More Electric Scooters Coming To San Francisco Streets In Expansion Of Pilot Program
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) – More electric scooters will begin to roll out on San Francisco streets starting Tuesday, with two previously banned companies making a return, and a third one jumping in.
New scooters from Jump, Lime and Spin are part of an expansion of the current e-scooter pilot program by the San Francisco Metropolitan Transportation Agency (SFMTA). Last year, Lime and Spin were denied a permit to operate in the city after the SFMTA cracked down on unregulated e-scooter companies.
The three companies will be joining Scoot, which was awarded a permit to operate. Spin, the other company awarded a permit last year, will not have its permit renewed.
Under the expansion, Scoot will also be allowed to deploy up to 1,000 scooters, 400 more than what they offer currently. Meanwhile, Lime, Jump and Spin can each release 500 scooters now, increasing to 750 by Dec. 15 and 1,000 by Feb. 15 if requirements are met.
Lime and Spin were both banned from San Francisco last year, after offering their fleets to riders without city permission.
"We are really excited to come to our hometown and be able to serve it again," EV Ellington, Lime's Northern California General Manager, told KPIX 5.
Following the controversy over their rollout last year, electric scooters continue to be a heated conversation among city officials. Last week, the Board of Supervisors passed a resolution to regulate the rollout and enforce a ban on sidewalk riding, something critics of scooters have made very clear that they do not like.
"No sidewalk riding is state law and for us we are doing a lot of user education, a lot of outreach," Ellington said, pointing to education events that the company will have to teach users the rules of riding in the city.
