One of them - there was a few spoken to, and when Officers discuss at TEC they’re still speaking in plural about potential providers.
Quite honestly, given the extensive GPS-bound modes that can be enforced through Lime’s setup (speed restrictions, parking restrictions, assistance restrictions, area of operation), I’d lay blame for this at the door of the councils involved. I have no idea if Lime provide them with a management system or will only manage GPS zones on their behalf, and perhaps there’s a demand for money to make changes, but either way it’s clear if you were approaching rolling these out in a sensible way what it requires is a) insisting on designated parking zones and b) having the brass neck to take car parking space away to have them done. If any given council haven’t considered there might be management budget and space reassignment aspects to hosting such a scheme, they’ve not done their due diligence.
The dumping behaviour is interesting if compared to the ‘shopping trolley test’ (as opposed to the trolley problem) in supermarket car parks:
"The shopping cart is the ultimate litmus test for whether a person is capable of self-governing, to return the shopping cart is an easy, convenient task and one which we all recognize as the correct, appropriate thing to do. To return the shopping cart is objectively right. There are no situations other than dire emergencies in which a person is not able to return their cart. Simultaneously, it is not illegal to abandon your shopping cart. Therefore the shopping cart presents itself as the apex example of whether a person will do what is right without being forced to do it."
I would argue that a necessary component of that test is the nearby availability of the place the trolley is meant to be left. But unlike trolleys, Lime’s tech means users can continue to be charged if not correctly parked and trip ended. These stories about clutter are about 20% human nature and 80% failure to plan and manage.
posts
