Backlash May Have Doomed Santa Monica's Leading Scooter Companies

SANTA MONICA, CA – Limes dumped in trash cans and Birds buried in the sand – people really don't seem to like the shared electric scooters in Santa Monica. The backlash appears to be hurting the scooter share companies Bird and Lime, which were both passed over by a City Council committee that chose to endorse Uber and Lyft-owned scooter companies to launch their own operations when the pilot program starts in September.

So it may be Bye Bye, Birdie (and Lime), once the program kicks off this fall as neither company ranked highly on an assessment of 13 companies that applied to operate in the city for the 16-month pilot program, according to the Santa Monica Daily Press.

The City of Santa Monica’s Planning and Community Development Department recommended awarding contracts for Lyft and Jump (owned by Uber) to launch their own electric bike and scooter operations when the shared scooter pilot program starts Sept. 17, L.A. Biz reported.

The five-person panel unanimously selected Lyft and Jump as the top two applicants in both the scooter and bike categories.

“The committee’s recommendation is that the director select the top two ranked operators in each category,” the memo said.

Both Bird and Lime performed poorly on the compliance portion of the committee assessment, which was based on their record with Federal, state and local laws. The two scooter companies scored half as many points on the metric as Lyft and Jump, Santa Monica Daily Press reported.

The scooters have received mixed reactions from locals, some going so far as to vandalize the scooters to air their frustrations. Scooters have been seen thrown in trash cans, portable toilets, buried in beach sand, and even thrown into storm drains.

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A post shared by Bird Graveyard (@birdgraveyard) on Aug 3, 2018 at 11:51am PDT

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