The Los Angeles Department of Transportation launched one of the largest scooter pilots in the nation last year and has big plans for its future, says an official.
Los Angeles has become a breeding ground for electric scooter companies eager to lead the burgeoning industry since the city launched its pilot program in March. After 10 months, the Los Angeles Department of Transportation has logged 19 million scooter rides and expects the vehicles to play a role in relieving congestion from the traffic-stricken city.
“People need choices, and that’s really what it comes down to,” said Seleta Reynolds, general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Transportation. “And Lord have mercy, people need choices in Los Angeles.”
About 65% of all trips taken in the city are shorter than 5 miles and 85% of those trips are taken by people who drive alone in their cars, Reynolds said. Reynolds was a guest speaker at a dinner hosted by Fortune during the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Monday. There, she told attendees why the city chose not to stifle the number of scooter companies entering the city.
“I did not want to put my finger on the scale; I did not want to artificially deflate the market,” she said. “I wanted every company that wanted to come to L.A. to come and be able to compete.”
Los Angeles’ approach to scooters vastly differs from cities like San Francisco, which initially banned scooters before handing out permits to select scooter companies for a limited number of scooters, and Atlanta, which banned scooter use at night after several deaths. Cities’ biggest qualm with electric scooters is safety and an overwhelming supply.
Without regulation, scooter companies are able to deploy an endless number of scooters, which then get haphazardly tossed on street corners, left in driveways, and thrown in lakes. They also present a new danger to drivers on the roads as well as scooter riders, who may not be skilled at operating the vehicle.
Reynolds says in Los Angeles, data has shown that scooters only represent a small portion of severe injuries and to-date have yet to result in a death. While she admits that the electric scooter market still has some work to do to eliminate some of the “chaos,” she said a lot of the frustration from residents is stems from change.
To the city’s department of transportation, scooters represent a piece of the larger ecosystem that aims to provide transit options for everyone. Unfortunately, everyone has yet to be equally served, said Reynolds.
“They’re solving a real problem,” she said. “But what they’re not doing is deploying in low income neighborhoods that don’t have other choices and where folks may not be able to afford a vehicle.”
Los Angeles’ department of transportation is exploring what role it can play to incentivize companies to equally serve low-income neighborhoods, Reynolds said. Ride-hailing and scooter companies have to be part of the bigger picture, she added.
“We invest in public transit because it returns a public good,” Reynolds said. “We need to start expanding that definition.”
