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Geofencing Among Options for Cities With Dockless Scooters

San Jose and Los Angeles are among the California cities seeking ways to safely regulate the wave of dockless scooters as they proliferate. Geofencing and permits are among the options.

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When a wave of electronic scooter firms descended upon San Francisco Bay Area cities this year without the blessing of the municipalities, San Jose considered fighting technology with technology to contain these dockless two-wheelers as they zip around the city.

“We are talking to a few folks who are working on geofencing, figuring out how you can get the scooters to deactivate on sidewalks but turn on when they are actually in bike lanes,” San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo said at the recent Nextdoor Mayor Summit. “The magic of GPS may help us. Hopefully, we will get to that technological solution.”

Liccardo is not alone in considering geofencing as a possible solution to situations where people on dockless scooters, as well as dockless bicycles, are zipping through areas where pedestrians travel, or when riders deposit the vehicles in doorways of businesses — or even in city lakes.

Over the last four to five months, the city of Los Angeles has been developing a permitting process for dockless scooters and bicycles, said Oliver Hou, spokesman for the city’s department of transportation.

And although the city once talked about geofencing, it no longer plans to consider it because of safety issues. The concern centered on how to stop an electronic motor when it is in a safe location and mode of operation, Hou explained.

“What would happen if you stop the motor just as it’s in front of a vehicle, or turning on an incline?” he asked. “If it can be shown it’s a good idea and it will work, then maybe we will look at it again.”

He added that Los Angeles wants the dockless scooters and bicycles to be available throughout all parts of the city and that the goal is to work with the dockless operators to achieve this in an unclutterd fashion.

Under the current draft of the regulations, dockless operators will be required to be available 24 hours a day and pick up and move dockless scooters and bikes within two hours after receiving a call that they are blocking sidewalks, entrances to buildings, driveways or other areas that pose a safety risk, Hou said.

"If they are not removed, then the city will move to enforce the regulation and impound the device," he said.