooters has sunk so low 'juicers' won’t do it anymore (2/20/2020) (San Francisco)
- Lime Has Significantly Dropped Pay Rates for the Contractors Who Charge its Scooters (2/20/2020) (Portland< OR)
- The Local Regulations That Can Kill E-Scooters (2/10/2020)
- Building Micromobility At A Global Scale (1/31/2020) (Helbiz / new entrant in US/ DC/ employees not gig workers and free rides for low-income persons)
- Bird deploys the Bird Two scooter (1/30/2020)
- Scooters, Other Forms of Micromobility Are Here to Stay (1/27/2020) (charging stations/role of urban parking lot)
- 4 Predictions for the Electric Scooter Industry (1/27/2020) (companies culled/city regulations will sort/new form factors will appear/data-sharing will be an issue)
- Scooter app wars begin, and Lime isn't happy about it (1/24/2020)
- Skip pulls back the curtain on the high costs of electric scooter maintenance (1/21/2020)
- The Electric Scooter Wars of 2019 (1/11/2020)
- Lime and Bolt Abruptly Yank E-Scooters From Multiple Markets Across the U.S. (1/10/2020)
- Different Franchise model: GOAT scooters land in El Dorado, resident leaving mark on city (12/22/2019)
- “Quite a shock”: Scoot employees laid off by Bird in SF scooter shake-up (12/6/2019)
- Lime's Chinese-Made Scooters Get Caught Up in Trump's Trade War (12/5/2019)
- Bike and Scooter Rental Market by Service, Propulsion, Operational Model, Vehicle And Region - Global Forecast to 2027 (2019)
- Lyft is pulling its scooters from [smaller] cities across the US (11/18/2019)
- You Lost How Much on Scooters? (10/22/2019)
- That scooter ride is going to cost you a lot more (10/18/2019)
- One Way to Keep the Sidewalk Clear: Remote-Controlled Scooter-Bots (10/15/2019) (Tortoise)
- Surge pricing for scooters? Uber’s Jump will test prices in Dallas that go up or down based on demand (10/15/2019)
- Bubble or Boom? 2-Year-Old Scooter Startup Bird Is Now Worth $2.5 Billion (10/4/2019)
- Electric scooter company Bird raises $275 million, with a new focus on profitability (10/3/2019)
- E-Scooters: the bull and the bear (9/27/2019)
- Scooter startup Skip raises more funding, talks strategy (9/21/2019)
- Lime brings electric scooter Group Ride option to US so you’ll stop riding tandem (9/7/2019)
- The World Market for Bike & Scooter Rentals, 2019-2027: Projected to Witness a CAGR of 18.9% (9/16/2019)
- Spin may be first SF e-scooter company to unionize in bid for permit (9/2/2019)
- Lyft Just Raised Its Scooter Prices. How Much Do All The Scooters Cost, Anyway? (8/22/2019)
- Lime’s partnership with Google Maps (8/14/2019)
- Skip unveils its first custom electric scooter (8/14/2019)
- Bird Raising New Funding At $2.5 Billion Valuation (7/23/2019)
- Reduce, reuse, rescoot? A look at e-scooters' long-term sustainability (7/2019)
- 84 Million Trips Taken on Shared Bikes and Scooters Across the U.S. in 2018 (4/17/2019)
- One User's Comparative Review of Lime, Spin, Lyft, and Bird Scooters (in Minneapolis) (7/16/2019)
- Electric scooters: Your complete guide (6/14/2019)
- The electric scooter wars won't end (6/14/2019)
- Bird buys Scoot, and more electric scooter deals could be on the way (6/12/2019)
- Scooter startup Bird buys struggling competitor Scoot (6/12/2019)
- Electric-Scooter startups are becoming more cautious (6/6/2019)
- Scooter consolidation may finally be upon us (6/5/2019)
- Charlotte becomes the latest city where Lime is ditching dockless bikes. Here’s why (4/18/2019)
- Scooter companies' meteoric rise in one chart (5/20/2019)
- Map: Watch the electric scooter boom spread across the U.S. (4/27/2019)
- E-scooters aren't going anywhere — In fact, their numbers are still growing (4/26/2019)
- Electric Scooters Are Taking over American Cities (4/22/2019) (commenting on the report by the National Association of Transportation Officials on shared bicycle and scooter trips in 2018)
- Skip Is Way More Popular than Scoot in San Francisco (4/15/2019)
- Inboard Refunds Electric Scooter Customers as it Pivots to Shared Fleets (4/9/2019)
- How Bird plans to blanket the world with electric scooters without going bankrupt (3/07/2019)
