Scooter company Lime has introduced technology in downtown San Jose to discourage riders from cruising along sidewalks.
Lime, which owns the largest scooter fleet in the Bay Area and 2,300 devices in San Jose, says that it's stepping up to reduce the number of riders who flout the rules and cruise along sidewalks in San Jose.
The company has developed a technology that tracks where people ride and will send notifications to riders who take their scooters onto the sidewalk, which irritates and even jeopardizes the safety of pedestrians.
“We think that we have room for everyone to use our streets,” said Colin Haney, spokesperson with the San Jose Department of Transportation. “We just need to come up with ways that people are riding, walking, scooting safely.”
The law requires scooters to be ridden in the street in San Jose.
“One of the things we’re hoping to achieve with some of this emerging sidewalk detection technology is a census of about how many people are riding on the sidewalk, the scale of the problem,” Haney said.
Students told KCBS Radio that the new technology is invaluable. But they worried about safety if they're riding alongside cars and trucks.