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+--- Thread: Honolulu to new scooter business - Bow down (/showthread.php?tid=19576)
Honolulu to new scooter business - Bow down - Rob Tucker - 05-16-2018
Interesting story about an electric scooter company trying to launch a business..... apparently the City of Honolulu is trying to shut them down until they can figure out a shake down. At least it looks that way to me. Reminds me of Hilo.
http://www.khon2.com/news/local-news/lime-scooter-company-says-it-s-continuing-operations-despite-letter-from-city/1182201561
HONOLULU (KHON2) - Honolulu police have confiscated more electric scooters around town.
The scooters are part of a controversial new pilot program from a company called Lime.
The city says Lime is operating illegally.
We spoke with company officials to get more answers.
A representative for Lime told KHON2 the company is still renting out scooters despite being told by the city to cease operations. The city said no fines have been issued yet.
A city spokesman said 90 Lime scooters have been confiscated by police since the pilot program launched over the weekend.
Sam Dreiman, Director of Strategic Developments, said the company is working to recover its property from HPD.
"We were never informed of the specific violation or reason for their impoundment. Our scooters have been impounded in other cities but we've never been in a situation where they've been impounded without a specific citation of violation," Dreiman said.
The city sent Lime a letter last week saying, "it does not allow concessions of this sort on city property without proper authorization."
However, Lime told us the company did its due diligence and researched before coming to Honolulu.
"We didn't see anything prohibiting our operations. We didn't find a permit or approval process that was applicable to our business," Dreiman said.
We wanted to know what process needed to be followed.
In an email, a city spokesman said the company needs to work with the executive branch of the city.
Lime said it's trying to do that.
"We've done outreach to the mayor's office before and after our launch but we've yet to actually sit down and meet with them," Dreiman said. "We're very eager and open to sitting down and speaking with him."
Despite the back and forth, the scooters are still turning heads in Waikiki.
We're told the scooters are meant for bike lanes and roads but Lime said ordinances vary by city.
"We have education on our app and on the scooter itself to instruct riders not to ride on the sidewalk because we do envision safety issues there," Dreiman said.
A city spokesman said there was no serious effort by Lime to have comprehensive discussions with the city administration about the many issues that have arisen.
We asked the city if riders could be cited simply for using the scooters since it's not considered a legal business.
The spokesman said that will not happen, rather the city just wants Lime to stop renting the scooters out.
RE: Honolulu to new scooter business - Bow down - Guest - 05-16-2018
Sounds more like a company playing dumb when they really know better.
Howz it go ?
"Better to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission."
The Scooters ARE blocking the walkways, just like advertising signs.
"apps" and the scooter itself. hahahah
Users should also be cited (IMO).
RE: Honolulu to new scooter business - Bow down - kalakoa - 05-16-2018
a company playing dumb when they really know better
It's called "being a technology disruptor" or similar. Most famous example: Uber -- not "taxicabs" (inspected, licensed, taxed) but "transportation networking" (no regulations apply to a smartphone app).
This strategy does not work for ordinary individuals, though ("this isn't my weed, officer").
RE: Honolulu to new scooter business - Bow down - keiregan - 05-16-2018
I was just there a few days ago. Those things are everywhere . Just sitting around in random spots not locked up. I also saw people riding up and down Waikiki with those
RE: Honolulu to new scooter business - Bow down - Mtviewdude - 05-16-2018
You might want to look into it a little more.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/20/technology/electric-scooters-are-causing-havoc-this-man-is-shrugging-it-off.html
RE: Honolulu to new scooter business - Bow down - Guest - 05-16-2018
+1 Mtn.
Related video about bike sharing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21CbXA1WEUs
RE: Honolulu to new scooter business - Bow down - ericlp - 05-16-2018
get rid of the stupid train, more scooters!
I think Honolulu is trying to figure out how to tax this more so, they can get some money from it to pay for rail no doubt.
RE: Honolulu to new scooter business - Bow down - randomq - 05-16-2018
"just showed up without asking permission"
That's how it is supposed to work. I think it's called "freedom". I'm pretty liberal, but the term "nanny state" comes to mind. I moved to Puna to get away from that kind of crap.
RE: Honolulu to new scooter business - Bow down - Rob Tucker - 05-16-2018
I was very surprised. The City is confiscating property without a charge... apparently they are racking their little government brains trying to find something on the books to charge them with. Meanwhile the company is presumed guilty until proven otherwise. I smell corruption. I hope the company fights back.
On the other hand if the renters of these scooters are using them on sidewalks when they aren't supposed to then ticket them.
Overall is looks like government stifling innovation.... precisely what goes on here in the County of Hawaii. Government officials who can't make a living in the private sector making it harder for those citizens who can.
RE: Honolulu to new scooter business - Bow down - glassnumbers - 05-17-2018
This is pretty stupid of Honolulu because they don't have a charge. If they planted some drugs on the scooters or something like that, they wouldn't be opening themselves up to an obvious lawsuit. Hell, all they had to do was slap an ounce of weed underneath just one of those scooters and claim its a drug smuggling operation. Any idiot could have done that. Surprising that Honolulu isn't even good at being bad.
Aloha