- Google Maps Now Shows Lime Scooters, Bike And E-Bike Rental Options Directly On The App (3/04/2019)
- Lime dropped the ‘bike’ from its name; now the bikes are disappearing (2/15/2019)
- Security Engineering: Inside the Scooter Startups (2/12/2019)
- 14 Months, 120 Cities, $2 Billion: There's Never Been a Company Like Bird. Is the World Ready? (2/2019)
- Electric Scooters And Micro-Mobility: Here's Everything You Need To Know (2/1/2019)
- Lime and Bird Raise Millions, But at Far Lower Valuations Than Hoped (1/18/2019)
- 2018 Was the Year of the Scooter. What Happens Now? (12/30/2018)
- The Electric Scooter Wars of 2018 (12/23/2018)
- Here Are the Big Players in the Great Scooter Startup War (5/22/2018)
Improvements in the E-Scooters Themselves (Including Durability and Recycling Measures)
- NEW>Lime’s scooters and e-bikes will soon offer double the battery life (6/15/2022)
- NEW>Can Electric Scooters Become a Safer Way to Travel? (6/11/2022) (Superpedestrian)
- NEW>Scientists creating universal e-scooter sound to help pedestrians detect them (3/31/2022)
- NEW>Bird tests motorized wheelchair attachment in NYC (3/24/2022) (attaches to wheelchair, allowing it to be used as a scooter)
- NEW>The hidden (and not so hidden) tech making electric scooters safer (3/2022)
- Superpedestrian gets $125M to expand tech that corrects unsafe scooter riding (2/1/2022) (Pedestrian Defense safety system – detects and corrects such unsafe behaviors as riding on sidewalks or the wrong way on a one-way street)
- Closer look at the A-Ride, a powerful full-suspension electric bike/scooter crossover (1/14/2022)
- Li-Cycle partners to recycle batteries in scooters, e-bikes (7/14/2021) (Helbiz)
- How Bird, ITAP are Reducing Battery Waste Through Advanced Recycling (5/20/2021)
- Spin is testing remote-controlled electric scooters to prevent blocked sidewalks (1/27/2021) (3-wheeled) (to be tested in Boise, ID)
- Lime uses sensor data to keep scooters off sidewalks (1/28/2021)
- Positioning technology more accurate than GPS (1/15/2021)
- Ford's Spin unit to boost e-scooters with software that alerts pedestrians of sidewalk riders (12/17/2020)
- Spin is adding sensor-powered ADAS to its electric scooters to curb scofflaw riding (12/17/2020)
- Spin to equip its e-scooters with on-vehicle artificial intelligence (12/17/2020)
- Lime partners with what3words to find abandoned e-scooters and bikes (and with transit mapping platform, Citymapper) (12/10/2020)
- Fat tires: Phat Scooters (however, all models except the Phlex exceed the common 100 pound limit )
- Bolt unveils its fourth-generation scooter (12/3/2020)
- Addition of sound to alert blind and partially sighted people of e-scooter approach (11/2/2021)
- SFMTA launches pilot program to test adaptive scooters for people with disabilities (1/22/2020)
- SF scooter companies introduce models for disabled riders (1/15/2020)
- A more intelligent system for the scooter wars (8/21/2019)
- Europe’s Cobbled Streets Are Breaking Scooters (8/8/2019)
- Bird’s new electric scooter has a better battery and anti-vandalism sensors (8/1/2019)
- Spin Rolls Out 3G e-Scooter (7/28/2019)
- Ford’s Spin reveals new e-scooter and logo (7/25/2019)
- Bird has ‘positive unit economics’ with its custom scooter model, CEO says (7/12/2019)
- This dangerous looking two-person electric scooter wants to challenge Bird (7/2/2019)
- Portland accessibility scooters with seats (6/14/2019)
- Can Bird build a better scooter before it runs out of cash? (5/5/2019)
- Shared scooters don't last long (2/26/2019)
Alternative Modes of Providing E-Scooters (Sales, Cash Rental, Long-Term Rental, Group Rental)
- NEW>Unagi launches its own more exclusive version of shared micromobility (5/10/2022) (available at only at selected high end hotels, luxury apartments, and coworking spaces)
- E-Scooter Company, Voro Motors, Opens New Showroom, Service Center And Warehouse At Industry City (12/4/2021) (NYC)
