It looks as if the kerfuffle over e-scooters could be ratcheting up a notch, with the city of Los Angeles Transportation Department (LADOT) issuing a cease-and-desist letter to Bird. The letter, dated June 8, directs Bird to "remove any and all vehicles that you have in the City of Los Angeles immediately."
Bird is no stranger to these letters. Bird, Lime and Spin all received cease-and-desist letters from San Francisco in April. E-scooters disappeared from SF streets earlier this month when new regulations went into effect.
For Los Angeles, on-the-record details are scant, and the situation is perhaps in flux. LADOT had not responded to SBLA inquiries at press time.
Last Friday, June 8, Bird debuted their e-scooters in the downtown Los Angeles Arts District. Photos appeared on social media. Since then, the Arts District scooters have been removed.
Bird e-scooters remain in many communities on the west side of Los Angeles, including in Paul Koretz and Mike Bonin's council districts. Though it is not clear from the letter, the situation on the Westside does not appear to have changed, for now. Bird's operations there are generally supported by Koretz and Bonin.
LADOT has proposed a set of regulations that would apply to dockless shared devices: e-scooters, e-bikes, and bike-share. Those regulations are expected to return to the city council's Transportation Committee later this month. Under LADOT's current proposal, e-scooters would not be allowed in downtown L.A. during the initial one-year pilot.
In other e-scooter news, tonight the Santa Monica city council is voting on a dockless shared device pilot program. If approved as proposed, the Santa Monica rules would likely significantly shrink Bird's fleet.
