[ad_1]
New Yorkers affected by the imminent L-train closure could get the chance to get to work using an electric scooter if an effort to legalize them is gaining ground.
Councilor Antonio Reynoso, whose district includes districts of Williamsburg and Bushwick, wants the city to legalize electronic scooters, he said at a press conference Monday.
In August, board members Ydanis Rodriguez and Rafael Espinal were drafting a law that would legalize scooters. This law has not yet been presented, said Monday a spokesman for Mr. Reynoso.
"The stop of train L is real. It will happen. It will be disturbing, "he said, noting that" hundreds of thousands of people "use the L train every day. "When it stops, they will all need another means of transportation."
If e-scooters were legalized, the city would likely issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) for companies wanting to launch a pilot program that would resemble Citi Bike's bike share program in New York, Reynoso said.
Williamsburg could serve as a pilot area for an electronic scooter program if the legalization efforts were successful, he noted.
David Strickland, former director of the National Road Safety Administration and currently chair of the Global Advisory Council for Bird Safety, an electric scooter rental service that deploys scooters across the country, has joined Reynoso.
Scooters could help "ease the burden" of other modes of transportation when L-train was stopped and "would remain a transportation choice" at the end of the closure, Strickland said.
Although Bird has expressed interest in launching its program in New York, the bidding process would ultimately select the company that would be involved in any scooter sharing program, said Reynoso, noting that he "did not approve of any individual business".
The scooters that the city council plans to legalize would not travel at a speed greater than 15 miles per hour, and the legislation would include rules for their use, Reynoso noted.
Electronic scooters are not the only electronic mode of transportation that has been touted as an alternative to commuter train stop. In August, the Blasio administration announced that Citi Bike plans to deploy 1,000 pedal bikes, in addition to a "special shuttle for electric bikes," next April.
The city continues to crack down on another type of motorized bike used by delivery drivers, however, police policy advocates have called it "anti-immigrant, anti-worker and anti-security streets".
The legalization of electronic scooters could be an opportunity to open the discussion on the legalization of other electronic transport modes, Reynoso continued.
"We just want more options," he said of electronic scooters. "We do not want to be the last city in the country to allow these things."
Source link
