The city of Long Beach has kicked off an electric scooters pilot program to see how it goes. Long Beach says it's kicking off the four-month program with rules to combat oversaturation of the scooters being left all over the place like other problems cities such as Santa Monica and San Francisco have dealt with.
The program requires companies to have a city license, provide a helmet program, and limit the scooters speed to 15 miles per hour. Each vendor can only have 150 scooters initially, but will eventually have the option of applying for a second license that could double their scooter inventory.
According to LBPost, the program derives after multiple scooter companies have approached the city to gain Long Beach street access.
The scooters can be parked on the street or sidewalk as long as they do not interfere with public traffic or cause any issues that would interfere with the Americans With Disabilities Act. The scooter vendors will be dispersed throughout the city of Long Beach, says Michelle Mowery, a mobility and healthy living programs officer.
“We’re going to divide them up because, depending on the number that we are contacted by, we’re going to divide the city into regions.”