up from 400 last year.
I wonder who benefits from this, and by that I mean who profits financially?
A lot of hate for these things. Pedestrians hate them zipping through on the
sidewalks. I had a few close calls on the busy Hennepin Avenue sidewalk last
year and they often seem to travel in packs. (I also had my arm in a sling
following a serious accident and a mechanical shoulder replacement so maybe I
was oversensitive to being mowed down.)
Bus drivers on Nicollet Mall are known to hate them (in the video, a scooter is
seen riding off the sidewalk onto Nicollet Mall street).
Many bicyclists hate anything motorized on bike paths (although it leads one to
wonder if there will be fewer complaints about no one using the bike paths).
A lot of people just hate the way they are littered all over the city. Here's
a picture of a scooter parked right in front of a public doorway -a common
sight.
Also a picture of a scooter enjoying a rare moment of peace and solitude in a
city park. It looked lonely (because scooters seem more at home in busy noisy
settings or at least moving busily). But then I found its friends piled up
next to the bridge that leads to the Walker Art Center Sculpture Garden.
People don't really like a bunch of moving stuff being put out into the public
with no following of rules or regulations. No doubt scooters will be causing
unrest going in the wrong direction on the lake paths like their dockless bike
counterparts. And no doubt they'll be dumped along the lakes as well.
Sure makes winter and tons of snow look more and more appealing.
https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/video/4016881-new-study-electric-scooters-can-be-very-dangerous/