Santa Barbara City impounds scooter share service on its first weekend

Update June 11, 2018

140 electric scooters have been impounded by the City of Santa Barbara in a disagreement with the Lime electric scooter ride-sharing company.

The scooters were on city property without appropriate agreements, after several meetings with transportation officials.

All of the scooters are being stored in two city locations behind locked fences. The impound fine is $100 each.

Santa Barbara City Transportation Manager Rob Dayton says the city is planning to update its policy to include these types of vehicles on June 19.

He says the process needs to be carefully discussed and planned. “I think that there is probably a transportation benefit and maybe an economic vitality benefit for a downtown that needs a shot in the arm.”

Dayton says if the scooters are on the sidewalk in an area that blocks a walkway or causes a trip and fall risk, that would be a serious situation for the city to allow. “We want to make sure it is d safe for the public as we roll it out,” said Dayton.

Cameron Swanson with Lime said riders are instructed with parking guidelines when they sign up for the app as well as when they are finishing up their trip. “We recommend they park them in the street furniture area like next to benches, garbage cans or bike racks,” he said. The company put out a notification Friday when they arrived in town with the scooters as part of the “pop-up” launch.

Lime and another scooter sharing service Bird are having issues in Santa Monica too. On Thursday a reported 200 scooters were placed in Santa Monica. 200 more were placed in Santa Barbara on Friday.

Several people were seen on them over the weekend in the waterfront, downtown and Montecito before the bulk of the scooters were impounded. NewsChannel 3 saw four riders today. The App showed others were on the streets and at the train station but they could not be found after a close inspection of the area.

Dayton says the Lime company has called to talk about the conflict and the impounded scooters.

Eventually, the city is expected to choose two operating companies and allow 300 scooters after specific rules, including locations for service, are established.

Swanson said Lime has a response team in the area to pick up scooters that have fallen down or are not parked properly. They have an alert system if the scooter is on its side, instead of parked straight up.

The scooters are also retrieved and charged at night.

Previous information June 9, 2018

What was supposed to be the launching event for a new electric-scooter share service in Santa Barbara ended with a 100 scooters being impounded by the City of Santa Barbara on Friday.

The company Lime placed about 100 electric scooters on State Street on Friday as part of their launch event in Santa Barbara. Lime, formerly known as Lime Bike, is a micro-mobility company in the United States that specializes in electric scooters, electric-assist bikes, and classic manual pedal bikes.

“Lime will connect the Santa Barbara community in a way it has never seen before.,” said Cameron Swanson, Lime Launch Manager for Santa Barbara. “It will complete the commuter circuit for residents, as well as provide a fun, eco-friendly alternative to getting around town.”

However, when the scooters were placed on the sidewalk along State Street on Friday, the City responded by impounding them saying they were placed despite conversations with City Officials about existing Municipal Code regulations that conflict with the scooter deployment.

“We see the electric scooter share as potentially having transportation and economic vitality benefits to the City,” said Rebecca Bjork, Public Works Director.” But we are also concerned about the safety of our citizens and their use of the scooters.”

The City says the scooters could be left in the travel path of the sidewalk and become a trip hazard to pedestrians. Also, the City says that Lime does not provide a helmet despite there being a state law requiring riders to wear a helmet. The City says there is also an issue of locations becoming “cluttered” due to the scooters.

Lime says despite not having designated areas to leave the scooters, the company has partnered with about 50 local businesses throughout Santa Barbara to distribute the scooters.

“So we will always have scooters in front of one of our partners’ businesses. It drives foot traffic to their business, so they enjoy that, and then we enjoy a dedicated area to place our product,” said Swanson.

Swanson says that a Lime crew will pick up the scooters on a daily basis, charge them overnight and redistribute them the next day in approved areas.

“While scooter share may provide some transportation benefit and much needed economic stimulus, staff believes it needs to be rolled out well and monitored for safety compliance and needed adjustments that are in line with Santa Barbara,” said Rob Dayton, Transportation Planning and Parking Manager for the City of Santa Barbara.

“There is a little bit of a grey area since this is such a new product,” said Swanson. “Cities haven’t been able to keep up with this, and there is nothing in the regulatory code defining what this system is and what it should look like. The City is working its hardest to respond to this; they want to figure out what works best for them, we want to figure out what works best for us.”

The City says they have some existing rules that enable City Staff to impound the electric scooters should a company launch without City oversight.

Dayton says that City staff stressed to the staff at Lime about the importance of working with the Santa Barbara community and working within the process.

Swanson says Lime was in contact with the City of Santa Barbara up until the launch date.

After the scooters were placed on the sidewalks along State Street, the City notified Lime by phone and in writing that the scooters would be impounded.

Swanson says Lime is working with the City in getting those scooters back.

City staff will be bringing an emergency ordinance to the City Council on June 19 to discuss the safety and accountability of the scooter share company and possibly having a limited one-year pilot program.

On May 15, Bjork went to the Finance Committee to inform them on this emergency ordinance and possibly to add an impound fee. No fee was set, Bjork suggested $100, but Councilmember Gregg Hart suggested a $500 impound fee.

Bjork says that the impound fee is supposed to be a deterrent in case the scooters become a nuisance.

To read the City’s response to the scooter launch, click here.

To learn more about Lime, click here.