On April 23, the San Diego City Council unanimously approved new regulations for the rapidly growing dockless scooter and bike-share market, aimed at curbing bad behavior and improving safety.
The regulations put new requirements on bike- and scooter-sharing companies (such as Bird, Lime and Razor) to pick up and relocate devices parked illegally. The companies will now have three hours to respond to reports of abandoned or illegally parked scooters or bikes, or the city can impound the devices.
The companies will also be required to automatically limit speeds on motorized scooters to eight miles per hour in designated areas, including the Mission Beach and Pacific Beach boardwalks, and public walkways within Balboa Park. Speeds in pedestrian-only areas would be limited to just three miles per hour.
California state law already bans motorized scooters from being ridden on sidewalks or parked in places that block pedestrian or wheelchair access.
Security Services has worked with several of the companies operating locally to request that initial staging areas do not include Salk property, unfortunately users may still choose to deposit scooters and bikes anywhere, including on or adjacent to Salk property.
Security Services is actively patrolling the property daily and reporting abandoned or illegally parked scooters or bikes to the corresponding company, but if you'd like to assist in the effort, they may also be reported directly via the following links:
Bird:
https://www.bird.co/contact-us/
Lime:
https://www.li.me/help
Razor:
https://www.razor.com/share/
Spin:
https://www.spin.app/about
Jump:
https://www.jump.com/contact/
While we understand the frustration about cluttered sidewalks and the general eyesore, Salk faculty and staff should not attempt to take matters into their own hands by relocating or disposing of scooters and bikes, as it could impose a liability onto the Institute for which we do not want to be responsible. Most of the devices have onboard GPS tracking systems with alarm notification if moved more than ~10 feet from their location of last use, or if disposed of inappropriately