Dear friends and neighbors:
This is a follow up to the email I sent yesterday E-Scooters: to be or not to be.  First, a reminder again to take responsibility for your actions and the potential impact you are having to your neighbors and on the PILOT.  I spoke with Hoboken Police Chief Ferrante just now and he said that things seem to be calming some, but there are still plenty of instances of unsafe behavior being reported.  Here are a few updates:
  • As of this writing I have confirmed with Chief Ferrante that there have been no reported injuries.  That doesn't mean that there aren't a lot of near hits (near misses as a term makes no sense...) because there still are.
  • Reports of unsafe riding have come down since day one.
  • Observations of underage riders has only increased.  
  • People are still parking in places that are disruptive to pedestrians (although I saw more evidence of improvement).
  • And there are almost no observation of anyone wearing helmets notwithstanding it is required by Lime.
Regarding the underage use which is one of the biggest concerns cited by many of you ... if you have or know a child / teen who has ridden a scooter, please let me know how they gained access and I will pass along to Lime.  When I spoke with Lime two days ago, Ms. Shapiro indicated that the only way a child / teen could access is if they have a credit card and ID or their parents set it up for them. I challenged that as I said I don't know many parents that would allow this. 
What I have heard from three parents in the last two days is that their child / teen accessed a scooter by taking one from someone before that person re-locked the E-Scooter and ultimately kept the prior ride still going.  My understanding is there are two steps when riding - you unlock to start, and you lock to finish.  And some adult riders are not remembering to lock when they finish and children / teens are taking them and riding.  
I spoke with Ms. Shapiro again today and told her this and she will be sending out a notice to all who are registered to remind them to lock when they are done and that they cannot give their unlocked E-Scooter to a child / teen or they risk having their Lime priviliges revoked.  If you have a different story of how a child / teen accessed an E-scooter, please let me know so we can get to the bottom of this and correct it.
Chief Ferrante encouraged people to still keep sending all observations / pictures / videos - good or bad - to both Hoboken PD and to the E-Scooter companies at the following emails:
  • traffic@hobokepd.org
  • support@li.me
  • ojohobokencs@gmail.com
Reminding again the common sense actions to take:   
  • Take responsibility for riding safely and telling others to do so as well. 
  • Don’t break the laws. 
  • Stop for all stop signs and stop lights. 
  • Dont let anyone under 18 ride the E-Scooters. 
  • Make sure you lock your E-Scooter after you have ridden it.
  • Respect your neighbors where you park your E-Scooter. 
  • Wear a helmet.
  • Be the example of what this could be. 
There have been a lot more rides since Monday which means more people are enjoying the E-Scooters, but there are still many reports of dangerous riding and underage riders that we still need to see more improvement.  For those out there loving these - and there are plenty of you - just remember we are all part of the same community.  So as users you need to weigh safety as high as you weigh convenience and fun for this to work for our entire community.  "It takes a village"...
 
 
I will continue to speak with Lime regularly so please reach out with any issues or observations.  And use the emails above to report the same.  And please forward this to everyone as a way to help educate and inform our community on this important issue.  And as always, feel free to reach out via email, text or phone (201-208-1674) about this or anything else important to you.      
Best wishes,