- Best Buy will start selling e-bikes, scooters and mopeds in a bid to loom large in what's expected to be a $70 billion electric transportation market (9/1/2021)
- Rent a scooter in DC that you don’t have to share (6/10/2021) (Unagi)
- Unagi is expanding its electric scooter subscription service to more cities (3/17/2021) [adding San Francisco, Austin, Seattle, Phoenix, Miami, and Nashville to NYC and LA]
- This Chicago startup wants to bring e-scooters to your apartment and office building (2/26/2021) [to be offered to tenants as an amenity by building owner]
- Franchise operators - fixed facility rentals
- Ride FiiK (see Scooters Are Back in Birmingham! Here’s What You Need to Know (9/24/2020))
- Mercedes-Benz’s New Electric Scooter Aims to Bring Luxury to Your Last Mile (10/5/2020)
- Ridepanda wants to be your ‘one-stop shop’ for electric bikes and scooters (10/2/2020) (online sales, financing, support)
- Unagi Opens a bricks and mortar store in LA that offers both scooter sales and monthly rental (9/23/2020)
- Bird doubles down on selling electric scooters directly to customers (9/21/2020)
- Unagi launches $39-a-month subscription for its stylish electric scooters (8/5/2020)
- Lime expands its scooter subscription service to include daily and monthly passes (6/18/2020)
- Unbanked, credit card-less riders can now rent scooters with cash (12/23/2019)
- It's Getting Easier To Rent E-Scooters In SF With Good Old-Fashioned Cash (12/22/2019)
- Lime launches weekly subscription service for frequent riders (12/17/2019)
- Lime starts rolling out group scooter rides so a single user can pay for others (7/4/2019)
- Bird is now selling its electric scooters directly to consumers (5/8/2019)
- Lime will open brick-and-mortar scooter "lifestyle stores" (10/22/2018)
Structuring the Staff Needed for Charging, Repairing, and Redeployment (and Equipment Changes Designed to Make the Charging and Maintenance More Efficient)
- NEW>E-scooters fall head over wheels for battery swapping (3/25/2022) (limiting factor is the industry’s reluctance to standardize)
- Spin workers just ratified their first union contract (9/29/2020)
- Bird Is Quietly Luring Contract Workers Into Debt Through a New Scooter Scheme (9/28/2020)
- BIRD BRAINED: Inside the electric scooter startup with big workplace problems (4/23/2020)
- Bird cuts 30% of workforce as coronavirus pushes scooters out of cities (3/27/2020)
- Scooter Giant Lime Preparing Layoffs as Rider Numbers Collapse (3/21/2020)
- Spin scooters, too good to be true (1/6/2020) (San Diego: Spin's switch from free-lance chargers to employees)
- In the Van With the ‘Juicers’ Who Round Up and Recharge Lime Scooters (10/25/2019)
- The weird and messy work of charging electric scooters in the Bay Area (7/3/2019)
- Scooter Startups Are Ditching Gig Workers for Real Employees (3/07/2019)
Parking and Charging Stations Combined with User or Charger Incentives for Their Use
- How scooter charging startups want to make the industry more profitable (1/17/2020)
- Swiftmile will become the ‘gas station’ for electric bikes and scooters in Austin (10/24/2019)
- Spin Adding Docks and Parking Incentives for its Dockless E-Scooters (10/21/2019) (Arlington, VA)
Developments that May Assist Enforcement of Local Rules or Rider Safety
- NEW>Bird & Lime use to Google’s ARCore to power scooter parking solution (5/11/2022)
- New Bird Community Safety Zones Offer Added Pedestrian Protection (8/4/2021)
- Rented e-scooters get skid-detection to spot and ban careless riders [Bird] (1/17/2021)
- 'Silent’ e-scooters fitted with artificial noise to warn pedestrians (11/4/2020)
- Keeping e-scooters off sidewalks (10/16/2020)
- Breakthrough Technology for e-Scooters to Increase Pedestrian Safety (8/31/2020) (sidewalk detection)
- Free app provides safer micromobility-specific GPS navigation for e-bikes and scooters (8/12/2020)
- Product Safety Regulations for Electric Bikes and Scooters (8/7/2020)
- Teleoperated scooters: Go X and Tortoise test micromobility’s future in Georgia pilot (7/7/2020)
- A new scooter company is in town, and technology is helping make sure devices stay clean (7/2/2020)
