Legislators, Company Representatives Discuss Scooters’ Impact

SALT LAKE CITY – Members of Utah’s Transportation Interim Committee on Wednesday met with representatives from shared scooter companies Bird and Lime to learn more about the services and the ways in which the state might govern them.

The scooters have been operating in Salt Lake City for several weeks. Bird entered the market first, followed by Lime. A Lime representative told lawmakers their scooters have been used 30,000 times for a total of 40,000 miles in Salt Lake City in the last 2½ weeks.

Members also discussed how the scooters can create an important link for people who use public transit.

“I think it provides a service to the community to get that last mile, how you get from transportation to your destination,” said Representative Logan Wilde, R-Croydon.

While there have been some issues with some scooter users, like people riding on the sidewalks instead of bike lanes and people parking the scooters in ways that block sidewalks, lawmakers seemed to be mostly positive about them.

Ordinances pertaining to scooters may vary from city to city. Legislators may decide to establish statewide laws to govern use of the scooters so rules are consistent from place to place.

“I think that’s a good way to look at it. I think that’s how we kind of look at our transit system anyways, is we have a statewide transit model,” Wilde said.