Tech Talk Example

Recently, the Tucson City Council scrapped a pilot program that would have allowed up to 2,000 dockless electric scooters to operate legally on city streets. By sending the pilot program back to staff for revisions, the move will delay when e-scooter companies will start distributing them in the Old Pueblo for at least several months to decide which companies would be allowed to operate under the six-month pilot program.

Councilman Steve Kozachik leveled some of the harshest criticism of the staff proposal last week, noting that the city already doesn’t have the staffing to deal with shopping carts lying around in Tucson neighborhoods and 2,000 electric scooters is only going to add to the problem.

Kozachik, whose ward includes downtown Tucson, Fourth Avenue and the University of Arizona, says he is concerned about accidents.

“I can’t see these things riding in the street with traffic, with the streetcar, with pedestrians, with bikes, 15 miles per hour in those congested areas being anything but a huge red flag and an accident waiting to happen,” Kozachik said.

The Arizona Republic reported last week that in Tempe alone, the fire department there responded to more than 100 accidents since e-scooters showed up in May.

“This whole conversation began not because Bird and Lime announced that they wanted to be good partners with us; it was because we found out that they were hiring, and we were concerned that they were going to dump 1,000 — each — of these scooters in our city,” Kozachik said. “So we sent the message out proactively that they are illegal here.”

This was reported in the Arizona Daily Star on January 17, and updated on January 18, 2019.

Questions:

1.  What is your experience with electric scooters in the city where you live?  Has it been successful, or a nuisance?  

2.  Do you currently ride e-scooters to get around town?  Explain your experience.

3.  What do you think of Councilman Kozochic's concerns?  Do you think Tucson could handle 2000 e-scooters?