- Portland startup Ride Report raises $10 million to support e-scooters, rental bikes (3/12/2020) (Ride Report enables cities to track vehicle locations and usage so they can monitor compliance)
- This SF scooter company knows if you’re riding illegally on a sidewalk. Here’s how (1/28/2020)
- Bird deploys the Bird Two scooter in San Francisco (1/30/2020) (self reports damage)
- Autoliv Performs First Crash Test of an E-scooter Airbag (1/31/2020)
- This SF scooter company knows if you’re riding illegally on a sidewalk. Here’s how (1/28/2020)
- Lime uses sensor data to keep scooters off sidewalks (1/28/2020) (San Jose)
- Bird will give you free scooter rides if you take a selfie while wearing a helmet (11/19/2019)
- Spin's introduction of docking stations on private property (8/26/2019)
- Ford's (Spin) Bid for Safer Scooters? Sensors Everywhere (8/21/2019)
- Effectiveness of geofencing
- Austin Transportation publishes new dockless mobility open data tools (1/14/2019)
- Portland’s E-Scooter Pilot Could Set Public-Private Data Sharing Precedents for Mobility Partnerships (4/29/2019)
- Populus raises $3.1 million to help cities make sense of shared scooters and bikes (3/14/2019)
- A Fix for Electric Scooter Sidewalk Chaos: Solar Docks (3/13/2019)
- Skip Scooters Get a Latch so They Don't Junk Up the Sidewalks (10/20/2018)
- Bird flooded cities with electric scooters, and now it wants to help them better manage the influx (8/29/2018) (geofencing, data-sharing)
- As Cities Push Back Against E-Scooters, One Company Launches "GovTech Platform" (9/7/2018)
Scooter Companies Lobbying against Tighter State Regulation
Vandalism
- Ellis attempts to get scooters and other contaminants out of city waterways (1/23/2020)
- They pulled 9 Lime scooters out of Commencement Bay. Now they want answers and solutions (1/17/2020) (Tacoma)
- Night Prowler in Florida Cut Electric Scooters’ Brakes, Police Say (10/2/2019) (Ft. Lauderdale, FL)
Vulnerability to Hacking
- New research exposes security risk for e-scooters and riders (1/23/2020)
- $30 plug-and-play kit converts a Bird scooter into a "personal scooter" (12/8/2018)
Effects of the Pandemic
- Scooter-sharing startup rides out pandemic with a successful pivot to consumer sales (2/15/2021)
- The Pandemic Has Shifted Where Scooters and Robots Fit In (11/17/2020) (increased duration and distance traveled)
- Scooter Ridership Resilient as Workers Remain Absent from Detroit (11/01/2020)
- Lime’s CEO on the future of scooters: ‘COVID has turned from a headwind into a tailwind’ (10/28/2020)
- E-scooters and bikes rebound as COVID-19 crisis keeps on rolling (9/2/2020)
- Shared scooters from Lime, Bird and Lyft are back in the Twin Cities, but old commuting patterns aren't (7/23/2020) (longer rides, higher rate of repeat rides by beginners)
- It’s Not Too Late to Turn the Electric Scooter Industry Around (6/29/2020)
- The Covid Crisis Could Finally Make the Scooter Industry Profitable (6/25/2020)
- Three Signs This Might Be Micromobility’s Big Moment (6/17/2020)
- Bike-share and e-scooter companies, hit hard by the pandemic, may come back stronger (5/18/2020)
- Uber And Bolt Are Betting On An E-Scooter Recovery After The Pandemic (5/15/2020)
- HOW THE NOVEL CORONAVIRUS IS SPEEDING THE SCOOTER APOCALYPSE (5/13/2020)
- Are shared electric scooters going extinct? Lime’s valuation reportedly tanks (5/6/2020)
- Spin restarts scooter business in four markets (5/5/2020)
- As people return to a new normal, UT professor study how scooter & bike shares are affected (5/1/2020)
- Spin exec: The scooter industry will see a resurgence (4/28/2020)
- Scooter-sharing expected to bounce back from COVID-19 crisis (4/28/2020)
- How COVID-19 Will Reshape Bike And Scooter Rental Market 2020-2026 Survey Report Along with Statistics (4/24/2020)
- How electric scooters will factor into a post-lockdown world (4/22/2020)
- Anyone Feel Like Saving Electric Scooters? (4/16/2020) (Officials in Portland, Oregon, have provided financial incentives to keep e-scooter service available.)
