Details on parking wardens vs. scooters
The city’s parking wardens gave out 110 tickets over two weeks to badly “parked” scooters of all 3 brands here – Lime, Jump and Bird – after October 21, but the number given out also by the SPVM is not known. The upshot from city hall’s mobility czar is simply “Il y a eu beaucoup de délinquance.”
Blork 09:59 on 2019-12-03 Permalink
Who is on the hook for those tickets; the scooter companies or the people who last rode them and presumably parked them badly? (How do you even ticket an unattended scooter?)
Or do they only ticket scooters that they catch WHILE being badly parked, in which case the rider is on the hook but they need to be caught in the act?
jeather 10:09 on 2019-12-03 Permalink
” Cet automne, Lime avait averti ses clients que toutes les amendes leur seraient facturées.”
Suggests, but isn’t certain, that the scooter company is billed and they pass it along to the user. Really the only sensible way to do it.
dwgs 10:24 on 2019-12-03 Permalink
And how does the scooter company prove that someone else didn’t pick up the scooter and move it after the client left in a an appropriate location? I don’t think a lawyer would have a hard time having that charge annulled.
jeather 10:31 on 2019-12-03 Permalink
I’d assume there’s a GPS history of where the scooter was when the user signed out, that’s how you find a free one, right?
dwgs 10:34 on 2019-12-03 Permalink
But if you left it in one of the spaces with the logo painted on the street and a motorist then chucked it onto the sidewalk to free up a parking space is the gps finely tuned enough to tell?
CE 10:40 on 2019-12-03 Permalink
There was a story a while ago saying users would be fined directly if caught in the act and the company who owns the scooters would be fined if the scooter was found outside of a designated parking spot (the fine was higher for the former). One of the companies said they would charge the user if they were fined.
It should be easy to prove that it wasn’t you who parked it wrong because you’re supposed to take a photo of the scooter to send to the company once you’ve finished. Considering how many were parked outside of the designated spots, the scooter companies didn’t seem to care too much.
jeather 11:25 on 2019-12-03 Permalink
I truly doubt that lots of scooter users were leaving their scooters in a scooter parking spot and motorists tossed them onto the sidewalk. The scooters I saw were nowhere near scooter parking spots (itself a problem — there didn’t seem to be enough scooter spots).
dwgs 13:05 on 2019-12-03 Permalink
I’m not saying that scooter users weren’t dicks about where they left them, I’m saying that scooter companies trying to pass on the cost of the fine wouldn’t likely survive a legal challenge.
jeather 13:36 on 2019-12-03 Permalink
I’m sure we’ll find out sooner or later. I think they have a better chance than you do.
Joey 13:58 on 2019-12-03 Permalink
@dwgs I’m not so sure. I would assume the scooter companies would have stacked the deck in their user agreements – forced arbitration, burden of proof on the consumer, etc.
Bert 13:58 on 2019-12-03 Permalink
dwgs, why not? If it is in the EULA it is generally applicable. Uber has a cleanup fee. Costco gives itself the right to cross check receipts to carts. Flying requires you to present ID to some civilian. Car rentals have clauses to re-bill for toll-road and photo-tickets.
It is entirely plausible that when checking in a scooter that your location is taken (i.e. GPS required for use), proper parking zone confirmed and if check-in is done out of the geofenced area that either a fee is added automatically by the scooter provider. That fee could actually be directly confirmed to the user during check-in. e.g. “The scooter is not parked properly. A xxx$ fee will be applied.”