San Francisco Bike And Scooter Sharing Booms, And Regulations May Too
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) -- Demand for bike and scooter sharing is booming in San Francisco with a growing number of dockless transportation options. But city leaders want to make sure bikesharing is done in an orderly fashion.
Elias Zamaria loves riding his bike everywhere.
"There's the environmental benefits. There's the cost. Having a car is expensive, parking is expensive. Paying insurance and gas and everything is expensive," Zamaria said.
He's all for bikesharing in the city, even if they take up space in the street.
"I just think, like okay they do have their own little annoyances but I don't think that's any worse than the space that cars take up," Zamaria said.
Nathan Nguyen agrees. He said, "I think it's good for the environment. I think it's good for inner-city commuting, especially for work cause there is so much traffic now. So, the more bikes the better."
Supervisor Aaron Peskin just introduced legislation regulating dockless scooters on Tuesday.
Peskin is trying to regulate bikesharing. He's worried about bike and scooter scenarios such as those in China where bikes are piled up and thrown anywhere in the street.
He made sure dockless electric bike company Jump Bikes had a permit before launching in the city.
Peskin said, "The City has gotten better about keeping pace with changing technology and proactively updating our laws accordingly. Our latest effort is to permit motorized scooters the same way that we've permitted dockless bikes."
SFMTA spokesman Paul Rose, said "We're supportive of innovation. We just want to make sure it's done right. And so when we try to move forward with different options for transportation and looking at bikeshare and using scooters as far as mopeds, we're looking for ways to give people more options to get around San Francisco."
Driver Christian Cosentino said, "As a driver, it can be a little dangerous. Sometimes, you've got to be mkore careful. But for the most part, I love it. There's really no better way to get around the city. One second bike ride can take 30 minutes in a car sometimes. It's ridiculous."
Patrick Easley said, "I would rather have a pileup of bikes and scooters than a pileup of cars any day."