- Unicorn Riding Scooter In Fatal Crash (4/14/2020)
- Once ubiquitous, e-scooters vanish from Atlanta amid coronavirus pandemic (4/7/2020)
- Lyft is offering free e-scooter trips to health care workers fighting COVID-19 (4/3/2020)
- No, Bird and Lime Were Not ‘Forced’ to Pull Fleets — or Fire Staff — Because of COVID-19 (3/31/2020)
- Scooter companies find dockless riding and pandemics don't mix (3/26/2020)
- E-Scooters Rely on China for Parts. Here’s How the Industry Is Weathering Coronavirus (3/23/2020)
- Scooter Giant Lime Preparing Layoffs as Rider Numbers Collapse (3/21/2020)
- Lime is yanking its electric scooters from California and Washington due to coronavirus (3/17/2020)
- Lyft flags production delays for scooter, bike parts due to coronavirus (2/28/2020)
- The Frenzied Era of E-Scooters Is Over (2/27/2020)
Last revised: 4/11/2022
State Law on Electric Scooters
In General
- Officials in many cities feel they couldn't rein in Uber and Lyft. Now they're being stricter with other innovative forms of transportation (11/30/2020)
- A Template for Drafting or Amending State E-Scooter Legislation, with Alternatives and Accompanying Notes (4/14/2019)
- E-Scooter Legislation Worries Bike Advocates (4/10/2019)
States that Allow E-Scooters on Public Roads, Subject to Regulation
Alabama: Statutory Details
Arizona: Statutory Details
Arkansas: Statutory Details
California: Statutory Details
Colorado: Statutory Details
Connecticut: Statutory Details
Delaware Statutory Details
Florida: Statutory Details
Hawaii: Statutory Details
Indiana: Statutory Details
Kansas: Statutory Details
Kentucky: Statutory Details
Louisiana: Statutory Details
Maine: Statutory Details
Maryland: Statutory Details
Michigan: Statutory Details
Minnesota: Statutory Details
Mississippi: Statutory Details
Nevada: Statutory Details
New Jersey: Statutory Details
New York: Statutory Details
Ohio: Statutory Details
Oregon: Statutory Details
Pennsylvania: Statutory Details
South Dakota: Statutory Details
Tennessee: Statutory Details
Texas: Statutory Details
Utah: Statutory Details
Virginia: Statutory Details
Washington: Statutory Details
Wisconsin: Statutory Details
Examples of States in which Current Law Effectively Bars Modern E-Scooters from Public Roads and Streets
[See generally The Grounds and Consequences of Scooters not Being "Street Legal")
- Gen. Laws ch. 90, § 1 ("Motorized scooter" defined)
- Gen. Laws ch. 90, § 1E (Motorized scooters; operation regulations)
- Motorized scooters must have brake light and turn signals
- Operator must have a license or learner’s permit
- Operator must wear a helmet
- Maximum speed is 20 m.p.h.
- No use after dark is permitted
- Regulations: 540 Mass. Code Regs. 2.00
- Motorized scooters need not be and cannot be registered
- Bills that would relax current statutory requirements have been introduced in the Massachusetts Senate and endorsed by the governor
- Gov. Baker Boosts Effort To Bring Electric Scooters Back To Mass. (1/22/2019)
- SD.1986 (Introduced by Senator Nick Collins)
- SD 2167 (Introduced by Senator Nick Collins)
- N.C. Gen. Stat. § 20-4.01(27j) defines "moped" in terms that appear to include e-scooters. However, mopeds must be registered and be issued plates, and to be registered each must have vehicle identification number (VIN). Contemporary e-scooters lack VINs.
- They clearly fall within the definition of "motor vehicle" and cannot, therefore, be ridden without registration on public roads. Nor can they be ridden on sidewalks. N.C. Gen. Stat. §§ 20-50(a), 20-160. However, if ridden on public roads they are subject to the state's DWI law. State v. Crow, 175 N.C. App. 119, 623 S.E.2d 68 (2005).
- A bill that would authorize and regulate e-scooter use has been introduced in the North Carolina House
Last revised: 6/06/2022
Latest additions marked NEW>
Impact of Scooters on Urban Transportation, Safety, and the Environment
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In General
- NEW>Smarter: Which Is Better, an Electric Scooter or an E-Bike? (5/31/2022)
- NEW>Are Last-Mile Solution Scooters Safe? (1/5/2022) (analysis of user rights under terms of service)
- The new e-scooter generation: How cities and operators are
working together for increased safety (12/2021) - Difference in Enforcement Challenge (privately owned versus shared) (12/29/2021)
- E-Scooters Are Everywhere in Europe (12/7/2021) (European response to shared e-scooters, reduced numbers, increased restrictions)
- As E-Scooters and E-Bikes Proliferate, Safety Challenges Grow (10/11/2021)
- The E-Scooters Loved by Silicon Valley Roll Into New York (4/19/2021)
- Lyft Multimodal Report (4/15/2021)
- Make E-Scooters Work With Transit, Not Against It (4/7/2021)
- Drawing the map: The creation and regulation of geographic
constraints on shared bikes and e-scooters in San Francisco, CA (2021)- Commentary on the study - Balancing Equity and Density (2/8/2021)
- Study: 40% of escooter injuries occur on the first ride (10/27/2020)
- New Study Shows Safety Risks of Riding e-Scooters on the Sidewalk (10/15/2020)
- Report: Bike Infrastructure Key to E-scooter Usage in Portland (9/18/2020)
- E-scooters and bikes rebound as COVID-19 crisis keeps on rolling (9/2/2020)
- 136 Million Trips Taken on Shared Bikes and Scooters Across the U.S. in 2019 (NACTO Report: 8/27/2020)
- A Black and White Issue: Lime Confronts the Scooter Racial Divide (7/24/2020)
- COVID-19 Reveals How Micromobility Can Build Resilient Cities (4/6/2020)
- Two Wheels, Lots Of Controversy: Electric Scooters And Urban Space (NPR 1/13/2020)
- Shedding NHTS Light on the Use of "Little Vehicles" in Urban Areas (11/18/2019)
- Most Electric Scooter Riders Are Men. Here's Why (12/5/2019)
- New Safety Standards For E-Scooters Announced (11/27/2019)
- Why Do City Dwellers Love to Hate Scooters? (9/16/2019)
- Cities now have three choices for how to regulate e-scooters (9/2/2019)
- Scooters are a huge problem for cities. No one knows how to solve it yet (8/30/2019)
- Electric scooters: Love or hate them? Here's what you need to know (8/13/2019)
- Mapping the Impact of Dockless Vehicles (Where they are in the U.S.)
