News of a class action lawsuit leads the headlines in the Wild West of mini mobility devices.
Some people return from vacation daunted by the task of catching up on email. In 2018, the challenge is catching up on scooter news.
Of course, I am exaggerating a little, at the risk of detracting from the importance of the evolution of urban mobility and the political backlash—some warranted and some uncritically supportive of the car-centric status quo—surrounding electric scooters.
An emerging legal backlash, as reported by Peter Holley, compelled another appearance of the Planetizen Scooter Media Brief. More than one transit observer took to the Internet to describe this lawsuit and the regulatory limits being placed on scooters around the country as existential threats to the business model of shared dockless electric scooters.
Below follows the rest of what I've noticed this month, even with some vacation mixed in there. Please add more in the comments if you spotted any breaking news or hot takes that I missed.
National News
- Class-action lawsuit accuses e-scooter companies of ‘gross negligence’ (The Washington Post, Oct, 20)
- Scooter companies may have found a loophole in cities' limitations (CNN Business, Oct. 15)
National Commentary
- The Lime-S Generation 3 scooter makes headway down the wrong road (AndroidPit, Oct. 22)
- New Tech, Old Questions: An Analysis of the Sharing Economy by Transit and Planning Expert Christof Spieler (OffCite, Oct. 17)
- Tiny Vehicles and the New Safety in Numbers (Streetsblog USA, Oct. 9)
- The Man Behind the Scooter Revolution (CityLab, Sept. 26)
Local News
- Lime is building its first scooter “lifestyle brand store” in LA (TechCrunch, Oct. 22)
- Lime launches its electric scooters in Memphis without a permit; city threatens to remove them (Memphis Business Journal, Oct. 19)
- 'There's no respect,' TriMet disability advocates weigh in on e-scooters (The Oregonian, Oct. 16)
- Is New York City ready for the e-scooter revolution? (Curbed New York, Oct. 15)
- Here’s how to park your scooter in SF (Curbed San Francisco, Oct. 15)
- SF judge denies Lime’s request to block electric scooter deployment (TechCrunch, Oct. 12)
- E-scooters to return to SF streets on Oct. 15, but only in a handful of neighborhoods (San Francisco Examiner, Oct. 10)
- False alarm: e-scooters won’t hit Philly until 2019 (PlanPhilly, Oct. 2)
- New Yorkers jumping on e-scooters in growing numbers — city officials consider legalizing them (New York Daily News, Oct. 1)
Local Commentary
- Why New York City Should Welcome Electric Scooters on Its Streets (New York, Oct. 22)
- Electric scooters are good for the environment (Environment Texas, Oct. 12)
- Are electric scooters worth the headache? (The Denver Post, Oct. 2)
- Readers respond: E-scooters steal sidewalk rights from children, elderly and disabled (The Oregonian, Oct. 1)
Scooter Media Brief: Safety, Security, and Business Models Raise Concerns
Recent news has revealed some cracks in the pavement below the speedy wheels of electric scooter share.
Scooter Media Brief: A Fork in the Road for Scooters
A few milestones stick out from the rest of the scooter news from January 2019.
Scooter Media Brief: The Dawn of the Age of Scooters
Electric scooter rentals will never be new again.
Alabama: Trump Terminates Settlements for Black Communities Harmed By Raw Sewage
Trump deemed the landmark civil rights agreement “illegal DEI and environmental justice policy.”
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
The 120 Year Old Tiny Home Villages That Sheltered San Francisco’s Earthquake Refugees
More than a century ago, San Francisco mobilized to house thousands of residents displaced by the 1906 earthquake. Could their strategy offer a model for the present?
In Both Crashes and Crime, Public Transportation is Far Safer than Driving
Contrary to popular assumptions, public transportation has far lower crash and crime rates than automobile travel. For safer communities, improve and encourage transit travel.
Report: Zoning Reforms Should Complement Nashville’s Ambitious Transit Plan
Without reform, restrictive zoning codes will limit the impact of the city’s planned transit expansion and could exclude some of the residents who depend on transit the most.
Judge Orders Release of Frozen IRA, IIJA Funding
The decision is a victory for environmental groups who charged that freezing funds for critical infrastructure and disaster response programs caused “real and irreparable harm” to communities.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Clanton & Associates, Inc.
Jessamine County Fiscal Court
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
Salt Lake City
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service
