Indianapolis Using Inspectors To Report Electric Scooter Violations

The City of Indianapolis kicked off an effort to monitor electric scooters this week.

Companies Bird and Lime brought their scooter share service back to the city after city councilors created regulations for the new business model.

Dimitri Kyser, from the city’s Department of Business and Neighborhood Services, says city inspectors will constantly walk the streets to find scooters parked in potentially dangerous spots.

"If it’s obstructing the walkway or if it's on its side, he’s taking down the scooter’s information, he’s making sure he puts all that information into a report, and then we’re sending it off to the scooter companies, letting them know the location, letting them know where we saw the scooter," Kyser says.

The companies can then respond as they see fit, unless the violation is sent instead to IMPD. Kyser says so far both Bird and Lime have been cooperative.

Kyser says the city’s immediate goal is to teach people how to park scooters when they’re done with them.

The city’s regulations say users need to leave four feet of unobstructed passageway, park the scooter upright, and never block entrances or exits to a building.