- Electric Scooters Aren’t a Transportation Revolution Yet (4/19/2019)
- Electric Scooters Now More Popular than Docked Bikes in Cities (4/17/2019)
- More than 8,000 electric scooters have taken over SXSW in Austin this year (3/15/2019)
- Ready or Not, Here Comes the Micromobility Revolution (2/5/2019)
- Micromobility: the Prose and Poetry of the Scooter-Faithful (2/4/2019)
- The scooter stampede of 2018 is great news for urban transportation (12/19/2018)
- Baltimore, MD, Kansas City, MO, Nashville, TN – Local Bike Advocates: E-Scooters Are Game-Changing (1/14/2019)
- Santa Monica, CA – PBS Newshour (11/15/2018)
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Operator Education and Safety
- NEW>Superpedestrian and Helbiz will partner with Populus to gather and analyze trip, crash, infrastructure and other data to give cities better planning tools to make bike and scooter travel safer.
- NEW>Audi joins Spoke Safety, Qualcomm, Commsignia to help protect bicyclists (and other vulnerable road users) through connected technology (6/1/2022)
- NEW>Scooter safety training allowing Bronx residents to travel safer (2/16/2022)
- Bird's Safe Start discourages intoxicated riders from using its scooters (7/15/2021)
- POST-MORTEM: Revel Didn’t Move Quickly Enough to Calm Safety Fears (7/29/2020) (possible lessons to be learned from Revel's experience with injuries and deaths in NYC)
- Can Corporate Micromobility Companies Really Turn Its Riders Into Street Safety Advocates? (6/29/2020)
- Bird's Educational Tour (6/26/2019)
- Portland's Scoot Smart video (12/2019)
- Lime's Public Policy and Safety Advisory Board
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Winter Weather and Scooters
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Regulation and Enforcement
- The Dubious Logic of Scooter Lock Rules (10/4/2021)
- Atlanta, GA
- Los Angeles, CA
- We Polled Lime Riders About the 'No Sidewalk' Rule (8/7/2019) (Milwaukee)
- Austin, TX
- As Electric Bicycles Go Faster, Evolve and Become More Popular Legal Questions Swirl (5/31/2019)
- The Rise of Electric Scooter Regulations (1/3/2019)
- The Secret Life of Teen Scooter Outlaws (9/23/2018) (rampant non-compliance with age and other legal requirements by teenage riders)
- Is Electric Scooter Safety Next on the Regulatory Menu? (7/9/2019)
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Suburban Responses to an Urban Phenomenon
- Edina banishes scooters in light of complaints (1/17/2020)
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Data Collection
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Substitution for Short Auto Trips, Public Transit, Walking?
