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The scooter rental company, Lime, has agreed to stop the service at Meridian until March, city officials said on the city council.
The company encountered problems shortly after its launch at Meridian, its largest market in Idaho on September 28th. Customers left electric scooters on sidewalks or blocked wheelchair ramps.
The company admitted errors in the deployment of the service and suspended it. On Tuesday, a municipal news bulletin announced that Meridian was asking Lime to suspend work until about March 15. This date could rise if Meridian and the company reach a new agreement sooner, staff members told city council.
It is possible that Lime can start serving Boise before that date.
Boise is still working on the details of the deal with Lime and a competitor, Bird, which would allow these companies to operate within the city limits, said Tuesday the director of administrative services, Craig Croner. Boise City Council passed an ordinance in August regulating bicycle and scooter companies.
Boise takes his time to avoid the same blockages that Lime faced Meridian, whose regulation was based on a memorandum of understanding that Mayor Tammy de Weerd and Lime General Manager Jason Wilde signed on August 26 , announced Croner.
The agreements between Boise and Lime could be completed and the two companies were launched in Boise by the end of the month, he said.
Employees in Meridian City say they want to see how Boise's approach works before establishing the Meridian rules. They said Bird also had an eye on Meridian, although he did not plan to start the service immediately.
Bicycle sharing services with or without a station began to appear about a year and a half ago in cities like San Francisco and San Diego. They were popular in Europe before that.
Customers download apps for Lime (formerly LimeBike), Bird and other companies, such as Ofo, Razor and Spin, on their smartphone. The application indicates the location of available bikes or scooters. A customer scans a QR code on the bike to unlock it. When customers have finished using the bikes, they lock them again and park them.
Customers do not have to lock the bikes on a stand or in any other type of station, which has caused some irritation.
San Diego has learned the hard way to not allow shared bikes without a dock in the Petco Park area, where the Padres play baseball, Croner said. On match days, people left hundreds of bicycles strewn around the stadium, and once the games were over, the most thrilling crowd rushed into it.
A similar "geofencing" would be set up in Boise, Croner said, although the city has not established any prohibited areas.
The Idaho Press first announced that Lime would be out of Meridian until March.
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