They came... they scooted... they got booted

Face, it people. Hoboken may have elected a few progressives, but we are at heart a low-energy, provincial city that craves suburban tidiness over metropolitan disorder.   

E-scooters were doomed from the get-go in a city like this; if they weren't fated to become a cudgel to whack a politician, then they were too untidy for the suburban sensibilities of many residents.  

That's not to say e-scooters were not recklessly and improperly used, and that the City did not anticipate some basic auxiliary needs--like where to park them.   That said, the objective of any pilot program is to learn, gather data and analyze merits and demerits, public benefit, profitability and what could be done better.  The verdict, according to today's Jersey Journal is to take the data that the City has gathered and put the whole thing on ice.

"By next Wednesday, scooters will vanish from Hoboken’s streets.

Lime will gather them up and just like that, daily riders will be left with their own two feet — and the bike that’s grown cobwebs in storage — to get around.

Lime’s six-month pilot program with the city expires on Nov. 20, and city officials confirmed there is no plan to extend it before then."

City Council President Giattino told the Jersey Journal that the council does not have the votes to renew the program, with Councilmen Russo and Ramos previously expressing a desire for LIME to go on hiatus, while the kinks get resolved.

GA is skeptical that a hiatus can fix inconsiderate numskulls who endanger the public with bad e-scooter behavior, like a hiatus from driving cars wouldn't fix drunk driving nor idiots who text behind the wheel. It's because of the pilot that Hoboken understands how to maximize public safety- be it through enforcement, or technology- and auxiliary needs. If a hiatus is needed to accomplish that, it's all good.

In my opinion, the City should have put the e-scooter renewal on the Nov. 5 ballot; it was nixed at the City Council. The Council suggested a phone poll would do the trick. Not really.  Phone polls sample 300 voters versus a General Election sample of 9,480. 

The Council's resistance to a ballot question- the best available data to measure public support for the e-scooter program- was a predictor of the demise of e-scooters.   It was as though the Council majority understood that letting the public weigh in, also meant having to be responsive to the public verdict. Don't ask, don't tell. 

Who knows, perhaps the friction between our Executive and Legislative branches can be explained by the fact that our Council majority swings parochial, conservative, D.I.N.O. against a progressive mayor. Note, the Council majority does not hide it's right-leaning tilt; all incumbents patronize an Alt-right, pro-Trump, InfoWars conspiracy-buying web site to post official press releases.   Yikes. Four more years, people. 

But I digress... 

Will the City and the Council work constructively toward a new, improved e-scooter launch at some time in the future?   Who knows.  I would like to see protected bike lanes on Washington Street- between the cars and the curb. And beefed up e-scooter enforcement.  And a ban on  e-scooter sidewalk riding/parking.   And, and, and...

Look, it's not an option for everyone but if you find yourself missing your LIME scooter, then take all the loot you would be spending on individual rides and just buy one. 

Just sayin'...