- Forecasting e-scooter substitution of direct and access trips by mode and distance (8/30/2021)
- ‘Trade-off’: Survey shows scooters replace both car and walking journeys (6/3/2021)
- Study of e-scooter use in Washington, D.C. (3/1/2021) [factors effecting origin and destination of shared e-scooter trips]
- Report: Bike Infrastructure Key to E-scooter Usage in Portland (9/18/2020)
- Underlying PBOT report (9/2020)
- Google Maps mixing rideshare, bikeshare, and scooter options into transit direction suggestions (8/27/2019)
- Chicago, IL – Chicago’s scooters are mostly being used during rush hour, and 3 other things to know about the devices (8/19/2019), DePaul Study: Scooters Are Being Used for Trips to Transit, and in Low-Income Areas (8/22/2019)
- The Study: A Day in the Life of Chicago's E-Scooter Pilot Program (8/14/2019)
- Chicago is a top city for bike share and scooters, study says (9/9/2019) (reporting on a study of automobile trips under 3 miles and 1 mile in major U.S. cities)
- Cleveland, OH – Early scooter use in Cleveland suggests commuter use, as well as leisure riding (9/6/2019)
- Portland, OR – Impact of scooters on short car trips (1/20/2019)
- San Antonio, TX - Effect of e-scooters on pre-existing bike-share program (1/6/2020)
- Spokane, WA – Lime Bike and Scooter 2019 Year-End Report (1/8/2020)
- Electric scooters: not so eco-friendly after all? (7/6/2019)
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User Demographics
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Environmental Impact
- Li-Cycle partners to recycle batteries in scooters, e-bikes (7/14/2021) (Helbiz)
- E Is For Environment: Unpacking The Benefits Of E-Scooters (3/5/2020)
- How green are dockless e-scooters? (11/4/2019)
- Electric scooters aren’t quite as climate-friendly as we thought (8/2/2019)
- Are e-scooters polluters? The environmental impacts of shared dockless electric scooters (8/2/2019)
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Battery Hazards
- NEW>E-scooter fire safety becoming a growing concern (5/30/2022) (faulty lithium ion batteries)
- Obsolete manufacturing standards suspected in 65 scooter and e-bike battery blazes that have killed three New Yorkers this year (9/25/2021)
- Scooter, e-bike batteries caused 55 fires, two deaths so far this year, FDNY says (8/13/2021)
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Tourism
- Electric scooters add a buzz to city sightseeing (2/22/2019)
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Fatalities
- 41 deaths in 3 years tied to e-scooters, e-bikes and hoverboards (9/17/2020)
- At least 29 people have died in electric scooter crashes since 2018 (2/7/2020)
- [no longer tracking individual cases]
- San Francisco, CA (3/2/2022)
- Nassau Cty, NY (7/17/2021)
- Dallas, TX (3/15/2020)
- Hamden, CT (7/1/2020)
- Elizabeth, NJ (11/20/2019)
- Lexington, KY (11/4/2019)
- Spokane, WA (10/9/2019)
- Hartford, CT (9/26/2019)
- Portland, OR (9/2/2019)
- Hartford, CT (8/26/2019)
- North Port, FL (8/26/2019)
- Denver, CO (8/12/2019)
- Atlanta, GA (8/6/2019)
- Durham County, NC (8/5/2019)
- Atlanta, GA (8/4/2019)
- Atlanta, GA (7/25/2019)
- Tampa, FL (6/20/2019)
- Atlanta, GA (5/2019)
- Nashville, TN (5/2019)
- Tulsa, OK (4/2019)
- San Diego, CA (3/2019)
- Santa Monica, CA (3/2019)
- Austin, TX (2/2019)
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Injuries and hazardous behavior
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Formal Studies
- NEW>E-scooters: More than 500 injuries recorded in London last year (5/26/2022) (the report)
- NEW>UK E-scooter Safety Report (5/2022) (finding fewer injuries to riders and others involving e-scooters than bicycles or motorcycles)
- Injuries Using E-Scooters, E-Bikes and Hoverboards Jump 70% During the Past Four Years (8/30/2021)(U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission)
- Severity of e-scooter rider injuries associated with trip characteristics (2/2021)
- New Study Shows Safety Risks of Riding e-Scooters on the Sidewalk (10/15/2020)
- JOMS study: Motorized scooters result in more severe injuries than nonmotorized scooters (9/23/2020)
- E-Scooter-Related Injuries Are on the Rise; CPSC Releases New Study and Public Service Announcement (9/16/2020)
- Estimated Incidence of Electric Scooter Injuries in the US From 2014 to 2019 (JAMA Network Open 8/31/2020) (approaching 30,000 emergency room visits in 2019)
- Impeding access: The frequency and characteristics of improper scooter, bike, and car parking (3/2020)
- Electric scooters are 'seven times' more dangerous than bicycles on Danish roads (2/27/2020)
- Those E-Scooters Might Not Be as Dangerous as You Think (1/27/2020)
- Electric Scooter Injuries and Hospital Admissions in the United States, 2014-2018 (JAMA 1/8/2019)
- Wear your helmet, concludes new study showing electronic scooter injuries have nearly tripled in the last four years (1/13/2020)
- Injury from electric scooters in Copenhagen: a retrospective cohort study (12/22/2019)
- E-scooter study finds more injuries in CT scans and x-rays (12/4/2019)
