Scooter Riders Look to Valley

The dockless electric scooters that have popped up in neighborhoods throughout the Westside and Central Los Angeles may soon come to the San Fernando Valley. In June, the Los Angeles City Council’s Transportation Committee approved a one-year pilot program to initially limit the number of scooters a company can operate to no more than 3,000 within the city limits. But the rules would allow companies — including startups Bird and LimeBike — to activate up to an additional 2,500 scooters in low income neighborhoods and up to 5,000 more scooters in disadvantaged areas in the Valley. The Valley’s business community appears eager to embrace their arrival. Many businesses located near California State University – Northridge are already familiar with the rental scooter concept. Earlier this year, LimeBike began testing a dockless bike-share program at the CSUN campus. Mike Acosta, co-franchise owner of restaurant Waffle Love at 9411 Reseda Blvd., said the bikes have helped bring students to the restaurant. He thinks adding Lime scooters would also improve business traffic. “We have Lime bikes sitting outside, and more people come and ride the bikes here to get something to eat,” he said. One downside, however, is that the bikes can be an eyesore when left in front of the entrance, he said. As with the scooters, bike-share users pay for rides using a smartphone app and can pick up and drop of the bicycles anywhere without having to lock them to a rack or docking station. “The bikes were left everywhere, just everywhere – on the street, in front of the store,” said Cesar Rocha, manager of PizzaRev at 9420 Reseda Blvd. Rocha added that introducing scooters could make the strip mall where the restaurant is located even more congested and chaotic than it already is during the school year. “They’d need to put a better system in place,” he said. Familiar complaints Residents and businessowners across Southern California have voiced similar complaints about the scooters, which began dotting local streets last fall without approval from city officials. Some have also reported traffic accidents caused by riders who aren’t aware of their surroundings. In response, Valley City Councilmember Mitch Englander seconded a motion brought by Councilmember Paul Koretz to temporarily ban the scooters last month, citing safety concerns. West Hollywood and Beverly Hills have approved their own temporary scooter bans. The Transportation Committee aims to address these concerns by making it illegal to ride scooters on walkways and requiring that they be parked on the outer edge of sidewalks near the street or in areas specifically designated for bicycle parking. The backlash hasn’t stopped central Valley Councilmember Nury Martinez from pushing to introduce scooters in her district. At Martinez’s request, the Transportation Committee amended the proposed regulations to allow companies to operate the 5,000 additional scooters in low-income areas of the Valley. “I don’t have any dockless bicycles or scooters or any of that fancy stuff,” Martinez said at a committee meeting in June. “We’re simply trying to cross the street without getting killed.” If the regulations are approved, a representative for Martinez said her office would work closely with scooter companies and the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, which will enforce the new rules, to start adding scooters to her district based on demand and need. Proponents of ride-share bicycle or scooter programs say they offer affordable transportation options to disadvantaged neighborhoods that are often underserved by public transportation. Panorama City Chamber of Commerce President Saul Mejia agrees the scooters could benefit his business district, which qualifies as a low-income area. “I think it’s a great idea,” he said. “We believe this entire area is going to change for the better and this is something that could bring a better image to the community.” Mejia added that the scooters could help residents get to and from new commercial and residential developments currently in the works in Panorama City, including a $150 million mixed-use project at 14697 Roscoe Blvd., which was approved by the city in May. He’s also optimistic they could help alleviate traffic along major thoroughfares such as Van Nuys Boulevard. Jamshid Damooei, chair of the economics department at California Lutheran University, said expanding transportation options is an important aspect of economic development. “What the city is doing here is trying to increase access to transportation,” he said. “This will have positive secondary effects.” The easier it is for people to make the trip to a local store, Damooei said, the more often they’ll be likely to shop there. This helps boost local businesses and entices new shops to open. Sprawl compatibility? Still, the Valley faces certain challenges in introducing the scooters, including its lack of bike lanes and network of aging roads. The sprawling nature of many of the Valley’s neighborhoods also may deter people from hopping on a scooter. But Damooei argues that increasing transportation access wherever possible is a net positive for low-income communities and can spur future investments in public infrastructure. “People who live in these neighborhoods can actually go places and buy things,” he said. “It’s an important step to creating momentum for other things to happen.” Stuart Waldman, president of the Valley Industry and Commerce Association in Van Nuys, also favors bringing scooters to the Valley. He said they can encourage people who live or work just out of walking distance from a transit center or bus stop to start using public transportation. “They’re a great new product that helps people with the ‘first-mile last-mile’ problem once they get off the Red Line or Orange Line,” he said. “This is an option that anyone can use.” The proposed scooter regulations are set to come before the City Council by the end of the month, where additional amendments will likely be made before the Council votes.