Those scooters are a blight on the City. People just dump them anywhere. Get rid of them now. Do it before some dumbass gets killed because the riders are clueless about how to use them. AND KEEP THEM OFF THE SIDEWALKS. They are a motor vehicle.
I read an article that stated Bloomington doesn't plan on any new regulations for the scooters. I know this, if these students , as most of the riders I have observed are, keep going there will be problems. I have observed countless scooters on the sidewalks and I a becoming very irritated with the attitude of riders expecting the pedestrians to move aside so they can pass. I think the city needs to have police ticket a few of these riders so they might quit doing it. I personally refuse to move out of their way, as I should not have to. I also see them riding down the B-line, which isn't AS bad, but still is not a good thing. I believe if they are allowed to do this, then I should be allowed to ride my motorcycle on the sidewalks and B-line. Which I might do to make a point. $20 dollar fine might be worth it. Your attention to this matter is appreciated. AND it might be required in the near future. It's a public safety issue in my eyes. Thank you Frank Travis resident and tax payer of Bloomington
Every day I am nearly hit by a bicycle speeding along the sidewalk on Indiana Avenue from Henderson Street parking garage towards Sample Gates. Every day I cross through those gates and am nearly hit by more bikes speeding and zipping and failing to give way at all to pedestrians. Every day I see mechanized scooters zipping between pedestrians and nearly hitting them and each other, in opposite directions, no one wearing a helmet, no signs explaining the rules, no one enforcing anything. Every day I pray i won't have to see a toddler take a half step to the right as one of these two-wheeled objects zips past them from behind, without warning, and gets hit. Or that I might be that person, because I've come so close so many times. Every day I drive down 3rd and pray I won't be the one who hits a scooter zipping out without warning, or have to see a cyclist ram into the back of a car illegally parked in the bike path (again, NEVER policed) like one of my students a couple of semesters back. And yet I am supposed to believe that "Bloomington is a pedestrian and bike friendly community committed to the integration of active and sustainable forms of transportation." The bike paths need to be segregated and not just by white lines. They need to be two-way. The scooters need to go until some meaningful infrastructure has been put in place for them, including signage that makes clear the rules, because no one has gotten the memo that they're not supposed to be on the sidewalks -- publishing regulations prominently on this website would be a start. It feels like the scooters were just dumped here and then the owners ran away. Let me be clear. I am a huge fan of bikes and walking. I've spent half my life walking everywhere, just not in this country. For example, I lived in Berlin for two years 25 years ago, and rode my bike everywhere. That was a genuinely bike friendly city, safe for pedestrians. it had designated bike paths with their own traffic lights, and policed regulations that penalized everyone for breaking the rules, including pedestrians. imagine how much money the city could make -- and how much safer it would be for everyone -- if we actually implemented such regulations. i will not let my kids out on their bikes. I have been here just four years and personally know two people who've been hit by cars, one who was maimed for life while walking, another who was badly hurt while riding. i know a cyclist who's been hit by a car while legally crossing a cross walk. the lack of transparent regulation and absence of enforcement has created a toxic mess that is going to end in tragedy for someone. Please, the city needs to act. Pedestrians shouldn't have to police the sidewalks themselves. Please make our city safe for walkers again, and give our cyclists proper paths they are obligated to use without endangering life and limb -- their own and others'. And do the same for the scooters. But only if you must. They are no alternative to safe public transportation and without enforcement we are going to continue to have horrible accidents like the one last week that left a student with a head injury. I know the student health center is counting injuries. Everyone I know has a scooter story. I saw someone having a horrible fall right in front of Franklin Hall just a week or two ago, and a few days later, four young lads zooming in drunken formation past Kilroy's, taking up both sides of the road, no helmets. i'm still trying to decide whether that was better or worse than the careful young student I followed riding his scooter, without a helmet, sandwiched between cars on 10th, with his nice backpack and pressed Chino's. It has to stop.
Mary Catherine Carmichael mentions the need to protect "Bloomington's brand" when referring to the long process to develop the Culver's restaurant. If the "Bloomington brand" is so important, how is it being protected with over 500 of those electric scooters trashing the community at nearly every corner? Get rid of those things now, before some idiot gets killed.
There is a pile of five overturned scooters right in the middle of the sidewalk. Grant street right outside the library. Are pedestrians expected to clean this up?
The "dismount zones" are not working. They never did work, and now the scooters are an even bigger hazard. I see people riding them on the sidewalks around the square every day. If riders can't be bothered to care on their own, maybe we need some enforcement personnel out there to make them care. If we can have parking meter patrols, then surely we can have sidewalk patrols with authority to issue citations.
One lime bike was left on the sidewalk, blocking the accessibility ramp for wheelchair sidewalk access. The scooter has been there for two days.
Bird bicycle P3IKF abandoned on Dunn north of 12th Street close to RR fence.
Bird bicycle VUB1B lying by sidewalk south side of 8th halfway between Washington and Lincoln, west of alley.
Bird bicycle VUB1B lying by sidewalk south side of 8th halfway between Washington and Lincoln, west of alley.