- There's a physiological reason for e-scooter injuries, scientists assert (12/3/2019)
- Injuries associated with electric-powered bikes and scooters: analysis of US consumer product data (11/2019)
- E-Scooter Collision and Injury Analysis (4/2019) (San Francisco)
- Dockless Electric Scooter-Related Injuries Study — Austin, Texas, September–November 2018 (4/2019)
- Inside the CDC's Epidemiological E-Scooter Study (5/3/2019)
- Consumer Reports Injury Study: E-Scooter Ride-Share Industry Leaves Injuries and Angered Cities in its Path (2/5/2019)
- Injuries Associated With Standing Electric Scooter Use (1/25/2019)
- NEW>E-scooters: More than 500 injuries recorded in London last year (5/26/2022) (the report)
- Other Commentary
- NEW>Scooter collisions in city rose 58 percent last year (San Francisco) (3/14/2022)
- Injuries related to electric scooter and bicycle use in a Washington, DC, emergency department (5/2021)
- Perils of the pandemic: Scooters, cleansers and button batteries (3/4/2021)
- Safety tips from the CPSC (9/16/2020)
- Dockless scooters seemed at first like a sidewalk scourge, but they’re changing city streets for the better. (4/27/2020)
- Electric scooters have been in the city for 18 months. How many people are really getting injured? (1/10/2020) (Cincinnati)
- More e-scooters on the roads, and more riders sent to hospitals with head injuries (2/1/2020) (discussion of FL injury cases and litigation)
- Report reveals high rates of e-scooter injuries (11/10/2019) (Washington University)
- Scooter-related injuries at TGH spike roughly 700%, report shows (10/22/2019) Tampa)
- San Diego Hospitals See Rise in 'Scooter Trauma' (10/4/2019)
- ER doc: Stay off electric scooters (9/16/2019)
- Rising Number of E-Scooter Accidents Tied to Alcohol (9/4/2019)
- 'Wild West Of Wheeled Transportation': E-Scooter Injuries Increasing Without Regulation (8/31/2019)
- Most e-scooter accident victims were not wearing helmet, nearly half were too drunk to drive: Study (8/30/2019)
- Are scooters too dangerous for LA’s streets? (8/28/2019)
- Virginia Beach EMS have been tracking e-scooter-related injuries. Here’s what they found (8/27/2019)
- Why do scooters crash so often? Tiny tires don’t help (8/17/2019)
- Spokane woman breaks arm and jaw in four places after Lime scooter brakes abruptly lock (8/15/2019)
- Despite high injury rates, 80% of e-scooter riders refuse to wear helmets (8/14/2019)
- Why E-Scooters Are on the Rise, Along With Injuries (7/20/2019)
- The e-merging e-pidemic of e-scooters (injury study) (6/27/2019)
- HealthWatch: 911 on Scooter Danger (6/10/2019)
- Boom in Electric Scooters Leads to More Injuries, Fatalities (6/5/2019)
- Electric Scooter Injuries on Rise (3/24/2019)
- Scooter Madness In Austin Puts Safety Concerns In High Gear (2/6/2019)
- Electric scooter injuries pile up, half coming from drunk or high riders (3/8/2019)
- Electric Scooters Are Popping Up in Cities Across the Country. But Are They Safe? (2/5/2019)
- Pedestrians and e-scooters are clashing in the struggle for sidewalk space (1/11/2019)
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Diverse Accident Scenarios
- Caught a curb (1/17/2020)
- Nine-year-old operator (9/12/2019)
- Bicycle collision caused by improperly parked scooter (9/16/2019)
- Scooter hit while running a red light (872019)
- Scooter hit after 15 year old rider failed to observe traffic signal (8/5/2019)
- Scooter overturned: fractured skull, a bone fracture around his eye socket and a brain bleed (8/5/2019)
- Purse caught in handlebars (8/3/2019)
- Man on electric scooter hits pedestrian, then gets hit by car himself when he tries to flee police (7/25/2019)
- E-scooter crashes into construction hole in alley (7/27/2019)
- Crashing electric scooter into stopped car (7/30/2019)
- E-scooter rider hit by semi on busy roadway (6/20/2019)
- Car hits e-scooter attempting to cross avenue (7/26/2019)
- E-scooter ridden into the side of turning bus (7/25/2019)
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Insurance (see also Terms and Conditions of Use)
- The risks of the underinsured scooter market (10/8/2019)
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Skid Mark Graffiti
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Use in Crime
- Criminals using scooters as a tool to steal cars in Atlanta (/16/2021) (“the scooter rider will bump into your car from behind and pretend to be injured, and once you get out to check on that person, their accomplice, will join the act and enter your vehicle-both will then flee with your valuables.”)
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Vandalism
- Oklahoma City Uncovers Rental Scooters in Bricktown Canal (2/1/2020)
- Austin - Electric scooters thrown into Lady Bird Lake (2/14/2019)
- Stolen, burned, tossed in the lake: e-scooters face vandals wrath (12/28/2018)
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Vulnerability to Hacking
- Security risk for e-scooters and riders (1/27/2020) (bluetooth communication between phone and scooter can be intercepted)
- You Can Add Sudden-Acceleration Attacks to the List of Electric Scooter Dangers (2/12/2019)