Rental scooters can’t flout rules

Left unchecked, Lime, the dockless motorized scooter that last week started appearing in select Honolulu areas, could fit the description of “too much of a good thing.”

The electric rental scooters differ from concessions such as Biki, the rental bikes set up throughout the urban core, because at the end of a ride, a cyclist must return and secure the bike in one of a set number of “docks” in the region. The Lime scooter is propped up on a kickstand and left more casually at the end destination.

Most people can appreciate the convenience of scooting a fairly short but too-far-to-walk distance, assuming a scooter can be found nearby. But, as discovered by several cities where similar concessions were established, there are unintended consequences if Lime is left to its own devices — outcomes that Honolulu should work to avoid.

Scooters parked in bad spots, falling into roads or waterways, or piling up unattractively somewhere. Lime, which became known first as Limebike for a similar system of undocked rented cycles, is only one of such companies establishing themselves.

And tales of such experiences have preceded its entry into Honolulu.

That’s why, rightly, Mayor Kirk Caldwell resisted allowing their unconditional setup here, only to find that, over the weekend, 200 Lime scooters were set in spots on the sidewalks of Waikiki, Ala Moana and Kakaako.

The selection of those communities was noteworthy. They have several traits in common: multiple points of interest for people visiting these areas, a difficulty with finding parking nearby and pedestrians feeling fatigue at the prospect of going from one to another.

And another plus, from the business perspective: Many of the people are tourists who are game for this kind of fun, and are in the mood to spend a little money for it.

The pricing scheme is fairly friendly for short hops: It costs $1 to unlock the scooter, and then 15 cents per minute after that.

All of this adds up to the conclusion that there should be some way to accommodate this service, in a limited area to start with, to see how it could work. But this will take discussion among city administration leaders as well as the City Council.

So far, the introduction hasn’t gone all that swimmingly. According to the Lime business plan, the GPS-enabled scooters are tracked down and retrieved at night to be repositioned for the following day. Instead, police have confiscated the scooters, citing city registration requirements.

Recent statements by Lime assert that city ordinances and rules don’t preclude its operations. The city makes the more persuasive argument that they do. Andrew Pereira, a spokesman for the mayor, said the scooters run afoul of city regulations that cover the operation of such vehicles as well as state laws on the conduct of roadside businesses.

He added that the city’s main concern is the health and safety risk to pedestrians sharing the sidewalks, where many scooter users prefer to ride, even though Lime directs them to ride in the street.

And in fact, the internet is loaded with anecdotes about distracted riders running into someone (they travel at nearly 15 mph).

Advocates for the scooters point to the government grants totaling $1 million in startup funds for Biki and said Lime does not require that kind of government aid. However, Pereira said, the difference is that Biki is run as a nonprofit, whereas Lime and other companies of its kind are profit-making enterprises.

Lime has some support in Honolulu Hale, with Councilmen Joey Manahan and Trevor Ozawa being two who have expressed openness to the idea. And the company has indicated a willingness to talk.

It’s time for that conversation to begin, with open hearings. Sidewalks are shared public spaces, and the city’s duty is to see that the public interest prevails.